Mark W. Patterson

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.

The Geography of Beer

Historical Geography of Beer.- The geography of beer in ancient Europe.- The origins, dispersion, and evolution of the India Pale Ale (IPA).- The geographic history of beer.- Mapping United States breweries 1776 to 2012.- An historical overview of beer in Mexico, ca. 1850-1950.- Economic Geography of Beer.- The geography of Americas microbreweries and brewpubs.- Structural changes taking place in the beer industry in recent decades.- The explosion of craft brewing, culturally and economically, as of 1985.- Changing economic geographies of commercial brewing in the United States.- The British and their breweries: Geographical concentration and dispersion.- Cultural Geography of Beer.- Development of Beer Styles.- The popularity of microbrewing in the United States.- Brewing a sense of place: Neo-localism and the branding and marketing of beer in Canada.- The role of social media in the regionalism of craft and local beers.- Heritage and Tourism in Canadas brewing industry.- Physical and Environmental Geography of Beer.- The worlds great beer styles and their biophysical geography.- Sweetwater, mountain springs, and great lakes: A hydrogeography of beer brands.- The Global Hop.- Greening of the beer industry.- Environmental waste from beer making.

Local Government Use of GIS in Comprehensive Planning

The use of GIS by local governments for planning applications is increasingly becoming commonplace. In some cases, GIS departments have evolved into what Roger Tomlinson calls an enterprise-wide system, in which agencies easily share data among themselves. This chapter explores recent trends in the use of GIS for planning. We examine organizational structure, infrastructure, data sharing and data analyses. Specifically, we look at the use of GIS for compiling a Comprehensive Plan in Cobb County, Georgia and highlight models used by the County for green space preservation and industrial assessment. We conclude that the county’s decentralized organizational GIS structure facilitates data collection, maintenance and updating, and the enterprise-wide system infrastructure allows for easy data sharing among agencies and the public. These characteristics were vital in helping to assemble the county’s latest comprehensive plan.

Sustainability Attitudes and Actions: An Examination of Craft Brewers in the United States

Making beer is a multifaceted endeavor. Arguably, there are over 14 production stages in beer making, which can be simplified down to three stages – the brewing stage, the fermentation and maturation stage and finally, the packaging and distribution stage. Each production stage provides an opportunity for the brewery to engage in [more] sustainable views and practices. Given the focus of this edited volume, we were particularly interested in the economic, environmental and social sustainability attitudes and actions of craft breweries located in urban areas. Specifically, we wanted to explore the similarities and differences in sustainability attitudes and actions among urban craft breweries, as well as different brewery types, categorized here as brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional craft breweries. Using the three pillars of sustainability, we developed a survey designed to ascertain the attitudes and practices embraced by these brewery types. Findings show minor differences among the brewery types under the economic pillar, while brewpubs significantly differed from microbreweries and regional/regional craft breweries under the environmental and social pillars.

Sustainability Trends in the Regional Craft Beer Industry

Intensive water and energy use, copious volumes of wastewater and solid waste, and large carbon footprints make the process of brewing and distributing beer a not-so-(environmentally)-friendly industry. However, the rise of craft breweries and their perceived foci on environmental, economic and/or social sustainability trends have promulgated a “greening” in the beer industry at local to global scales. To assess the geographies of sustainability in the craft beer industry, we distributed a mixed method survey to all regional craft breweries in the United States. Overall, more sustainable practices have been adopted at various levels of the craft beer production, including the reduction of water and energy use and increased energy efficiency, the use of organic or local ingredients, and the incorporation of a culture that promotes sustainability. These and related findings showcase certain sustainability trends and practices being adopted by regional craft breweries in the United States.

Geographies of Beer

Beer is the third most widely consumed beverage, after water and tea (Nelson, The Barbarian’s beverage: a history of beer in ancient Europe. Abingdon, Routledge, 2005, p. 1). While four basic ingredients that create beer, namely water, grain, hops and yeast, make it seem like a simple beverage, the complexities rival (and perhaps outcompete) that of wine. Beer encompasses different types (e.g. ales and lagers), styles (e.g. amber ale, barley wine, Hefeweizen, IPA, pilsner, stout) and varieties of styles. To date, the Brewers Association has classified more than 140 different styles of beer (Brewers Association, 2012). Even the most discerning palette would be hard pressed to differentiate that many styles and varieties of ales and lagers. So how can such a simple beverage be so complex? In a word—geography.

The Perceptual Northwest

Our goal is to survey cultural perceptions defining the U.S. Northwest region. As geographers, we should concern ourselves with mental constructs of regions, as they can easily impede or facilitate communication. Assumptions of others’ regional boundaries and images may be erroneous. Over the past several decades, a handful of geographers have begun to examine these perceptual (or vernacular) maps and regions. Students at 21 colleges and universities were asked to identify: (1) boundaries of the U.S. Northwest region; (2) Northwest regional characteristics and symbols; and (3) what cities or other places best represent the Northwest. Nationally, student respondents largely followed the “official” area of the region regarding state boundaries, with Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as the core area. Student perception of characteristic cities and places followed this pattern, with referenced population centers spread across the threestate landscape. Regarding descriptive words and symbols, more emphasis is placed on Garreau’s coastal perception of the Northwest through terms such as rainy, trees, and mountainous. Regional differences showed up in perception of area, descriptive words, and symbols of the Northwest. Proximity led to different perceptions. Northwest students showed the smallest perception of the Northwest in geographic area, while those farthest away (Southeast students) mapped the largest Northwest. Difference from the home region also led to different perceptions. Students from less-forested regions emphasized trees more than students from more forested regions, who emphasized open and vast characteristics of the Northwest.

Urban Sustainability: Perspectives on Change

Sustainability resides at the nexus of philosophy, practice, politics, and technology. As such, the policies, behaviors, and discussions associated with “sustainability” are often contested. Despite the potential for conflict, nearly all stakeholders at all scales recognize that sustainability and sustainable practices necessarily extend from and/or interact across three domains: Social Systems, Ecological Systems, and Economic Systems. The systems, most often referred to as the three pillars (Environment, Economic, and Social), are sometimes complementary; but often are juxtaposed in a functionally perpendicular fashion. As a result, theory and practice are often side-ways and often result in partial or imperfect results.

Geospatial Technologies in Environmental Management

Wilderness and Wildlife Response.- Geotechnologies in Environmental Management.- Modeling Post-Eruption Habitat Changes for Deer at Mount St. Helens using Remote Sensing and GIS.- Pyrogeography: Mapping and Understanding the Spatial Patterns of Wildfire.- Assisting Natural Resource Management in Mammoth Cave National Park Using Geospatial Technology.- Glaciers.- Geospatial Techniques to Assess High Mountain Hazards: A Case Study on California Rock Glacier and an Application for Management in the Andes.- Glacier Inventory: A Case in Semiarid Chile.- Wetlands and Watersheds.- Employing a Geographic Information System for Wetlands Management in Nebraskas Rainwater Basin.- The Effects of Land Cover Change: Increasing Watershed Imperviousness in Kentucky.- Exploring the Spatially Varying Impact of Urbanization on Water Quality in Eastern Massachusetts Using Geographically Weighted Regression.- Human Health and the Environment.- Application of GIS in Evaluating the Potential Impacts of Land Application of Biosolids on Human Health.- Remote Sensing, Public Health & Disaster Mitigation.

Geotechnologies in Environmental Management

This edited collection, as a continuation of the “Geotechnologies and Environment” series, delves into the applications of geotechnologies for researchers, academics and end users interested in the real-world applications of geospatial technologies. While the previous two volumes focused predominately on the urban environment, particularly planning and socioeconomic applications (Gatrell and Jensen 2009) and urban hazards and disaster analysis (Showalter and Lu 2010), this volume’s focus is more aligned with aspects of the physical environment, and the role environmental management and natural resource practices (and to an extent its associated policies) impact physical landscapes and human-environment interfaces.