Showing papers in "The Professional Geographer in 2000"

“Placing” Interviews: Location and Scales of Power in Qualitative Research

Abstract: For qualitative researchers, selecting appropriate sites in which to conduct interviews may seem to be a relatively simple research design issue. In fact it is a complicated decision with wide-reaching implications. In this paper, we argue that the interview site itself embodies and constitutes multiple scales of spatial relations and meaning, which construct the power and positionality of participants in relation to the people, places, and interactions discussed in the interview. We illustrate how observation and analysis of interview sites can offer new insights with respect to research questions, help researchers understand and interpret interview material, and highlight particular ethical considerations that researchers need to address.

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Structural Adjustment Programs and Uneven Development in Africa: The Case Of Ghana

Abstract: Since 1983, Ghana has been undergoing World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). The implementation of the SAPs, it is claimed, has arrested Ghana's economy from complete collapse, resulted in consistent growth in GDP averaging 6% over the past decade, reduced inflation levels, created budget surplus, and increased export earnings. Compared to the 1970s, these are the best of times indeed. But while these SAPs-derived improvements in the national economy have been recorded at the macro level, the benefits at the micro level are a matter of considerable debate. This study revisits the issue of socioeconomic and spatial disparities that have characterized Ghana since colonial times, emphasizing the period from 1983 when Ghana's SAPs began. It examines current patterns of socioeconomic disparities with emphasis on the distribution of, and access to, health, education, basic services, and the like. The study focuses on urban-rural as well as interregional...

Monitoring growth in rapidly urbanizing areas using remotely sensed data

Abstract: Urbanization and the ability to manage for a sustainable future present numerous challenges for geographers and planners in metropolitan regions. Remotely sensed data are inherently suited to provide information on urban land cover characteristics, and their change over time, at various spatial and temporal scales. Data models for establishing the range of urban land cover types and their biophysical composition (vegetation, soil, and impervious surfaces) are integrated to provide a hierarchical approach to classifying land cover within urban environments. These data also provide an essential component for current simulation models of urban growth patterns, as both calibration and validation data. The first stages of the approach have been applied to examine urban growth between 1988 and 1995 for a rapidly developing area in southeast Queensland, Australia. Landsat Thematic Mapper image data provided accurate (83% adjusted overall accuracy) classification of broad land cover types and their change over time. The combination of commonly available remotely sensed data, image processing methods, and emerging urban growth models highlights an important application for current and next generation moderate spatial resolution image data in studies of urban environments.

Beyond Bias? The Promise and Limits of Q Method in Human Geography

Abstract: Q method is a quantitative technique for eliciting, evaluating, and comparing human subjectivity. We introduce the method here and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, especially with regards to its incorporation into human geographic research. We conclude that Q method is particularly appropriate for human geographies informed by anti-essentialist notions of the subject and constructivist accounts of social and natural reality. Claims by the founders of Q method that hold that the procedure distances and removes the bias of the researcher are shown to be unfounded and epistemologically naive. Nevertheless, Q method is a rigorous, hermeneutic, and iterative technique that allows the researcher to surrender the monopoly of control in their relationship with the researched and so contribute to more democratic research design and implementation.

When Fields Revert to Forest: Development and Spontaneous Reforestation in Post-War Puerto Rico

Abstract: During the past 50 years forests have recolonized extensive areas of Puerto Rico. Between 1950 and 1990 forest cover increased from 9% to 37% of the island's land area. In proportional terms more land has reverted to forest in Puerto Rico than anywhere else on earth during the second half of the twentieth century. This paper explores the geography of this process by matching changes in land cover with the characteristics of the land and communities in Puerto Rico. The reversion of agricultural lands to forest occurred most frequently in humid, upland, coffee-growing regions characterized by heavy out-migration and populations of smallholders who earned some of their income from off-farm sources. These findings suggest that changes in non-farm labor markets, as well as changes in the political economy of agriculture, have important impacts on the prospects for converting agricultural lands into forests.

Seasonal Variability of Northern Hemisphere Snow Extent Using Visible Satellite Data

Abstract: In this paper we use a satellite-derived data set to explore spatial and temporal variations of snow extent across Northern Hemisphere continents during the last three decades. These weekly visible-wavelength satellite maps of Northern Hemisphere snow extent produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration constitute the longest consistently-derived satellite record of any environmental variable. We document the considerable intra-annual variability of snow extent, and show that during each month, fluctuations over relatively small areas are responsible for the majority of the year-to-year variability. Regions that cover less than 6% of Northern Hemisphere lands north of 20°N explain 62%–92% of the interannual variance across the continents. On average, snow was more extensive across both Eurasia and North America from the 1970s to middle 1980s than during the late 1980s to late 1990s. During late winter, spring and summer, snow extent has decreased since the middle 1980s, while during fall...

Modeling Commuting Patterns in Chicago in a GIS Environment: A Job Accessibility Perspective

Abstract: Using the newly released Census for Transportation Planning Package (CTPP) 1990, this research utilizes GIS tools to explain intraurban variations of commuting in Chicago at the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) level. While commute times are directly available from the CTPP, commute distances are derived from the shortest time distances through real-world road networks. GIS surface modeling is used to help identify the major employment center (CBD) and other subcenters. The explanations of commute times and distances are attempted by various measures of job accessibility: the jobs-housing balance ratio defined in a floating catchment area, distances from the CBD and subcenters, and a gravity-based index that takes the effects of all jobs into account. These measurements better explain how far people commute than how much time they spend on commuting. The best model explains over 50% of the variation of commuting among 7,835 TAZs. This is a significant improvement over existing literature, which at best explain...

Applying the Political Geography of Scale: Grassroots Strategies and Environmental Justice

Abstract: The grassroots environmental movement often protests locally unwanted land uses. Many grassroots groups have, however, expanded their agenda to the scale of environmental justice. Explanations for this scale transformation include historical circumstances, individuals' radicalization through activism, and the growth of environmental justice networks. This case study, grassroots environmentalists' opposition to a proposed electricity transmission line in Monroe County, WV, explores another explanation: appeals for environmental justice are also a strategic response to siting regulatory procedures. With concepts emerging from the political geography of scale, I interpret the Monroe Countians' efforts and show how their strategies link the grassroots scale with that of environmental justice.

A Street Fit for a King: Naming Places and Commemoration in the American South

Abstract: The naming of streets after Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) is an importantarena for African Americans as they rewrite the landscape of southern identity and commemoration. While less ornate and ostentatious than museums and monuments, MLK streets are powerful and highly contested cultural geographies because of their potential to connect disparate communities and incorporate a vision of the past into the spatial practices of everyday life. They reveal the importance of location, particularly intra-urban location, to public memorialization. Naming streets for King is a significant part of the nonmetropolitan South as well as larger cities and dependent upon the relative size of a city's African-American population. When estimating the intra-urban character of MLK streets within several southern states, findings suggest that they are located in census areas that are generally poorer and with more African Americans than citywide averages. Analysis reveals a geographic unevenness in the frequency of businesses...

Faculty Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion: Barriers for Women

Abstract: Women faculty continue to experience academe differently than male faculty. A review of recent literature indicates that women's representation on university faculties has advanced slowly; women are less likely to be tenured or promoted compared to male faculty; and women faculty earn less than their male colleagues. A recurring theme is that the intellectual and social isolation of women faculty affects their research productivity. Gender stereotypes held by colleagues, departmental and college administrators, and students also contribute to the difficulties women face in the reappointment, tenure, and promotion process. A personal perspective on the reappointment process is provided in order to illustrate how isolation and naivete regarding the social structure of academe can affect a woman's career advancement. The benefits of greater representation of women on university faculties are reviewed, and departmental and college administrators are reminded of the important role they play in ensuring future ...

Interpreting the Civil Rights Movement: Place, Memory, and Conflict

Abstract: Produced over the past decade, monuments and museums dedicated to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s have desegregated America's memorial landscape. Tracing a broad arc across the US South, the material elements of this landscape — historic markers, monuments, parks, registered buildings, and museums — present a distinct challenge to representations of an elite, white American past. This challenge, however, is offered in a distinctly gendered manner, inasmuch as the role of women in organizing and leading the movement is obscured. Further, the historical narratives concretized at these sites are mediated by conventions associated with civil rights historiography and the tourism development industry. The result is a complex, sometimes ironic landscape. Via the narratives they embed and the crowds they attract, these landscapes are co-constitutive with contemporary politics of representing the past in the United States. This paper offers an overview of current memorial practices and representa...

Regional Inequality in China: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

Abstract: The tremendous changes in China's development philosophy and regional economies during the last two decades have carved out selectively new locations of development across the nation. While politicians heatedly debate the acceptable levels of regional inequality, most scholarly studies focus on broad aggregate trends of inequality among provinces and groups of provinces, and pay little attention to identifying and conceptualizing sources and major agents of spatial change. This paper aims at revealing detailed spatial ramifications of the reforms, and at understanding the impacts of the state, local agents, and foreign investors on regional development. To this effect, we conduct a disaggregated and empirical study of Jiangsu, a coastal province experiencing dramatic economic and spatial restructuring. We show that local agents which favor rural industrial enterprises accelerated new growth in selected rural areas, in contrast to slower growth of older cities and state-owned enterprises, resulting in a net decline of intercounty inequality. But the coalescence of state policy, local agents, and foreign investment has widened the historical gap between northern and southern Jiangsu, and is likely to accelerate intercounty inequality in the future. Our study demonstrates the utility of the “developments from above, below and outside” framework for analyzing key forces of regional growth in socialist transitional economies.

Thermal Remote Sensing of Near Surface Environmental Variables: Application Over the Oklahoma Mesonet

Abstract: Many recent studies have applied satellite remote sensing data to large-scale hydrologic and biospheric modeling. It is widely accepted that the thermal infrared observations from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) have the potential to estimate land surface conditions, such as surface temperature, near surface air temperature, and near surface water vapor. In this study, algorithms to estimate all three variables are presented and applied to an area covering the state of Oklahoma for a six day period in August, 1994. The results were validated using ground observations from the 111 station Oklahoma Mesonet. Validation of the remote sensing algorithms with Mesonet observations produced comparable results to previous validation studies. In addition, the validation process revealed inadequacies in thermal modeling that had not been detected in previous validation studies leading to the development of a new approach to estimate atmospheric water vapor.

Qualitative Methods for Research on Mapmaking and Map Use

Abstract: Contemporary cartographic research on mapmaking and map use has a broad mandate and, as a consequence, researchers need a broad suite of methods. Consistent with research developments in other geographic subdisciplines, cartographic researchers now use qualitative methods. They offer the advantage of bringing research closer to the problem-solving realms of mapmakers and map users. Our purpose here is to discuss an array of qualitative methods for mapmaking and map use. Questionnaires, interviews, and protocol methods are used to gather verbal data about mapmaking and map use. Ethnographies produce data from direct observation of mapmakers and users. Maps also are sources for document analysis. We use examples of published cartographic research to elaborate on each of these methods.

Global Cities and Circuits of Global Labor: The Case of Manila, Philippines

Abstract: The ‘global city’ concept has captured the attention of geographers and other social scientists. Research focuses predominantly on capital mobility and the important managerial role exerted by cities in the ‘developed’ realm (i.e., New York, London, Tokyo). The mobility of labor is also important and yet has been neither critically conceptualized nor sufficiently analyzed in existing studies of global cities. Using the Philippines as a case study, I examine 1) how global circuits of labor are socially organized, and 2) the extent to which this social organization is spatially concentrated in Manila. In so doing, I reaffirm the critical role played by Third World cities as global cities.

Small Business Ownership in Illinois: The Effect of Gender and Location on Entrepreneurial Success

Abstract: Forty percent of all firms in the United States are owned and operated by women. At current growth rates, women could own 50% of the nation's businesses by the turn of the century. Women have been prompted to start their businesses for many reasons, including the desire to avoid gender-based discrimination in the workplace. But female entrepreneurs who venture out on their own must still contend with gender discrimination. This study examines female entrepreneurship in Illinois through rural versus urban comparisons of male and female business owners. We surveyed 4,200 business owners to test the hypothesis that gender and geographic location combined to hinder the entrepreneurial success of women. Business owners were asked about personal attributes including gender, work experience, education, training, and prior career status. Entrepreneurs were also asked about firm characteristics such as financing sources, number of employees, revenues, problems encountered during startup, sector of new firm, geogra...

Real‐Time Calibration of Radar Precipitation Estimates

Abstract: One of the main concerns with precipitation measurements is that gage networks are almost always too sparse to provide an adequate spatial coverage of storm-scale precipitation. Gage measurements are representative only at the measurement site and are biased underestimates of the actual precipitation, mainly as a result of the effect of wind on the gage. Consequently, storm-scale, real-time assessments using only gage-measured precipitation are frequently inadequate. With the advent of the WSR-88D (formerly NEXRAD) weather radars, precipitation estimates at higher spatial resolutions (4 km by 4 km) are now available in real time. These radars use the reflectivity of S-band (10 cm) microwaves to provide an estimate of precipitation. Unfortunately, reflectivity is a function of the surface area of the raindrops and not their volume. As a result of this and other sources of error, radar precipitation estimates using fixed reflectivity-to-rainfall relationships are subject to substantial biases. To provide be...

Where Are the Great Plains? A Cartographic Analysis

Abstract: Geographic regions all have some degree of uncertainty, though this is seldom represented on their maps. Uncertainty of the Great Plains boundary is shown here by comparing 50 previously published maps of the region. These maps were found in a variety of sources, from classic 1930s geographic works to current regional studies on the Internet. By examining this diverse collection, a distinction can be seen between those maps using primarily physical criteria to define the region and those using cultural characteristics, or a combination of these two characteristics. This distinction is supported by trends in boundary shape, size, and even the map's date of publication. The Great Plains is shown as a complex region, subject to the interpretations of individual cartographers, and can be better understood by considering all points of view rather than any single boundary line.

U.S. Intercounty Migration in the 1990s: People and Income Move Down the Urban Hierarchy

Abstract: Internal migration within the United States continues to transform both the magnitude and composition of population at all geographic scales. During 1994 - 1995, the majority of counties gained both people and income, largely as a consequence of net outmigration by higher income migrants from the nation's most populous cities. Regionally, net gainers of both people and income included counties in the West and South as well as other areas renowned for environmental amenities. Spatially, net migration flowed down the urban hierarchy from large central cities to adjacent suburbs which, in turn, exported migrants to exurban areas. Large cities tended to exchange migrants with nearby counties as well as other large cities. Migration patterns such as these are contributing to spatial deconcentration and economic disparity.

Does I = PAT Work in Local Places?

Abstract: An aspect of global change currently not well understood is how processes operating on spatial scales finer than those used in recent global circulation models (GCMs) contribute to changes in atmospheric composition and the subsequent changes in climate. We use the ‘IPAT’ formulation as a framework to test relationships among social driving forces and user group greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in northwestern North Carolina. Using regression, correlation, and bivariate mapping to examine relationships between a suite of socioeconomic variables and GHG emissions for the residential, commercial/industrial, and agricultural end-user categories, we find that various measures of population and affluence serve equally well as explanatory variables.

The Environment of Gender and Science: Status and Perspectives of Women and Men in Physical Geography

Abstract: In 1995 and 1996 we undertook surveys to identify the status, perspectives, and contributions of women and men in physical geography and geosciences/geology, and to study the evolution of our fields. This paper presents the results of the physical geography survey, and considers the following questions: How have academic men and women physical geographers' professional development experiences differed? Do men and women in physical geography emphasize different research areas? Do their research methods differ from one another? Gender differences were identified most strikingly in rank and tenure status, research topics and methodologies, and professional satisfaction. Generational differences by academic rank were identified in professional satisfaction and in pull factors. Minor gender differences were found in dual career couple status, but this status had major effects on career choices and opportunities for both men and women. This paper is part of our larger project aimed at comparing and contrasting ...

Changing Patterns of Population Density in the United States

Abstract: Changing population density is often ignored in studies of population growth and population transfer in the United States. We show that there is a complex relationship between patterns of population growth and density increase by state. The largest gains in density are in the states of the northeastern megalopolis, California, and Florida. Analysis of the 150 counties with the greatest increases in density between 1980 and 1990 shows that they are well distributed across the United States including the larger metropolitan areas of the “Rustbelt.” In general, the most densely populated states and places are becoming more densely populated, a concept we refer to as densification.

Transnational Corporations and Local Embeddedness: Company Case Studies from Shanghai, China

Abstract: Many factors impinge on local involvement in transnational corporation (TNC) networks. Two factors have not been explored, the previous economic strength of local partners and the large domestic market. This study employs site interviews and survey data in Shanghai to demonstrate that these two factors do affect the local involvement in management, industrial linkages, and technology transfer. The paper discusses China's cultural and political background, TNC's market-capture motive, and equity joint ventures as the most common entry modes. The influence appears more evident when the two factors come together in joint ventures. Evidence also suggests that the overall localization level in Shanghai is lower than in some other developing countries because of the novelty of TNC investment in the city. On this account, as joint ventures constitute the main mode of TNC investment, increasing localization is anticipated in the years ahead.

Changing Intra-Urban Location Patterns of Major League Sports Facilities

Abstract: The boom in U.S. major league sporting venue construction has forced many cities to face issues related to the provision of such facilities, including the location choice. Recent data show that the suburbanization trend long assumed in the literature has been reversed, with a resurgence in downtown venues. This paper demonstrates the reversal and discusses the reasons behind this recent trend. These include a concomitant trend toward smaller market franchises, increasing corporate sponsorship, deliberate downtown revitalization strategies, and the advantages accruing to owners when different parts of an urban area compete for franchises.

Migration Propensities, Patterns, and the Role of Human Capital: Comparing Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican Interstate Migration, 1985–1990

Abstract: This paper expands the human capital model to compare the migration propensities of Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans within the U.S. between 1985 and 1990. Using the 5% PUMS from the 1990 U.S. Census, both aggregate migration streams and micro-level migration propensities are estimated for Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans. The effects of personal factors, the economic environment, and the presence of fellow nationals are examined in the context of larger geographic patterns, and discussed in terms of each nationality's immigration history and cultural context. While many factors effect migration behavior similarly, there are notable differences in the way education, English fluency, and unemployment rate affect migration propensity of the native-born and foreign-born of each nationality. Differences are also apparent at the macro-level. Puerto Ricans show signs of dispersing out of New York; Mexicans are redistributing within the Southwest; and Cubans are re-concentrating in Florida. Both levels of ...

Effectiveness of Conservation Reserve Programs and Land ‘Slippage’ in Southwestern Kansas

Abstract: Historically land reserve programs have been used to reduce soil erosion. Slippage, which occurs when the number of acres enrolled in a reserve program is not met by an equivalent reduction of acreage in production, has limited reserve success, however. This study addresses the effect of slippage on conservation reserves in southwestern Kansas from 1988–1994. Slippage has varied considerably on both spatial and temporal bases. At one extreme the programs were 100% successful in removing land from production, but at the other extreme, slippage rendered reserve programs nearly useless. Overall, slippage in the study area has greatly reduced conservation reserve effectiveness.

Mesoscale Satellite Bioclimatology

Abstract: This paper examines the strength of relationships between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and climatic data, when examined at the mesoscale. Mean monthly AVHRR NDVI data for 1988-1996 for the months of April through October for State of Kansas, its nine climatic divisions (CDs), and dominant land cover types within each CD were used. Corresponding climatic and water budget data were obtained or derived from National Climatic Data Center data. Temperature, precipitation, and NDVI deviations from normal were determined. Statistical analysis revealed significant relationships between NDVI and climatic variables, although strengths of the associations were modest. The highest correlation coefficient (r) for the state as a whole was 0.53, between NDVI and estimated actual evapotranspiration. When examined by climatic division or major land cover type, relationships between NDVI and a drought index were statistically significant in most cases and ranged from 0.30 to 0.56.

Unintentional Transgressions and Other Reflections on the Job Search Process

Abstract: In this article I examine connections between my past experiences on the academic job market and my research interests, particularly in regard to the notion of transgression. I offer my personal “story” of job seeking as a contribution to the dialogue concerning the relationships between personal lives and professional experiences, and as a case study of how considerations of merit can become clouded by personal and social discomfort with difference.

Applying Recent Developments in Time Series Econometrics to the Spatial Domain

Abstract: This paper surveys some recent developments in time series econometrics and examines to what degree they might have useful analogs in spatial econometrics. Spatial analogs of stationary vector autoregression models might be useful in modeling groups of spatial series, but the literature on non-stationarity and cointegration does not have a useful purely spatial analog. With the exception of some special cases, pure spatial series cannot be integrated processes. However, cointegration might apply to space-time processes. Space-time cointegration and Granger causality methods are developed and applied to explaining reductions in sulfur emissions in Europe.

Self-Organized Cognitive Maps

Abstract: This paper argues cognitive mapping is a learning process that can be simulated by a self-organizing neural network. The learning of city locations was considered in two studies. One study focused on the learning of city locations on four continents. Results indicated the neural network aligned the cities producing systematic errors similar to those in human cognitive maps. A second study had a neural network learn a biased sample of city locations in the United States. Results indicated a non-linear relationship between cognitive and physical distances. Self-organized cognitive maps naturally produce this non-linear relationship when information from more than one scale is mapped into one space.