Using spatial statistics to identify and characterise ethnoburbs: establishing a methodology using the example of Auckland,New Zealand

Recent studies in the United States and other Pacific Rim countries have identified a new form of ethnic minority group clustering within the residential mosaic—ethnoburbs. These are suburban in location, occupied by relatively high-income, predominantly Asian, immigrants, and low density in their nature: many migrants move directly to those suburbs rather than the inter-generational outward migration from central city clusters typical of other migrant streams. Although ethnoburb residents tend to cluster in particular segments of the built-up area they do not to form large percentages of the population there. As yet, no methodology has been developed to identify these clusters, as a prelude to identifying their characteristics. This paper offers such a procedure, based on local statistical analysis. It is applied to six Asian groups in Auckland, New Zealand.     

Graduated incarceration: The Israeli occupation in subaltern geopolitical perspective

This paper highlights the importance of analysis of the microgeographies of occupation, and the spatially-differentiated means that the Israeli Occupation Forces use to maintain the occupation and create spaces of graduated incarceration for Palestinians. Using the examples of the hinterlands of Qalqiliyah and the old city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the occupied West Bank, this paper exposes the microgeographical differentiation the occupation mobilizes in its attempt to enact a panoptic sovereignty over the population, in the process of dispossession. This study challenges geopolitical formations of the state as primary actor, and focuses instead on narratives of Palestinians describing their own experiences of occupation by a hostile state. By relying on popular media, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, this paper seeks to incorporate a Palestinian vision of life under occupation to challenge traditional geopolitical visions of the Palestinian Israeli conflict, in effect creating a subaltern geopolitical narrative.     

Assessing “Urban Karst” Effects from Groundwater–Storm Sewer System Interaction in a Till Aquitard

Storm sewer systems and their associated utility trenches may strongly influence the effects of urbanization on a groundwater system. This study was undertaken to identify the causes of district-wide basement infiltration in an aquitard system. It comprised widespread continuous monitoring of utility trench wells and dye tracing from storm sewer system exfiltration tests. The results indicate that a major effect of urbanization on shallow groundwater is related to storm sewer system exfiltration, which is marked by a characteristic pattern of head variations in the aquitard unrelated to distributed surface infiltration. The aquitard constrains flow from storm sewer system exfiltration to the utility trench, creating an urban flow path for groundwater discharge. Temporary buildup of water levels in the utility trench drives relatively high-velocity flow through the permeable sewer bedding material of the utility trench to a separate foundation drainage collector system, ultimately causing a severe “urban karst” effect that produces system surcharging and widespread basement water infiltration. The main conditions causing the “urban karst” are the large hydraulic conductivity ratio between the utility trench material and the aquitard, and the shallow depth and low gradient of the storm sewer system imposed by a very flat drainage basin.     

Popular geographies and geographical imaginations: contemporary English-language geographical magazines

English-language geographical magazines present very different geographical imaginations to their readers than those portrayed by academic geographers, with whom the editors and publishers of those magazines have very little contact. There is a mutual lack of appreciation—which could have substantial consequences for the academic discipline. To increase academic geographers’ appreciation of the popular geographies being portrayed, the contents of recent volumes of three magazines—National Geographic, Geographical, and New Zealand Geographic—are distilled, with their major themes identified. One clear conclusion is that there is virtually no contact between the two imaginations: popular geographical magazines almost entirely ignore the work of academic geographers.     

Returns from a speculation

A reply to a recent paper by Setten.     

Resistivity of partially saturated Triassic Sandstone

The variation in resistivity with saturation of poorly cemented Triassic Sandstone samples from a site in the English Midlands has been measured. The measurements were obtained using an adapted four‐electrode technique, which utilizes conductive gelling agents between electrodes, avoiding the need to sputter electrodes directly on to samples – a difficult process with such friable samples. The measurements provide important information regarding the way in which resistivity varies with saturation in the Triassic Sandstone. The resulting variation in the observed resistivity versus saturation curves indicates the presence of significant pore‐scale variation between samples. Measurements have also been conducted on fully saturated samples. These indicate significant variation in the matrix conductivity between samples. The results have important implications for field‐scale monitoring of the unsaturated zone.