Jay D. Gatrell

Using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems to Study Urban Quality of Life and Urban Forest Amenities

This study examines urban quality of life by assessing the relationship between observed socioeconomic conditions and urban forest amenities in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Using remote-sensing methods and techniques, and ordinary least squares regression, the paper determines the relationship between urban leaf area and a population density parameter with median income and median housing value. Results demonstrate positive correlations between urban leaf area, population density, and their interaction with median income and median housing value. Furthermore, leaf area, density, and their interaction statistically account for observed variance in median income and median housing value, indicating that these variables may be used to study observed quality-of-life metrics. The methods used in this study may be useful to city managers, planners, and foresters who are concerned with urban quality-of-life issues, and who are interested in developing and implementing alternative policy assessment regimes.

Growth through greening: developing and assessing alternative economic development programmes

Abstract The paper articulates how communities can capitalize on the specific benefits of urban forestry and assesses the outcomes of urban forestry efforts. To accomplish this, the paper defines the context of local economic development and urban forestry; outlines the economic, aesthetic, and ecological benefits of a smart-growth agenda that includes urban forestry; and presents two brief case studies that empirically assess the viability of urban forestry policy by measuring the dynamics of the urban canopy. The research methodology presented here can be used by policy-makers to assess policy outcomes and the overall success of smarter and greener economic development strategies.

Tourism, Heritage and Pilgrimage: The Case of Haifa's Bahá'í Gardens

This paper examines the tourist experience within the context of the Baháí Gardens in Haifa, Israel. Using Cohens (1979) typology and Smiths (1992) continuum model, we differentiate between visitors and perceptions of the same site. The study employs a mixed methodological approach that includes participant-observation, archival documents and short-informal and unstructured interviews with Baháí volunteers, tourists and guides, as well as empirical observations concerning the material landscape and the observed practices of pilgrims and tourists. As a result of the gardens dual-purpose nature (secular-religious), two very different experiences co-exist: those that relate to the ‘secular’ and those that relate to the ‘religious’ tourist. The contemporary nature of the garden makes the case of the Baháí Gardens and its cultural and economic context both more distinct – but also somewhat ambiguous as the perceived boundaries are unclear.

Geo-spatial technologies in urban environments

Applying Geo-Spatial Technologies in Urban Environments.- Remote Sensing of Impervious Surfaces and Building Infrastructure.- Policy Implications of Remote Sensing in Understanding Urban Environments.- Making Spatial Data Usable to the General Public.-Modeling Human-Environment Interactions with the Expansion Method.- The Relationship Between Urban Leaf Area and Summertime Household Energy Usage.- The Urban Environment, Socioeconomic Conditions, and Quality of Life: An Alternative Framework for Understanding and Assessing Environmental Justice.- Image Homogeneity and Urban Demographics: An Integrated Approach to Applied Geotechniques.- Local Government Perceptions of Urban Forestry.- Satellite Remote Sensing of Urban Heat Islands.- Remote Sensing as a Program Assessment Device.- Urban Sprawl Detection Using Satellite Imagery and Geographically Weighted Regression.- Satellites, Census, and the Quality of Life.- Urban Environmental Approaches: Policy, Application and Method.

The Cultural Politics of Local Economic Development: The Case of Toledo Jeep

This paper examines the inter–relationship between local dependence and local culture, reviews the historical development of Toledo’s industrial bases with an emphasis on automobiles and Jeep, and considers the historical context of the recent Jeep Crisis. The authors assert that the shared culture practices of Toledo residents –locality as cultures of production– contributed to community–wide mobilisation, the construction of a unique business coalition, and the resolution of the 1997 Jeep Crisis. Using a case study, the paper builds on a growing literature in economic and cultural geographies that repositions ‘culture’ as a core theme of contemporary economic development and demonstrates that the scalar politics of globalisation are not only local, but cultural.

People, pixels and weights in Vanderburgh County, Indiana: toward a new urban geography of human–environment interactions

This research examines the social-spatial dynamics of human–environment interactions in Evansville, Indiana, USA as well as the surrounding Vanderburgh County. Employing geographically weighted regression, this paper models the observed relationship between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and key sociodemographic parameters (housing value, median household income, percent of residents in poverty, population density and percent of population white). Further, this paper demonstrates that geographically weighted regression utilized within a GISci framework can be effectively used to visualize urban human–environment interactions and that the spatial distribution of environmental resources co-varies with socioeconomic conditions. Finally, the paper demonstrates that greenness indicators derived from remote sensing data can be used as proxy measures for observed sociodemographic variables.

Re-thinking economic development in peripheral regions

Abstract Economic development in peripheral or non-urban spaces has long been characteristic of so-called ‘branch plant’ and ‘back office’ economies. This conclusion has been premised on the explanatory potential of the product cycle model (PCM). The PCM suggests preliminary product and process innovations occur in core urban areas. Under that model, the diffusion of economic activities across space occurs only when the production process has been streamlined and routinized. Additionally, the geographic concept of spatial agglomeration has underscored the explanatory account of the PCM. In concert, the PCM and agglomeration illustrate the urban or core bias of traditional economic geography. This paper will reconsider regional development in peripheral areas within the context of an emerging new economic geography. Several themes of new economic geography, including the role of the state, the spatial division of labor, producer services, information technologies, and amenities, will be used to construct a proposed cumulative framework.

Structural and Compositional Change in Geography Graduate Programs in the United States: 1991–2001*

This paper presents an accounting of observed shifts within the structure and composition of geography graduate programs between 1991 and 2001. Using the AAG Guide to Programs, the study details how geographys primary divisions and areas of specialization have changed based on several parameters. These parameters include: department name, total tenure track lines, tenure track lines by major division (macrospecialization), tenure tracks by selected research areas (microspecialization), faculty rank, and degree programs. Using descriptive statistics, the paper identifies the structural implications of retirement in recent years, notes the emergence of new research areas (at both the macro- and microlevel), charts the expansion of traditional geography graduate programs, and the creation of new geography degree programs. The trajectory of the discipline is positive and growth continues. When and where reductions have been observed, the demographic transition of the professoriate is often an issue. Despite this inevitable transition, the growth and expansion of graduate programs continues and the overall pace observed is encouraging.

Collaborative Learning and Interinstitutional Partnerships: An Opportunity for Integrative Fieldwork in Geography

Abstract This article explores the contemporary function and value of field-oriented geography experiences for university-level students. The article details the design and delivery of an interinstitutional field course that partnered faculty and students—both graduate and undergraduate—from two geography programs with different curricular and research emphases. The article examines key aspects of the field course including strategies for obtaining and analyzing field data from both physical and human aspects of the discipline, the application and limitation of distance technologies within the context of field research, and the challenges and opportunities associated with field course experiences.

Empty spaces: neighbourhood change and the greening of Detroit, 1975–2005

This paper investigates the disappearing residential geography of Detroit, Michigan, between 1975 and 2005 by examining the relationship between the ‘greenness’ of the urban landscape and the structural thinning of residential areas via satellite imagery and census data. The study uses normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and key housing variables as a proxy for observed changes in neighbourhood structure that correspond to the neighbourhood life cycle. Ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were used to visualize the observed trends and performance of the models across space. Results from GWR analyses suggest the shifting residential geography of Detroit has changed from uniformly developed residential blocks to neighbourhoods that have experienced severe structural thinning across an urban landscape characterized by uneven development. The performance of the study models and parameters demonstrate how the relationships among NDVI and housing indicators, though significant, have diminished over time; this trend runs counter to green models applied to other urban landscapes, particularly those that follow the standard neighbourhood life cycle. Based on the empirical results, the study demonstrates the importance of understanding local histories and the broader socio-spatial context of cities when designing and implementing socio-spatial applications of remote sensing technologies.