Showing papers in "GeoJournal in 2019"

Being a ‘citizen’ in the smart city: up and down the scaffold of smart citizen participation in Dublin, Ireland

Abstract: Reacting to critiques that the smart city is overly technocratic and instrumental, companies and cities have reframed their initiatives as ‘citizen-centric’. However, what ‘citizen-centric’ means in practice is rarely articulated. We draw on and extend Sherry Arnstein’s seminal work on participation in planning and renewal programmes to create the ‘Scaffold of Smart Citizen Participation’—a conceptual tool to unpack the diverse ways in which the smart city frames citizens. We use this scaffold to measure smart citizen inclusion, participation, and empowerment in smart city initiatives in Dublin, Ireland. Our analysis illustrates how most ‘citizen-centric’ smart city initiatives are rooted in stewardship, civic paternalism, and a neoliberal conception of citizenship that prioritizes consumption choice and individual autonomy within a framework of state and corporate defined constraints that prioritize market-led solutions to urban issues, rather than being grounded in civil, social and political rights and the common good. We conclude that significant normative work is required to rethink ‘smart citizens’ and ‘smart citizenship’ and to remake smart cities if they are to truly become ‘citizen-centric’.

Urban sprawl and the ‘olive’ landscape: sustainable land management for ‘crisis’ cities

Abstract: Dispersed urbanization has expanded into rural land worldwide. The present work focused on the Athens’ metropolitan area, the capital of Greece, discussing the potential role of a typical rural Mediterranean landscape dominated by olive groves, in urban containment and peri-urban conservation of biodiversity and local traditions. Having a great cultural, culinary and aesthetic importance, olive groves characterize Mediterranean peri-urban landscapes in a distinctive way. This study identifies processes of urban dispersion and changes in the ‘olive landscape’ in the study area, proposing new ideas for a sustainable land management in metropolitan contexts that have recently undergone processes of territorial transformation toward urban sprawl, under the effect of socioeconomic disturbances, including economic crisis.

Financial development and carbon dioxide emissions in Nigeria: evidence from the ARDL bounds approach

Abstract: This study examines the dynamic impact of financial development, energy consumption, trade openness, and economic growth on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Nigeria. We applied autoregressive distributed lag bound testing technique for the period of 1971–2010. The empirical result shows a long-run cointegration relationship among the variables. The long-run estimation result, however, reveals that, economic growth, development of the financial sector and energy consumption have a positive and significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions, whereas trade openness has negative and significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions. The finding suggest that the government should emphasize programs and policies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions by opening the trade sector considering the roles such openness plays in reducing environmental degradation in the country, which directly enhances environmental quality.

Tourism development, energy consumption and environmental quality in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco: a trivariate analysis

Abstract: Prior research address socio-economic aspects of tourism industry and little attention has been paid to investigate the impact of tourism development on economic growth, and environmental quality. Accordingly, this study examines the impact of tourism development on economic growth, CO2 emissions and environmental quality in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco (Muslim majority countries). An autoregressive distributed lag model is used to analyze data for the period 1980–2014. The study further examines the long and short-term relationship between tourism and economic growth; and tourism and environmental quality. The study reveals that economic growth converges to its long-run equilibrium at an adjusting speed of about 25.7% in Morocco, 5.8% in Egypt, and 2.1% in Tunisia. The findings of the study confirm that tourism growth is linked to environmental quality. The study reveals that tourism has a negative effect on the environment quality in Egypt whereas a positive effect in Tunisia and neutral in Morocco. Using the EKC hypothesis tests, the study concludes the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and the level of income for Morocco and Egypt, whereas for Tunisia, this relationship is U-shaped. The study also offers policy implications.

Large-scale land acquisitions aggravate the feminization of poverty: findings from a case study in Mozambique

Abstract: The local implications of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), commonly referred to as land grabs, are at the center of an exponential production of scientific literature that only seldom focuses on gender. Our case study aims to contribute to filling this analytical gap. Based on structured interviews and focus groups, we investigate local experiences in the lower Limpopo valley in Mozambique, where a Chinese investor was granted 20,000 hectares in 2012. Our findings show that land access in the affected area varied prior to land seizure due to historical land use differences and after land seizure mainly due to non-universal compensation. Furthermore, we show that as farming conditions deteriorate, a trend toward both the feminization of smallholder farming and the feminization of poverty is consolidated. Succinctly, as available land becomes increasingly constricted, labor is allocated differently to alternative activities. This process is by no means random or uniform among households, particularly in a context in which women prevail in farm activities and men prevail in off-farm work. As men disengage further from smallholder farming, women remain directly dependent on fields that are smaller and of worse quality or reliant on precarious day labor in the remaining farms. We contend that the categories female-headed and male-headed households, although not inviolable, are useful in explaining the different implications of LSLAs in areas in which gender strongly substantiates individuals’ livelihood alternatives.

Spatial analysis of urban digital divide in Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract: Access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and its potentials for cities are often uneven across geographies and demographics, a condition that has been referred to as the digital divide. Given the invisibility of digital access, certain geo-demographic groups could face the risk of digital exclusion. However, where not aspatial, most studies explore the digital divide at macro-spatial levels (national and regional levels), which makes them less relevant for knowledge generation and policies at intra-urban scales, the actual hubs of innovations. This paper explores the state of ICT access in Kigali City, at an intra-urban level. It analyses official census data on ICT Access Indicators across dimensions and space, 35 administrative areas called sectors. The paper establishes the relative digital access performance of the sectors based on the measurement of their ICT Location Quotients. In Kigali City spatial distribution of ICT access is significantly clustered, with areas of concentration at the core and sparsity on the northeastern periphery of the city. This espouses spatiality–digitality relations. Using data reduction, we establish that existing urban inequality in infrastructure, urban agglomerative strength, planning status and household socio-economic status are replicated as correlates of the digital divide in Kigali City. We recommend that the baseline spatial–statistical analysis be applied for spatially-targeted ICT policy interventions and that the dimension of ICT be incorporated in policy making targeting urban inequality.

Analyzing spatial disparities of economic development in Yellow River Basin, China

Abstract: Economic density refers to the degree of labor, population, and tangible capital that concentrate in a physical space. It represents the efficiency of economic activities and intensity of land use in an area. This article presents an in-depth analysis spatial disparity of economic densities in Yellow River Basin in China by using 2000 and 2014 country level data. A composite index of economic density that integrates a suite of population, land, and production indicators through a grey-relation entropy model was applied for the spatial analysis in economic densities. The overall economic density levels in Henan Province and Shandong Province were higher than those of other provinces. Other major spatial agglomerations of counties with high economic density were in central parts of Inner Mongolia and Henan Province, the south of Shanxi Province, and the middle regions of Shaanxi Province. Finally, the indicators that might have influenced the level of economic density and the formation spatial economic disparity within Yellow River Basin were identified as the basic environmental conditions, transportation infrastructure, social and economic infrastructure, level and structure of industrialization level, and strategic policies for regional economic development. The results show that there is indeed spatial economic disparity in the studied region and that it may have been mainly affected by the geographically uneven distribution of per capita income and per capita land use intensity.

Unseen potential: photovoice methods in hazard and disaster science

Abstract: While still a nascent field, disaster science is surprisingly methodologically stagnant, often relying solely on traditional surveys, interviews, and focus groups to gather qualitative data. Social science disciplines that have long contributed to disaster research and the practice of emergency management, however, have begun to explore the value of alternative, participatory methodologies and their potential contributions to knowledge generation. In this paper, we discuss one such participatory method, photovoice, and its potential contribution to disaster research. We explore the epistemological roots of the method, lay out the steps involved in conducting a photovoice study, and briefly review previous applications of the method. We then enumerate what we see as topics ripe for exploration using photovoice in hazard and disaster contexts. We suggest that photovoice is an innovative method for capturing understandings of hazards and disasters and for providing rich theoretical insights related to extreme events, which are intrinsically geographical and place-based. Photovoice not only offers policymakers a valuable window into the public’s understanding of issues related to extreme events, it also empowers individuals to consider their own capabilities to reduce risk in their communities and contribute to broader resilience building efforts.

Fortress conservation, wildlife legislation and the Baka Pygmies of southeast Cameroon

Abstract: The indigenous Baka Pygmies of southeast Cameroon depend mainly on environmental incomes for their livelihoods, usually hunting and gathering and the sustainable use of their ecological systems. They are at the verge of profound political, socioeconomic, and environmental transformations orchestrated by modern state laws regulating hunting and international development actors and agencies whose development vision expressed through conservation often underlie a contradiction with their way of life. This ethnographic study aims to document the dynamics of the institution of the great hunting expedition among the Baka. An interplay between the overexploitation of forestry resources, the creation of protected areas (fortress conservation), the full protection of certain classes of large mammals, the use of specific tools forbidden by existing forestry legislation and the ruthless behaviour of ‘eco-guards’ have led to changes in the organization of the great hunting expedition. To better address the socio-cultural aspects of biodiversity conservation and consequently strengthen the legislation regulating the wildlife sector in the country, conservation stakeholders must be conscious of the multiple entanglements between human and other life forms and the ecology of hunting. This suggests the need for a rights-based approach to conservation that recognizes the entanglement of ‘multispecies assemblages’ and respects indigenous land rights.

The impact of economic crisis on firm relocation: Greek SME movement to Bulgaria and its effects on business performance

Abstract: The 2007 global economic crisis and public policies implemented to resolve it have modified the conditions under which enterprises operate, thus having great effects on business tactics and decisions. This paper employs a comparative analysis of the pre- and post-crisis movements of Greek small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to Bulgaria in order to examine the impact of the crisis and the applied public policy on firm-internal relocation factors, such as size, sector and relocation incentive, and the effects of relocation on business performance. Greek SME movements to Bulgaria have recently increased considerably due to the adverse effects of the crisis on the Greek economy. Results demonstrate that, while in the pre-crisis period many Greek businesspeople viewed relocation to Bulgaria as an entrepreneurial opportunity for firm expansion, since 2007 relocation has been perceived as a necessity for the vast majority of Greek entrepreneurs in order to stay in business. However, evidence is provided for a clear division between businesspeople, managing strong, and medium-sized firms and seeking business growth and improved competitiveness, and entrepreneurs who own small, unproductive enterprises and who made efforts to maintain business without seeking quality improvement. Consequently, many of them failed to stay in business since they overlooked internal to firm changes.

Borderland migration, mining and transfrontier conservation: questions of belonging along the Zimbabwe–Mozambique border

Abstract: Various critiques of transboundary natural resource governance in southern Africa have questioned the efficacy and social equity dimensions of prevailing strategies for protecting transnational ecosystems, highlighting the importance of sociological research on the potentially ‘other-ing’ impacts of mainstream conservation policy discourse. We draw on research in the Chimanimani Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (TFCA) on both sides of the Zimbabwe–Mozambique border, scrutinizing simplifications inherent in terms such as “illegal foreigners” that obfuscate histories and contemporary realities of cross-border social ties. Engaging perspectives of park authorities and chiefs as well as people who have taken up artisanal mining, we explore two related themes—how ‘belonging’ is negotiated as well as how conservation agendas are instrumentalized by state and non-state actors. Bringing attention to gaps between policy discourses surrounding TFCAs and territorialized practices of exclusion, the article concludes by calling for greater attention to the mutating significance of colonially established boundaries as well as the dynamic influences of social networks in borderland spaces.

Flood vulnerability and coping mechanisms around the Weija Dam near Accra, Ghana

Abstract: This paper argues that flood vulnerability around the Weija Dam, near Accra, the capital of Ghana, can be explained by the city’s complex peri-urbanization trajectories. The dam, which was constructed 40 years ago, supplies water to many parts of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. To offset the impacts of potential dam failure due to seismic activities, as well as accidental and planned water spillages, about 100 m of lands around the dam and 30 m of riparian lands around River Densu were reserved. Despite planning prohibitions, these reservations have largely been encroached by homebuilders and business operators. Analyses of time-series rainfall data and hazard mapping showed that during periods of torrential rainfall, the dam and the river are overwhelmed with storm water hence exposing the Weija Township located downstream to flood hazards. Questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews with selected homebuilders, and institutional consultations revealed that the spatial and institutional management dynamics, customary land ownership, along with the growing defiance of planning regulations were the key influences of floods in the Weija Township. The affected households have attempted to mitigate the effects of flooding by elevating structures with stones and sandbags, strengthening walls, constructing drains and pumping water out during flooding events, but with little success. However, given the lack of political will to remove the unauthorized structures constructed within the buffers and reservations, the challenge now is to minimize flood vulnerabilities by flood-proofing buildings, improving drains and channelizing portions of the river within the township. These structural measures should be complemented by flood vulnerability maps, early flood warning and evacuation systems, mandatory property insurance policies, and above all, improved institutional coordination and collaboration for flood management. The paper recommends a re-examination of Ghana’s urban land use planning and management of water bodies in urban areas.

Evolution and future trends in global research on cadastre: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract: In this article, the global research status and future trends of cadastre were evaluated by using bibliometric analysis. This study is based on the analysis of research topics, scientific production, collaboration among countries and authors, and most cited papers on cadastre research which obtained from database of Scopus during the time period from 1958 to 2018. A total of 4220 papers were published in 128 different journals and most of them were original articles (2906, 68.8%) followed by conference paper (966, 22.9%). It found that Germany was the most productive country with 218 papers and 5.2% of total literature followed by United States and Australia. University of Melbourne was found to publish the highest number of documents with 85 papers and to cover 4.2% of the total literature followed by Delft University of Technology. Most used five keywords were ‘‘cadastre’’, ‘‘GIS’’, ‘‘surveying’’, ‘‘mapping’’ and ‘‘land use’’ (n = 945, 791, 300, 296 and 294 times, respectively). The top two authors who contributed most were Williamson, I.P. (69 articles), Van Oosterom P. (40 articles). The top-cited publication was “Analysis of land-cover transitions based on seventeenth and eighteenth century cadastral maps and aerial photographs” written by Cousins, in Landscape Ecology in 2001.

Assessing agriculture–tourism linkages in Senegal: A structure path analysis

Abstract: In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in general, and Senegal, in particular, tourism has often been proposed as a pro-poor development strategy due to its intensive use of unskilled labour. However, few studies have examined the linkage between tourism and agriculture, which is still the principal sector for employment in many SSA countries. Using a Structure Path Analysis (SPA), this paper investigates how, in structural terms, an exogenous demand shock on the tourism industry affects the Senegalese agricultural sector. The SPA results show that one of the core sub-sectors of tourism hotels and restaurants has relatively weak linkages with suppliers of agricultural inputs. Staple crops is identified as the agricultural sub-sector that has the most significant impact on tourism. Food and beverage processing plays an indirect but important role in the way hotels and restaurants industry impacts agriculture. Our analysis provides robust evidence that tourism has the capacity to create opportunities for the farmers and local food supply chains through generating additional demand for food products. Policy interventions looking to amplify the benefits that tourism can generate for agriculture, for the case of Senegal and comparable SSA countries, should focus on measures aiming at minimising imports of manufactured food and imports reflecting and affecting food and beverage processing and investing in agritourism development initiatives, such as farm-based accommodation, agricultural festivals and farm-tours.

Geobotanical approach to detect land-use change of a Mediterranean landscape: a case study in Central-Western Sicily

Abstract: A landscape is a palimpsest of the interactions between human activities and ecological dynamics. In an interdisciplinary perspective of dialogue between the ‘Two Cultures’ (Natural Sciences and Humanities), a study of a rural area has been carried out through a reading of plant ecosystems as signs of human impact. The purpose of this paper—as part of the project ‘Harvesting Memories’: Ecology and landscape archaeology of Castro/Giardinallo Valley and Mt. Barrau district (Corleone, Palermo, Sicily)—is to analyse the formative-processes of a Sicilian rural landscape and its changes in the last century. A key element in the reconstruction of the formation of the present landscape is the series of vegetation types which indicate the successive stages of different plant communities occurring in close relation with the human exploitation of natural resources (forestry, grazing, agriculture). An analytical frame for the landscape’s biography was generated through a diachronic comparison of images of the area in 1955 and the present day. The comparison in GIS of both spatial and typological changes in the different vegetation series, together with the calculation of a naturalness index Naturalness Evaluation Index, showed the trajectory the landscape (‘landscape-change map’) has undergone since the 1950s, with an increase in wooded and shrubbed areas and a reduction of pastures and cultivated areas.

Urban governance and its implications for the micro-geographies of market trading in Ghana: a case of the Kotokuraba Market Project in Cape Coast

Abstract: This article scrutinizes the consequences that arise when current modes of urban governance fail to consider the micro-geographies of market trading during urban regeneration and relocation processes. It argues that the marketplace possesses significant and complex spatial dimensions that are fundamental to the sustenance and capital accumulation of traders. Findings from an empirical scrutiny of the regeneration of market infrastructure in Cape Coast reveal that the unwillingness of municipal authorities to consider the spatial dimensions of market trading during a period of temporary relocation caused negative consequences for traders, who experienced loss of customers, loss of capital, low savings, inability to meet family responsibilities and deterioration in health, among others. In response, the traders devised several coping strategies to survive these experiences. Due to the intimate relationship between state and non-state actors in urban governance, the municipal authority in Cape Coast not only suffered a sharp decline in its revenue generation but also could not recoup the funds invested in the development of the temporary markets. This study calls for inclusive urban governance in market development projects in order to preserve the spatial characteristics of market trading during relocation.

Is ecotourism a panacea? Political ecology perspectives from the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, India

Abstract: Ecotourism is increasingly being promoted as an instrument that helps local socio-economic development and generate revenues to strengthen conservation of critically endangered biodiversity. It is often posited the magic bullet particularly across protected areas in the Global South. In theory, ecotourism can provide economic benefits to economically weaker communities living around protected areas and inspire them to protect the biodiversity in their own interest. This paper, however, provides empirical evidence that the so-called win–win is not an unqualified truism. With a case study on Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, world’s largest mangrove biodiversity and home of highly endangered Royal Bengal Tiger, this article examines complexities involved in ecotourism and urges the need to make it context-specific. It assesses ecotourism’s ability to provide livelihood alternatives to local communities and how can it help in conservation. The findings demonstrate an unequal, uneven, and skewed accumulation of benefits of ecotourism, often associated with market mechanisms of global environmental protection. As little as 36% of the interviewees claimed receiving direct or indirect benefits from ecotourism, the study finds. It failed to offer any benefits at all to the poorest and most marginal communities. On the contrary, it offered disproportionately larger returns to the remotely located capital invested in the local ecotourism facilities in the Sundarbans, thus defeating the principle behind the mechanism. In the area of conservation, tourism was blamed for increasing pollution and harming the health of the ecosystem by tourists who were considered ‘outsiders’ and insensitive to the ecology by the locals and conservation agencies alike.

Geo-spatial analysis of land use/land cover change and its impact on the food security in District Anantnag of Kashmir Valley

Abstract: Land use changes are vital to the food security challenge. Food security has determined the history of humanity. The global population will increase to about 9 billion in 2050–2060. Food and feed demands have been projected to double in the 21st century, which will further increase the pressure on the use of land, water, and nutrients. The study of the relationship between food security and land use is of paramount importance for policy formulation. During the past one decade, the study area has undergone many LULC changes due to rapid urban growth, poorly planned infrastructural development and expansion of horticulture which adversely affected the food security. For LULC change detection analysis temporal Landsat satellite data sets captured by thematic mapper were employed. Maximum likelihood supervised classification algorithm was applied to classify the study area, whereas, post classification comparison approach was adopted to analyze the LULC changes. The results have revealed that the area under horticulture and forests has declined by 3.7 and 2.26% respectively while the area under horticulture and built-up has increased by 2.17 and 1.13% respectively.

The value of crowdsourced street-level imagery: examining the shifting property regimes of OpenStreetCam and Mapillary

Abstract: OpenStreetCam and Mapillary are two increasingly popular online services centered on providing street-level imagery through close association with the OpenStreetMap platform and crowdmapping community. While both services provide crowdsourced street-level imagery, the differences in their aims and operations present an opportunity to discuss the various ways in which commercialization dynamics and crowdmapping practices are reshaping each other in the geoweb. This is significant because crowdmapping relies on massive distributed pools of unpaid labor, and is often characterized by a discourse and identity of community-centered sharing that eschews profit-seeking as a central motive. While the use of OpenStreetMap by commercial products is not new, the emergence of crowdsourced street-level imagery is an innovation with significant consequences. Projects like Mapillary and OpenStreetCam have the potential to both change the collaborative dynamics that drive OpenStreetMap, and simultaneously disrupt the state of street-level imagery ecosystem, which has been dominated by a single private provider: Google Street View. In light of this, crowdourced street-level imagery should be assessed, not only in technical terms, but through the full range of its political-economic ramifications. To this end, in this article we examine the role of commercialization in crowdmapped street-level imagery through a property regimes framework. Using this approach, we identify, analyze, and critique the allocation of rights, roles, and economic value within these services, thus shedding light on the emergence of crowdsourced street-level imagery in the context of the geoweb, and the digital and ‘sharing’ economies.

Identification of dengue risk zone: a geo-medical study on Madurai city

Abstract: Dengue fever is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally A. aegypti. The study area of Madurai is located in South Tamilnadu, India. Mapping of geographical distribution and identification of disease risk area is an important element in disease management efforts. The present study demonstrates the significance of geo-medical mapping in identifying the risk zones of vector-borne disease by taking a study of dengue cases in Madurai city. Data on dengue cases recorded during 2011–2015 in 100 wards (unit area) of Madurai city was analyzed. The land use/land cover map prepared from the satellite image of 2016 was spatially correlated. About 0.34% of the population had been affected by dengue during 2011–2015 in the Madurai city with spatial variations at different wards. Location quotient analysis aided the identification of dengue risk zones in Madurai city. Built-up lands and fallow lands are characterized by a large number of water bodies and irrigated crop land making them more vulnerable to dengue. The main objective of the study was to identify the risk zone of dengue disease through geospatial mapping by taking a geomedical study of Madurai city.

Urban fire occurrences in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area

Abstract: Fire, with its sudden appearance and destructive character, causes property losses and sometimes death and injury within a short time. High density of population and structures make the urban areas more vulnerable to fire hazard. In this context, fire incidents are very common in Dhaka city and the city is experiencing huge economic loss due to the increasing trend of fire incidents. These incidents are spread through different land use categories and the frequency of incidents also varies in these categories. This paper focuses on the distribution pattern of fire incidents of Dhaka Metropolitan Area according to different land use categories and structure types. The hot spots have been identified on the basis of density of fire occurrences using Kernel Density tool. The result of the research will help the policy maker in executing proper land use zoning as well as ensuring fire safety so that the loss due to fire incidents can be controlled.

Women’s bargaining power and household expenditure in Indonesia: the role of gender-differentiated assets and social capital

Abstract: Using the Indonesian setting with its cultural heterogeneity, this paper examines women’s bargaining power in the distribution of household expenditures. Women’s share of assets and participation in community-based organizations and development in the village is used to approach bargaining power. This study employs the Indonesian longitudinal dataset from the Indonesia Family Life Survey. The results show that women’s share of assets has negative effect on adult goods expenditure. This finding confirms that women’s share of asset explicitly increase women autonomy not to allocate the budget share on adult goods expenditure which is identical to male domination. Women’s share of assets also has positive and substantial effect on richer nutrients expenditure such as meat and fish and dairy products. It is also found that women participation in the community-based organization in the village has negative and significant effect on budget share of staple food and adult goods expenditure. This finding embraces the importance of women’s power in the household particularly in terms of distribution of household expenditures to the spending that increase the welfare of the household.

Capabilities of a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis approach in modelling migration

Abstract: Internal migration is one of the influential factors of urban growth. This phenomenon needs to be well understood for urban planning decision making, in order to avoid a shortfall or inefficiency in urban development. Consequently, by the multiple factors of migration decision-selectivity in terms of spatial-economic factors, spatial-social factors and personal factors make this phenomenon difficult to estimate. This paper utilises the capability of a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach in formulating a spatial migration model so-called migration potential model (MGP model) for modelling the distribution of potential migrants in urban areas. The model incorporates the migration decision-selectivity factors identified from a migration behavioural survey on households in the Klang Valley region into an environment of GIS-based MCDA. For this attempt, the land suitability model-based weighted linear combination so-called spatial AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) technique was selected as a base model for the MGP formulation. The paper concludes the integration of GIS with MCDA would contribute towards an advanced methodology of migration analysis for urban planning purposes.

Creativity-related mobilities of peripheral artists and scientists

Abstract: Creativity and mobility are often connected but rarely studied from a process perspective. In this article, we study the strategies and practices of creativity-related long- and short-term mobilities during the careers of 61 artists and scientists who live and work in peripheral locations. We identified home-based visiting practices, transnational circulating practices, and local (im)mobility practices that facilitate differently the creative outcomes of these artists and scientists. With this multi-case study on creativity-related mobility, we develop a broader understanding of centres and peripheries from a process perspective. In general, to move forward in their careers, peripherally located artists and scientists need to be in contact with the centre and its key paradigms. The mobilities of studied artists and scientists blur the simplistic division of the world of creativity that is divided into centre and periphery. From creativity-related mobility emerge cores that foster the center’s paradigms and edges that challenge the mainstream of the centre.

Pattern analysis of substandard and inadequate distribution of educational resources in urban–rural areas of Abbottabad, Pakistan

Abstract: Despite an extensive system of public schools, Abbottabad, Pakistan has a chronically low literacy rate. A factor contributing to these low literacy rates might be a spatial mismatch between public schools and dense settlements in fast-growing urban and semi-urban areas of this municipal region. To test this proposition, the locations of 153 public schools were collected using hand-held GPS devices to create a geo-database, and a road network was created from the open street map and Google imagery. Nearest neighbor, K-function, Spearman’s Rho, and directional analyses were applied to this data to overcome limitations of sparse geo-spatial data. A point pattern analysis shows that more than 50% of secondary schools were clustered south of the city while most of the built-up area was in the north. Localizing Geo-spatial data, spatial restructuring, and reorganization of schools in the study area would support rational planning and enhance student access to school facilities.

Mobilities and commons unseen: spatial mobility in homeless people explored through the analysis of GPS tracking data

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the spatial mobility of homeless people in urban areas, exploring homeless mobility, its drivers, limits and links to personal attributes, and whether there is an association between the extent of spatial activity and an individual’s housing situation. To our knowledge, there has been no prior exhaustive attempt to explore the spatial mobility of homeless people using Global Positioning System (GPS) location devices. The theoretical background of the research was based on time-geography approaches. The research used a mixed method approach involving participatory GPS mapping. Spatial mobility was measured by GPS location devices. GPS tracking made it possible to capture the precise location of a person in time and space, and subsequently to identify the daily and weekly mobility rhythms of such people. The GPS data were further contextualised by conducting interviews with homeless people and asking about their daily mobility. The groundwork for the interviews resulted in printed maps of the participants’ daily spatial mobility (n = 598). The combination of time-location data and ethnographic methods presented several technical and organisational difficulties, but the pilot study provided valuable knowledge about the everyday-life mobility of homeless people in cities. A novel understanding of the links between homeless mobilities, urban commons and the life conditions of homeless people can inform current welfare policies relating to the poor.

Urban–rural inequalities in spatial accessibility to prenatal care: a GIS analysis of Georgia, USA, 2000–2010

Abstract: Understanding inequalities in spatial accessibility to prenatal care over space and time is critical for policymakers to plan a more effective distribution of health resources, improve access to prenatal care, and promote maternal and infant health. However, urban–rural inequalities in spatial accessibility to prenatal care have not been well studied. Using geographic information systems and the two-transportation-mode two-step floating catchment area method, we first assess and compare the spatial variation and urban–rural inequalities of spatial accessibility to prenatal care in Georgia for years 2000 and 2010. Then we designate census-tract-based prenatal care shortage areas that have both poor spatial accessibility and high demand population in each year. The results show that, for both years 2000 and 2010, spatial accessibility to prenatal care was best in urban core areas and decreased as rurality increases. However, the differences among suburban, urban influence, and rural areas were reduced over the decade. A total of eight census tracts, most located on the fringe of metropolitan Atlanta, had a prenatal care shortage in both years. According to the results, we suggest that spatial accessibility to prenatal care in non-urban-core areas in Georgia needs more attention from policymakers.

Examining the potential of open source remote sensing for building effective decision support systems for precision agriculture in resource-poor settings

Abstract: Precision agriculture (PA) has become increasingly important to farmers particularly in resource-poor and risk-prone settings in the developing world. However, due to cost and technical constraints, deploying PA infrastructure as decision support systems (DSSs) in smallholder farming settings is often hindered. This paper draws on freely available satellite data (Sentinel-2A) and software (SNAP Toolbox), within the framework of open source remote sensing (OSRS) to demonstrate the potential of monitoring crop health and development towards building an effective DSS to inform farm management and resource allocation decision making using the Tono Irrigation Scheme—a resource-poor rural irrigation system in Ghana, as a case study. We find that vegetation index algorithms in SNAP Toolbox can accurately identify biophysical and growth conditions of crops including chlorophyll content, nitrogen status, pest and disease infestation, and water requirements. Despite the potential inherent in this novel cost-effective OSRS-based monitoring system, basic training of scheme managers and extension officers is required to enable them interpret output from OSRS analysis. Given the potential to reduce costs, improve allocation of scarce resources and increase yields, it is worth implementing OSRS as a DSS for smallholder farmers in other resource-poor settings.

Diagnosing barriers to climate change adaptation at community level: reflections from Silobela, Zimbabwe

Abstract: The limits to climate change adaptation existing in many places experiencing climatic events are evident in Silobela, a dryland district in central Zimbabwe. Current understanding about failure in adaptation systems tends to be generalised and course-grained. Yet, experiences for coping with and adapting to climate change tend to be local-specific, varying according to the magnitude and severity of climatic events. This study utilises the experiences of locals witnessing environmental changes associated with climate change. It uses participatory climate impact analysis to understand whether available livelihoods coping practices can withstand climatic impacts. Participatory research was used to rank the spectrum of livelihood options according to their significance in the face of climate change-induced drought and other socio-economic pressures. A coping capacity index (CCI) was used to estimate the level of adaptation limit imposed by each livelihood strategy, with composite CCI values generated to compare the coping capacities of villages studied. Given that most of the livelihoods options are climate dependent, and combined with other non-climatic drivers of vulnerability that are besetting rural areas in Zimbabwe, we argue that adaptation limits abound. Most of these limits are explained by the limitation of the environment that the villagers largely depend on for their survival. With the analytic capabilities of participants engaged, the article isolates three departure points for adaptation research, policy and practice: understanding the type and magnitude of climatic hazards that the locals are exposed to; assessment of their coping capacities and determination of adaptation barriers; and using their knowledge of the local environment to suggest interventions for evading adaptation barriers.

The effect of distance on community participation in ecotourism and conservation at Okomu National Park Nigeria

Abstract: Okomu National park is one of the seven national parks in Nigeria; it is the smallest and the last to be created, which has generated some hostility from the local communities who have been stripped of their ownership The study focuses on the participation of communities in ecotourism and conservation based on their distance from the park applying the distance decay effect The host communities were divided into precincts based on their distances from the park with the primary aim of investigating the level of participation in ecotourism activities based on their distances from the park The study revealed that the communities in the intermediate precinct had higher levels of participation than in the proximate and remote precincts The study revealed that distance had an effect on participation in ecotourism, but it did not clearly align with the distance decay theory