Environmental Geography

Emerging amenity landscapes: Invasive weeds and land subdivision in rural Australia

by Nicholas Gill

With Peter Klepeis and Laurie Chisholm, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 53(3). 317-334

Changes in landownership associated with amenity migration are affecting the demographic, cadastral and ecological... more Changes in landownership associated with amenity migration are affecting the demographic, cadastral and ecological conditions of rural landscapes. These changes and concerns about their impacts on natural resource management, including ecological conservation, relate to both the structural consequences of landownership change, land subdivision and to the motivations, management ability and attitudes of lifestyle oriented rural landowners. Based on an Australian case study near Sydney, NSW, this paper examines the motivations and practices of such landowners, assesses potential consequences for vegetation and characterises the landowners according to three stewardship types

Trial by Fire: Natural Hazards, Mixed-Methods and Cultural Research

by Nicholas Gill

With Christine Eriksen and Ross Bradstock, 2011, Australian Geographer, 42(1), 17-38.

This paper considers the issues of research ‘relevance’ and ‘use’ to reflect
upon a cultural geography research... more This paper considers the issues of research ‘relevance’ and ‘use’ to reflect
upon a cultural geography research project on bushfire that did not begin with any specific aim of being useful to policy makers but which has garnered considerable and ongoing interest from a broad audience. It provides an example of how the integration of quantitative and qualitative research methods and data can enhance research into cultural
aspects of natural hazards whilst simultaneously playing a key role in ensuring that the research results are of interest to a wide range of groups. Using a mixed-methods research approach was found to provide insight into complex factors that influence attitudes and actions towards bushfire amongst diverse landholders in rural-rban interface areas in
south-east Australia. We argue that mixed-methods research is a powerful tool in building and enhancing a cultural geography that has policy relevance, retains analytical depth, and is acceptable to risk managers. The ability of cultural geography through mixed methods research to illuminate how socio-cultural processes are central to environmental attitudes and preparedness behaviour has direct relevance to recent international discussions of how to manage the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in
bushfire-prone rural-urban interface areas.

What is the Problem: Usefulness, the Cultural Turn, and Social Research for Natural Resource Management

by Nicholas Gill

2006, Australian Geographer, 37(1), 5-17.

One strand of criticism of the ‘cultural turn’ in geography and other disciplines is that it produces research that is... more One strand of criticism of the ‘cultural turn’ in geography and other disciplines is that it produces research that is of limited ‘usefulness’ and has disarmed academics. This paper argues that elements of the critique of the cultural turn are overstated. It then argues that criticism of the ‘usefulness’ of cultural research rests on simplistic assumptions concerning the relationship of the social research to users such as policy makers. The problem is depicted as largely related to the nature of the information flowing to ‘users’. Such assumptions are critiqued through discussing the concept of ‘use’, influences on the use of research, and models of relationships between ‘users’ and researchers. Finally, the paper argues that a key issue in the relationship between policy making and social sciences is the users’ expectations. A recent example from research in natural resource management (NRM) policy making shows that ‘users’ of social science research can have a questionable foundation from which to assess social research. This example also points to clear roles for cultural research in NRM. The problem of connecting with policy makers is multidimensional. It is one for social researchers as a whole and it includes the norms and practices regarding nature and natural resources of potential‘users’.

Improvement in the Inland: Culture and Nature in the Australian Rangelands

by Nicholas Gill

with Kay Anderson, 2005, Australian Humanities Review, 34, www.australianhumanitiesreview.org

Theorizing ‘crisis’ as performative politics: a view from physical/environmental geography

by Marc Tadaki

Tadaki, M., McFarlane, K., Salmond, J., Brierley, G., 2011. Theorizing ‘crisis’ as performative politics: a view from physical/environmental geography. Dialogues in Human Geography 1 (3), 355-360.

As physical/environmental geographers, we respond to Larner (2011) in two ways. First, we argue that the crisis frame... more As physical/environmental geographers, we respond to Larner (2011) in two ways. First, we argue that the crisis frame – which she caveats, but implicitly accepts – is problematic because it performs and legitimates a certain kind of politics, and pulls analytical foci away from other approaches. The ontological and epistemological moments of Larner’s crises require clarification, and the ‘value added’ from declaring yet more geographical crises needs to be assessed. Second, we develop epochal themes from physical geography to converse with Larner’s call for more situated approaches to the production and circulation of knowledge. Place-based and historically contingent science and knowledge networks are increasingly important for understanding and enacting progressive and sustainable environmental governance regimes. Physical and human geographers can find productive common ground in developing situated knowledges of ‘change response’ across a spectrum of social-environmental concerns.

Nature, culture, and the work of physical geography

by Marc Tadaki

Tadaki, M., Salmond, J., Le Heron, R., Brierley, G., 2012. Nature, culture, and the work of physical geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2011.00495.x.

Human–environment relationships are increasingly regarded as complex and worthy of interdisciplinary scrutiny. In this... more Human–environment relationships are increasingly regarded as complex and worthy of interdisciplinary scrutiny. In this context, several physical geographers have made calls for their subdiscipline to take a ‘cultural turn’ and engage more fully with human elements of environmental change. However, despite sharing a general commitment to thinking about the material implications of human behaviours, definitions proposed for a cultural physical geography lack theoretical rigour and consistency. This paper interrogates the prospects for a refreshed cultural turn in physical geography by situating it within its constitutive, historical and institutional dimensions. First, how might ‘culture’ be defined and constituted, and with what implications? This question recognises that conceptual work around culture depends upon the sociotheoretical paradigms that are chosen. Second, an exploration of key moments in the definition of geographical research projects and trajectories provides insight into why this turn has not happened before, and what kind of work was pursued in its place. Third, a cultural turn positions physical geography to do particular kinds of work within wider ecologies of knowledge production. Careful reflection on the methods and commitments of different approaches is needed to assess where and how such a project might be at all geographical. The notion of culture embraced and practised by physical geographers has material, epistemological, institutional and ethical implications. Broadening the scope of ‘work’ from the outputs to the outcomes of geographical practice creates the conceptual space for much needed reflection and dialogue. A cultural turn that acknowledges the ‘webs of significance’ within which physical geography is embedded presents a progressive trajectory of inquiry.

Freshwater geographies: experimenting with knowing and doing geography differently

by Marc Tadaki

Brendon Blue, Claire Gregory, Kiely McFarlane, Marc Tadaki* and Petra van Limburg-Meijer and Nick Lewis

New Zealand Geographer 68, 63-66.

The fair and effective governance of freshwater is an increasingly prominent issue in New Zealand. Emerging from a... more The fair and effective governance of freshwater is an increasingly prominent issue in New Zealand. Emerging from a complex of cultural, economic and biophysical narratives, freshwater geographies are multiple, varied, and increasingly acknowledged as worthy of interdisciplinary scrutiny. In this commentary we reflect on a series of generative spaces that we - as group of postgraduate geographers (plus a supporting staff) - created to engage with the multiplicity of freshwater meanings both within and beyond the academy. Through this evolving epistemic-political project, we significantly reframed our own understandings about what freshwater 'is' and how it ought to be governed. By pursuing a deeper understanding of how the world gets made, we expand our ability to know and make it differently.

A GIS Comparative Analysis of Bronze Age Settlement Patterns and the Contemporary Physical Landscape in the Jazira Region of Syria

by Tony Mathys

Most of the datasets presented in this thesis are available for free in ArcGIS shapefile format on the ShareGeo Open data repository at http://www.sharegeo.ac.uk/.

These datasets are available for everyone to use as it is important to encourage data sharing in support of research activities.

There are also some CORONA satellite images available on ShareGeo for the Syrian Jazira region. The plan is to eventually provide complete CORONA coverage for this region, though geo-referencing will not be precise as it's intended to be more for user orientation.

Acknowledgement should go to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which makes CORONA imagery available via its EarthExplorer online data service at http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/NewEarthExplorer/
Many CORONA images are available to download for free from this service, though require processing and geo-referencing for use in a GIS or a software package for processing remotely sensed imagery.

Relevant to this, and the thesis, is the following paper presented which first introduced how CORONA satellite imagery could be applied to archaeological work in the Near East. Martin Fowler also wrote about the potential of CORONA in the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) news.

Mathys, Tony. “The Use of Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs in a GIS (IDRISI) to Map Archaeological Sites and the Surrounding Landscape in the Northeastern Region of the Syrian Jazirah. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute, NASA and St. Cloud State University Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology Conference. St. Cloud, Minnesota, May 29-31, 1997.

Unfortunately, papers presented at this conference were not published.

My gratitude and thanks to Dr Sarah Parcak for citing this unpublished conference paper in her book (Satellite Remote Sensing in Archaeology), and to Dr Aled Rowlands and Dr Apostolos Sarris for citing it in their Journal of Archaeological Science article 34 (2007).

Remote Sensing & GIS Based Spatio-Temporal Change Analysis of Wetland in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

by Asif Ishtiaque

Published in 'Journal of Water Resource and Protection', Volume 3, No. 11.

Co-authored with Mallik Sezan Mahmud, Arif Masrur, Fouzia Haider and Ummai Habiba

Landscape of Dhaka city—one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, is continuously changing due to... more Landscape of Dhaka city—one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, is continuously changing due to un-planned urbanization. For example, the wetlands of the city have been shrinking. This study evaluates wetland changes in Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA), Bangladesh, between 1978 and 2009. Spatial and temporal dynamics of wetland changes were quantified using four Landsat images, a supervised classifica- tion algorithm and the post-classification change detection technique in GIS environment. Accuracy of the Landsat-derived wetland maps ranged from 87% to 92.5%. The analysis revealed that area of wetland and Rivers & Khals in Dhaka city decreased significantly over the last 30 years by 76.67% and 18.72% respec-tively. This changing trend of wetlands makes the drainage system of Dhaka City vulnerable, creating water logging problems and their consequences. Land filling and encroachment were recognized to be the main reasons for shrinking of the wetlands in the city. Development and alteration of the existing water bodies should consider the natural hydrological conditions.

Alternative Energy against Conventional Energy: Situation in Bangladesh

by Asif Ishtiaque

Published in www.attrue.com in April 2, 2012

Reliance on prey derived nitrogen by the carnivorous plant Drosera rotundifolia decreases with increasing nitrogen deposition.

by Jonathan Millett

Millett J, Svensson BM, Newton J, Rydin H. 2012. New Phytologist. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04139.x

• Carnivory in plants is presumed to be an adaptation to a low nutrient environment. Nitrogen (N) from carnivory is... more • Carnivory in plants is presumed to be an adaptation to a low nutrient environment. Nitrogen (N) from carnivory is expected to become a less important component of their N budget as root N availability increases.
• We investigated the uptake of N via roots versus prey of the carnivorous plant Drosera rotundifolia growing in ombrotrophic bogs along a latitudinal nitrogen deposition gradient through Sweden, using a natural abundance stable isotope mass balance technique.
• D. rotundifolia plants receiving the lowest level of N deposition obtained a greater proportion of N from prey (57%) than plants on bogs with higher N deposition (22% at intermediate and 33% at the highest deposition). When adjusted for differences in plant mass this pattern was also present when considering total prey N uptake (66, 26 and 26 µg prey N plant-1 at the low, intermediate and high N deposition sites respectively). The pattern of mass adjusted root N uptake was opposite to this (47, 75 and 86 µg N plant-1).
• D. rotundifolia plants in this study switched from reliance on prey N to reliance on root derived N as a result of increasing N availability due to atmospheric N deposition.

Scales of Urban Ecology: Waterways, Highways and Contested Landscapes in Hamilton, Ontario

by Rich Oddie

Environmental conflict and democracy in Canada

by Rich Oddie

Mutualism, Eco-Design, Political Ecology, Climate Change Talk given to the 'Design after the Gift Symposium' Parsons, The New School for Social Research, New York, April 1st 2011

by Damian White

Talk given to the Design after the Gift Symposium at the New School, Parsons. An attempt to think about the gift,... more Talk given to the Design after the Gift Symposium at the New School, Parsons. An attempt to think about the gift, mutualism, political ecology, Bookchin, Colin Ward, eco-design, humanism after post-humanism and post apocalytic modes of eco-design. All work in progress but comments (+/-) more than welcome.

US Environmental History and Social Ecology Talk given to Yale University School of Environmental Studies and Forestry 13th April 2011

by Damian White

Talk I gave to Yale University School of Environmental Studies and Forestry, April 13th, 2011 about Murray Bookchin and US environmental history.

Hierarchy Domination Nature Critical Theory Social Ecology and Historical Inquiry

by Damian White

Historical social theory, nature and the domination of nature debate - Bookchin, the production of space/nature (Smith/Lefebvre) and beyond...bits on stones and bones and the early environmental histories of early humans....issues I am still very interested in......The paper posits a natural affinity between Neil Smith's production of nature thesis and much of empirical work emerged in archeology and anthropology on early humans and their environment....It would seem to me that we have been involved in the production of nature much longer than is commonly recognized (it didn't just start with capitalism/modernity) and this has real implications for how we think critical theory & critical ecological theory.

Technonatures Introduction White Wilbert

by Damian White

An attempt to survey and think through the political implications of hybridity discourses such as Latour and Haraway for environmental politics. This is the introductory chapter from D.White and C.Wilbert (Eds) Technonatures: Environments, Technologies, Spaces, and Places in the Twenty-first CenturyISBN13: 978-1-55458-150-4, 2009.

Lots of other really interesting cuts in the book from Erik Swyngedouw, Sarah Whatmore, Mike Michael, Steve Hinchliffe and others ...check it out at Available from http://www.wlu.ca/press/Catalog/white-wilbert.shtml

On Grand Canyon Postcards

by Yolonda Youngs

The Grand Canyon: Nature, vision, and history

by Yolonda Youngs

Beyond Parks and Polygons: Historical GIS, National Parks, and Opportunities Bekon Historical Geographers"

by Yolonda Youngs

This is a short essay I wrote for "Past Place" the newsletter of the Historical Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers.