Landscape memory: the imprint of the past on contemporary landscape forms and processes

The imprint of the past upon contemporary landscape forms and processes is differentiated in terms of geologic, climatic and anthropogenic memory. Geologic memory refers to controls exerted upon relief, erodibility, erosivity and accommodation space (areas in landscapes where sediments are stored and reworked). These factors set the imposed boundary conditions within which contemporary landscape-forming processes operate. Climatic memory refers to the influence of past climatic conditions upon contemporary landscape forms and processes. Climatic controls exert a primary influence upon the nature of geomorphic processes, while the influence of climate upon ground cover affects the effectiveness of these processes. Climate change may induce profound alterations to the flux boundary conditions under which contemporary landscapes operate. This is exemplified by the variable imprint of glacial/interglacial cycles in differing parts of the world. Anthropogenic memory refers to the imprint of past human activities on contemporary landscapes, whereby human disturbance in the past altered landscape forms, processes and associated flow/sediment fluxes in a manner that continues to affect the way the contemporary landscape works. Contrasting examples from a tectonically stable landscape (Australia) and a tectonically uplifting landscape (New Zealand) are used to highlight the variable influence of geologic, climatic and anthropogenic memory upon the persistence and erasure of landscape forms and resulting implications for sediment flux in differing settings.     

Placing Geographical Imagination in Film: New Zealand Filmmakers' Use of Landscape

The paper explores the role of landscape in New Zealand films. How is the New Zealand landscape imagined and revealed? What kind of landscape do filmmakers present? I argue that New Zealand filmmakers tap into specific geographical imaginations when they make films, and that this results in certain kinds of landscapes being produced. I sketch the methodology used in a survey of New Zealand films and ‘read’ a selection of opening and closing sequences and ‘generic places’ found in a selection of contemporary New Zealand films. 1 then offer some conclusions about New Zealand films, and their production, portrayal and imagining of New Zealand.     

从生态学角度复原元代滦河上游的景观与物候

运用自然地理学和生态学的方法,根据元代古籍中的景观与物候信息复原了13~14世纪滦河上游及其邻近地区的自然景观：(1) 坝下的落叶阔叶林景观;(2) 坝缘和坝上东部的草甸草原景观;(3) 坝上西部的典型草原景观;(4) 北部的沙地疏林草原景观;(5) 河湖湿地景观。事实表明：从宏观上看,元代的景观结构与现代基本一致。另外,通过物候现象的古今对比,发现14世纪30年代夏季芍药的始花期比现代约提早10天,而14世纪中叶初雪较现代约提早10天。     

The Entrepreneurial City: Fabricating Urban Development in Syracuse,New York

This paper presents a case study of contemporary urban redevelopment in Syracuse, New York, within a theoretical framework drawn from urban political economy. Our analysis integrates the role of the local state in assuming the financial risk for a redevelopment project with an understanding of the meanings and role of a fabricated cultural landscape in ensuring the success of the project. We argue that the urban landscape is fundamentally embedded and implicated in the ongoing political economy of American urban places.     

恐惧景观及其在旅游地理学中的应用综述

恐惧景观作为一种具有特殊意义的景观,存在于自然界和人类社会。恐惧景观在生物系统中有巨大的生态效应,同样在人-地系统中深刻影响物质景观和集体记忆等各个方面。景观知觉、景观态度以及景观与人类的互动影响是当代地理学研究的重要主题,但对恐惧景观的研究仍然较为薄弱。文章对恐惧景观的概念和研究内容进行系统梳理,并探讨其在旅游地理学中的应用。主要结论包括：1）恐惧景观在生态学研究中已经形成恐惧生态学,相比而言,其他学科领域尚处于探索阶段。2）生态学对恐惧景观的定义和研究内容是动物的捕食风险感知,在其他相关研究学科上则主要从人与地方/空间之间的恐惧景观的呈现形式和景观感知进行研究。3）从恐惧景观、游客及情感三者的关联看,可以发现恐惧景观在旅游地理学的应用主要集中于情感地理、黑色旅游和情感特性3个方面。最后,提出未来可以跨学科多角度、情感心理及以黑色旅游为切入点对恐惧景观进行探索,深化旅游地理学领域的研究内容。     

The First World War from above and below. Historical aerial photographs and mine craters in the Ypres Salient

During the First World War, ancient siege techniques were used in an attempt to break through the stalemate in the trenches. This paper approaches the mine crater war from a completely new perspective and focuses on a landscape-scale approach rather than on fragmented individual sites. Thousands of contemporary aerial photographs have been used as a primary source of information to detect and understand the historical mine crater landscape along the former Western Front in Belgium. The paper presents a methodology for dating war features by means of a time series analysis of aerial photographs, confronting this historical landscape with a high-resolution Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) dataset.     

Musical Words, Musical Worlds

The recent ‘cultural turn’ in human geography has neglected music and its impact in the construction and understanding of landscape and the politics of place. Using the songs of the rockgroup U2 to show how geographic imagery is used for political purposes, this paper attempts to ‘breakthe silence’ of contemporary cultural geography.     

Heterolocalism: an alternative model of the sociospatial behaviour of immigrant ethnic communities

"This paper evaluates critically the applicability of the well-known assimilation and pluralist models to the contemporary ethnic landscape of the U.S.... We then consider an alternative model, labelled heterolocalism, which suggests that members of certain newly arrived groups may be able to sustain their identity as an ethnic community despite immediate or rapid spatial dispersion. The applicability of the heterolocal perspective to non-metropolitan and transnational phenomena is evaluated in subsequent sections of the paper."     

Locating day-labor employment: toward a geographic understanding of day-labor hiring site locations in the San Diego metropolitan area

Day-labor hiring sites are common features of the contemporary North American landscape. These are public and semi-public spaces where mostly male residents congregate daily in hopes of being hired for short-term work. Research on contemporary day-labor markets in the United States to date tends to be policy-oriented, intended to reduce the injustices that are a common part of life as a day laborer. Unfortunately, very little is understood about the spatial organization of day-labor markets. Drawing on more than five years of mixed-methods research in the San Diego Metropolitan Area (SDMA), this paper takes two important steps toward a spatial understanding of day-labor hiring sites. First, it demonstrates that informal hiring sites are established in locations that maximize laborers’ chances of finding employment. Second, it establishes a geo-spatial typology of hiring sites for the SDMA that can be used to better tailor day-labor support efforts and policy to site-level context.     

“A Mirror and a Lamp”: The Role of Power in the Rural Landscape Trajectory of the Ovens Region of Australia

Power relationships structure discourse and its influence on policy and rural land use planning, but little research has examined how this might be observed in the dynamics of rural landscape transition. In a qualitative case study of the Ovens catchment, Victoria, Australia, discursive power is observed through sites of tension between informant interpretations of past, present, and future landscapes and contemporary local decision making. Three main tensions and an observation emerged that suggest discourse and power can be observed through the transfer and support of social memory narratives. We conclude that the identification of tensions between stakeholder perceptions of the past, present, and future of their landscape; awareness of the influence of those interpretations on current decision making; and attention to social memory narratives can provide invaluable insights for those seeking to understand local relationships of power.     

新疆绿洲可持续发展若干问题初探

本文主要探讨了绿洲可持续发展的科学内涵及必要性，新疆绿洲可持续发展战略的重点以及实施过程中庆重视和处理好的几个关系。     

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

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 representations of the Civil Rights movement found at the country's major memorial landscapes.     

The Landscape of Contemporary Mainland China: A Review of Nine Educational Films

Abstract

One of the fundamental reasons geographers have cited for the non-study of contemporary China is the inaccurate blanket excuse that “there is no material available on mainland China.” While admitting that the scholarly resource base is not optimal for researches on China today, I contend that there does exist adequate material for continuing geographic awareness and concern with this nation so rich in geographic lore and material. One of the most effective means of retiring some enthusiasm for the intelligent study of China is the viewing and comparing of a number of recently produced educational films on mainland China. This short article is concerned with the review of nine such films and the creation of a basis for comparison between the films which would enable new China hands to gain some idea of the elements of landscape which are currently visible even to Americans. The films are analyzed briefly and compared in terms of footage on settlement phenomena, landscape modification, occupations, transportation facilities, rural landscapes, and regional coverage. Addresses of the relevant distributors are included to facilitate review of the films directly by interested teachers and students of China.     

A predictive model of archaeological potential: An example from northwestern Belize

Binary Logistic Regression is used to identify areas of high archaeological potential in a portion of northwestern Belize. The predictive modeling process involves remotely sensed imagery, Geographic Information System (GIS) data and techniques, and multivariate statistical approaches. Predictive variables represent both the pre-historic current landscape of the ancient Maya and the present day physical landscape. An optimal predictive model obtained using logistic regression includes one variable derived from a Landsat image representing contemporary vegetation patterns associated with Maya settlement and two variables derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) and an analog hydrography map representing resource endowments relevant to the ancient Maya. The predictive model identifies several areas of high archaeological probability as well as areas that are unlikely to contain any archaeological remains. Results can be used to inform future field surveys in a more cost efficient manner. Prior research has utilized remote sensing and GIS approaches for Maya site identification in the southern lowlands region of the Mexican Yucatan peninsula and the northern lowlands of Peten, Guatemala. This research represents the first landscape archaeological approach using satellite imagery for the Maya region in northwestern Belize.     

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

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 representations of the Civil Rights movement found at the country's major memorial landscapes.     

A Review of “War,Violence, and Population: Making the Body Count”

An understanding of the contemporary biogeography of a region must be predicated not only on the current environmental conditions that influence species distributions but also on historical factors including anthropogenic disturbance regimes. Increasingly, researchers are using historical data, such as the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) records, to create baselines from which subsequent biogeographic changes can be gauged. The present-day state of Oklahoma is unique in that two separate PLSS surveys were conducted in the state during a relatively short time span. We compare these two historical data sets, from the 1870s and 1890s, respectively, to quantify changes in landscape structure and woody plant assemblages corresponding to rapid demographic changes occurring within the Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma. During this period, the PLSS data show a landscape that became increasingly fragmented, as well as differences in stand composition and density. The documentation of these important historical anthropogenic changes occurring on the western fringes of the eastern deciduous forest could serve as a valuable guide for conservation and restoration initiatives.     

RESURGENT MEXICAN PHOENIX*

ABSTRACT. Popular impressions of Phoenix, Arizona perpetuate the notion that this metropolitan area is an overwhelmingly Anglo place. We challenge this assertion and demonstrate that the city has substantial Mexican roots and is presently being shaped by a vibrant, resurgent Mexican population. Employing historical records, surveys, and landscape data, we articulate the Mexican character of early Phoenix and highlight how the revival of Mexican Phoenix has transformed the urban landscape. We then relate how Phoenix's Mexican population is a more nuanced regional subculture formed through both historical and contemporary connections with specific Mexican states. We conclude with a call for greater understanding of the internal heterogeneity of Mexicans in the United States and how this can inform our geographical interpretations of the growing Latinization of American cities.     

Twenty years of land use and livelihood changes in SE-Niger: Obsolete and short-sighted adaptation to climatic and demographic pressures?

This paper explores the evolution of land use and natural resource management strategies over the past twenty to fifty years in a remote Sahelian region. The empirical example is Karagou village in SE Niger. Building on an in-depth survey from 1992 and a targeted, follow-up analysis of contemporary land use strategies in 2011, the change process is scrutinized.The analysis uses the conceptual lenses of land systems science, human–environmental timelines, and the notion of multiple exposures. Enabling and constraining conditions for local livelihoods in terms of the resource base (landscape, water, and population) are described. Results characterize how land use strategies have developed and how local people opportunistically use different landscape elements such as dune landscapes, valley bottoms (bas-fonds) and oases (cuvettes). Major concerns are rainfall variability, saturation of cropland, and perceived dwindling groundwater resources. It is concluded that the land use and livelihood strategies have remained remarkably stable in the face of the changing socio-ecological fringe conditions, but that this situation may hamper a sustainable transformation.     

Marketing the Chinese Dream Home: Gated Communities and Representations of the Good Life in (Post-)Socialist Shanghai

This paper examines the advertising themes and rhetoric that have been assembled in the place-marketing of Shanghai's newly built gated communities. We demonstrate how place-marketing strategies, in this case selling the Chinese dream home, draws upon specific landscape meanings and values that are embedded in Chinese/Shanghainese history, even as symbolic and cultural capital from the contemporary scene also exert their influences. Collectively, these representations of the good life both reflect and reinforce the exclusivist housing aspirations and privatist visions of middle-class residents of gated communities in contemporary Shanghai. While advertisements do not always achieve the outcomes that property developers wish for, there is no doubt that they play significant roles in both shaping and reflecting landscape meanings and values. As medium and outcome, they reveal the growing aspirations of a new Chinese middle class.