Human Geography Commons^™

Washington Heights/Inwood Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations 1990 – 2005 With A Special Focus On The Dominican Population, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning New York City based Latinos in Washington Heights and Inwood – particularly Dominicans.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Since the 1980s the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood has been transformed by the immigration of a large Latino population of whom Dominicans have been the most prominent national group. Latinos made up …

Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations In Bronx Community District 9: Parkchester, Unionport, Soundview, Castle Hill, And Clason Point, 1990 - 2006, Astrid S. Rodríguez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report analyzes demographic and socioeconomic characteristics among the five largest Latino nationality groups during 1990-2006 in the NYC Community District 9 of the borough of the Bronx, which comprises the neighborhoods of Parkchester, Unionport, Soundview, Castle Hill, and Clason Point.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino subgroup in the Bronx Community District 9, accounting …

The Latino Population Of New York City, 2007, Laura Limonic

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report provides and in-depth demographic profile of Latinos in 2007 New York City.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: New York City’s Latino population increased by 2.5% between 2006 and 2007. Puerto Ricans remained the largest national group among all Latinos (778,628) and 33.3% of the total Hispanic population of the City, an increase of .9% since 2006. Even though …

“Left In The Forest And Forgotten” Land Policy And The Plight Of The Benet, Anne Dirkse

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In carrying out my independent study project on the issue of the Benet being displaced by the creation of Mount Elgon National Park, I had three main objectives in my mind. My first objective was to investigate and gain a balanced perspective of the effects of the Benet’s most recent eviction from Mount Elgon National Park. Secondly, I wished to analyze the government’s role as a duty bearer in compensating and resettling the Benet for their land. Lastly, I wished to explore the Benet Community’s options for redress within the legal system.

The methods I utilized included a literature review, …

Darfur: Rainfall And Conflict, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

Data on rainfall patterns only weakly corroborate the claim that climate change explains the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced more than two million persons. Rainfall in Darfur did not decline significantly in the years prior to the eruption of major conflict in 2003; rainfall exhibited a flat trend in the thirty-years preceding the conflict (1972-2002). The rainfall evidence suggests instead a break around 1971. Rainfall is basically stationary over the pre- and post-1971 sub-periods. The break is larger for the more northerly rainfall stations, and is less noticeable for En …

Bicycle Space And The American Urban Landscape: Re-Thinking Distance And Mobility In The City, Katie (Kathleen) Gill

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Since its arrival in the United States, the bicycle’s place in public space has influenced, and been influenced by not only road improvements and infrastructure investments but also by the social production of what it means to be mobile and to circulate throughout the city. Drawing upon the theory of “Time- Space Compression” posited by the geographer David Harvey, I propose that the bicycle can compress time and space in urban environments where time-space compression is occurring for motorists and their automobiles. But yet, bicycles (and their riders) have been consistently and systematically excluded from the American urban landscape; keeping …

Mapping The Evolution Of 'Food Deserts' In A Canadian City: Supermarket Accessibility In London, Ontario, 1961–2005, Kristian Larsen, Jason Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

Background: A growing body of research suggests that the suburbanization of food retailers in North America and the United Kingdom in recent decades has contributed to the emergence of urban 'food deserts', or disadvantaged areas of cities with relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food. This paper explores the evolution of food deserts in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario) by using a geographic information system (GIS) to map the precise locations of supermarkets in 1961 and 2005; multiple techniques of network analysis were used to assess changing levels of supermarket access in relation to neighbourhood location, socioeconomic characteristics, …

Introduction: Cotton, Globalization, And Poverty In Africa, William G. Moseley, Leslie C. Gray

Environmental Studies and Sciences

This volume employs a modified commodity chain approach, focusing on the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of cotton production in Africa, and the links between this production and the global market. Individual chapters may examine one or multiple levels in the commodity chain and employ different theoretical approaches, from ethnography, to agroecology, to political ecology, to classic economic analysis. We want to acknowledge, however, that while the commodity chain is an important part of cotton dynamics, it is not the only force at work in African cotton. There are new and interesting developments outside the commodity chain that work for …

Cotton Production In Burkina Faso: International Rhetoric Versus Local Realities, Leslie C. Gray

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Voices ranging from the editorial page of the New York Times to organizations such as Oxfam and the presidents of Burkina Faso and Mali have argued that U.S. cotton subsidies depress world cotton prices and hurt African farmers. These policies deny West African countries their comparative advantage in cotton, which they can produce more cheaply and with lower environmental impacts than farmers in the United States. Some have gone as far as phrasing this as a national security issue; editorials in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have suggested that removing subsidies would have a strong auxiliary …

Conclusion: Hanging By A Thread: The Future Of Cotton In Africa, Leslie C. Gray, William G. Moseley

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Several broad themes emerge from the chapters in this volume. While declining world prices are a serious issue, the ability of farmers to weather declines in prices is often determined by national and local issues. These include government policy, institutions that provide marketing and supply services, access to resources such as land, labor, and agricultural inputs, and individual decision making. Despite declining world prices, some cotton growing economies have had success with cotton production while others have not fared well. In particular, the failure of cotton institutions in many countries is striking.Whether it comes to managing input distribution, new technologies, …

Getting To Know Lents: A Thematic Atlas Of Healthy Eating And Active Living, Allison Adcox, Marina Carter, Allen Davis, Jonathan Gray

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

This project was made possible by Portland State University spring and summer capstone students 2008 in conjunction with Community Health Partnership: Oregon’s Public Health Institute. This atlas describes some of the work of the Lents neighborhood Healthy Eating Active Living initiative, which is directed by Noelle Dobson of the Community Health Partnership, Oregon’s Public Health Institute. Created through a lens of healthy eating and active living, this atlas is intended to describe the historical richness and importance of the Lents community and exhibit significant projects and programs in the area.

Small Town Urban Revitalization: The Effect Of Pullman Square On Downtown Huntington, West Virginia, Amy R. Blankenship

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

After many years of being the center of shopping, business and entertainment, the downtown began to decline nationally. This decline began after the end of WWII and ran concurrent to the beginning of suburbanization and the emergence of large, indoor shopping malls. Many cities began to realize the importance of a healthy downtown and implemented strategies to revitalize their downtown. This thesis focuses on the emergence of Pullman Square in Huntington, WV, its effect on the downtown, and how it has spawned other retail development and revitalization strategies throughout the city center.

Expansion Of Golf Courses In The United States, Darrell Napton, Chris Laingen

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Twenty-five million Americans play golf on the nation's 16,000 courses each year. These golf courses constitute a significant national landscape feature. Since 18789, when the game arrived in the United States, golf has filtered down the urban, economic, and social hierarchies to become accepted by and accessible to most Americans. During the ensuing thirteen decades the number, location, and layout of the nation's golf courses have responded to many of the same driving forces that impacted the nation, including decentralization, growth of the middle class, war, economic depression, suburbanization, and the increasing role of the federal government. Four epochs of …

Expansion Of Golf Courses In The United States, Darrell E. Napton, Chris Laingen

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Twenty-five million Americans play golf on the nation's 16,000 courses each year. These golf courses constitute a significant national landscape feature. Since 18789, when the game arrived in the United States, golf has filtered down the urban, economic, and social hierarchies to become accepted by and accessible to most Americans. During the ensuing thirteen decades the number, location, and layout of the nation's golf courses have responded to many of the same driving forces that impacted the nation, including decentralization, growth of the middle class, war, economic depression, suburbanization, and the increasing role of the federal government. Four epochs of …

Not Your Father’S Border: An Examination Of The Border In Northern Ireland And Its Relevance To The Global Change In The Importance Of World Borders, Aaron Patterson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Humanity has long maintained barriers separating specific entities from others. Ranging from cultural, religious, financial, and racial differences among a few others, the reasoning behind borders has remained a purely human endeavor. But our current golden age of technology has somewhat shrunk, or at least reassessed the necessity for borders. The boundaries of today, while many remain in the same locations as in the past, are vastly different from the borders created by previous generations. Globalization, a relatively new term, has made communication simple and fast. The noticeable result has been, of course, better communication between locations, and thus easing …

Maya: An Integrated Curriculum Unit, Institute For The Development Of Gifted Education, Ricks Center For Gifted Children, University Of Denver

Ricks Curriculum Units Series

An integrated curriculum is an instructional approach that connects the disciplines to an underlying theme or topic. Immersing students in an integrated-thematic unit provides the backdrop for experiences to occur across the disciplines. Shaping coursework around integrated themes is especially appropriate for gifted students, however using an integrated-thematic curriculum is appropriate for all learners as it develops students' abilities to make connections, to solve problems by looking at multiple perspectives, and to integrate information from different fields of experience. An integrated-thematic curriculum permits students to be active participants in their own learning as they design their own explorations and take …

The Perceptual Northwest, James Lowry, Mark Patterson, William Forbes

Faculty Articles

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 …

Diminished Access, Diverted Exclusion: Women And Land Tenure In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

Increasing commercialization, population growth and concurrent increases in land value have affected women's land rights in Africa. Most of the literature concentrates on how these changes have led to an erosion of women's rights. This paper examines some of the processes by which women's rights to land are diminishing. First, we examine cases where rights previously utilized have become less important; that is, the incidence of exercising rights has decreased. Second, we investigate how women's rights to land decrease as the public meanings underlying the social interpretation and enforcement of rights are manipulated. Third, we examine women's diminishing access to …

Land Tenure And Rental In Western Sudan, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray

Economics

This paper reports on aspects of land tenure in western Sudan, especially the nature of tenure insecurity and the functioning of the land rental market. The active land rental market accounted for about one-third of cultivated land. Patterns of land rental transactions, and tests of the importance of insecurity in renting land, where the owner may not be able to reclaim land rented out, do not support the presumption that rental markets perform poorly. The role of the sheikh as administrator of village land, and the claims of large landowners to vast tracts, are, however, important political problems that must …

The Human Activity-Travel Rescheduling Decision Process, Andrew F. Clark

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over the past few decades the activity scheduling decision process has become an important topic for transportation researchers, including how people reschedule their daily activities and travel in reaction to change. Rescheduling decisions include modifications/updates to timing, location/route, involved persons, event/mode type, and other attributes of activities/trips, as well as addition and deletion of completely new events. Such decisions occur as part of an ongoing process over time, space and across individuals. This thesis developed and applied a new data collection methodology for exploring the rescheduling decision process. The methodology had four main stages: capturing preplanned schedules; Global Positioning System …

Intra-Urban Analysis Of Commercial Locations: A Gis-Based Approach, Christopher D. Storie

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The urban landscape is an interspersed mixing of residences, shops, theaters, parks, natural areas, and a multitude of other uses. From the early days of the central markets, to the planned downtown, to the heavily planned super-regional shopping complexes, commercial landscapes evolve. There has been considerable research conducted on analyzing the commercial structure of urban environments in an attempt to better understanding the nature of retailing and its resultant impacts on the geography of the city.

This research has three broad goals: a) to develop a technique that makes operational, in a systematized and objective manner, an approach to analyzing …

Assessing The ‘Hazards Of Place’ Model Of Vulnerability: A Case Study Of Waterloo Region, Erin Joakim

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research project examines the Hazards of Place model of vulnerability (as developed by Cutter, 1996) to determine whether it is applicable in a Canadian context.

An in-depth case study of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo was used to determine whether the model accurately describes:

1. emergency and community practitioners understandings of vulnerability and vulnerable populations in Waterloo Region
2. emergency and community practitioners perceptions of the variables that influence vulnerabilities
3. mitigation and preparedness efforts that could be enhanced and/or implemented to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and groups in Waterloo Region

To complete this study, in-depth interviews and surveys were conducted …

How The Formal Education System In Kenya Is Changing The Culture Of The Maasai Community, Jennifer Coles

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Colonialism brough Africa into the sphere of European dominance and laid the ground work for the adoption of neoliberal globalization. This has affected change for the Maasai of southern Kenya who had attempted to remain isolated for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, such cultural isolation has been disrupted by global tourism and the desire of western citizens to view and participate in ‘authentic’ experiences in unique Maasai environments; thus creating a global desire to visit the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR). The MMNR is part of Maasailand and has exposed many in the surrounding communities to new …

Multi-Method Assessment Of Newcomer Settlement Experiences In Kitchener-Waterloo, Qaseem Ludin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Every day hundreds of newcomers begin a new life in Canada. Some are refugees fleeing persecution, others come to join family, and yet others (mostly the economic and independent categories) are seeking to make a better life for themselves. In all, since 2000 around 250,000 people have settled in Canada each year. Their backgrounds and personal histories may be widely different and each one’s experience on arrival is unique. The communities across Canada into which they integrate differ too in their character and in the manner in which they receive newcomers. For many new Canadians, there are, nevertheless, certain shared …