Geography

"Geography is a discipline with a degree of tension.  The tension is between links to other disciplines and its integrity as a whole. Historically the discipline has found tectonic hotspots across divides between positivism and regional approaches, between political economy and the mainstream.  More recently, the discipline is finding that the emergent strands of GIS and remote sensing have much in common with related disciplines such as information systems and physics.  In the UK, key geography journals are struggling to get physical geographers to submit manuscripts to them because they are publishing elsewhere.  In this paper, I intend to explore the nature of the connections within and beyond geography education and to discern the changes taking place so that some ideas emerge for making a future for the discipline. 

The word ‘tension’ has a bad press.  It is often associated – thanks to TV advertising – with headaches.  It is like ‘stress’.  I have an uncle, a one-time Jesuit and later business consultant, who argues that there is bad stress and good stress, what he calls dis-stress and eu-stress.  Distress is negative and to be avoided, but eustress is a positive stress.  This is a necessary to complete projects, it is what gives you the ‘buzz’ to keep doing your chosen career, it is why people do sport, what a lot of actors enjoy about theatre performance and a lot of lecturers I know enjoy about the performance of large lectures and presentations.  Tension comes from a connection where there is stored energy.  The key is to channel that energy into positive outcomes. I will explore some connections and hopefully consider ways that the energy from the tensions I discuss can be positively channelled.

available at:
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=470364447465032;res=IELHSS

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"Accessibility and mobility have an important role in urban and regional development strategies, in a particular way for the touristic
uses of territories. Transport infrastructures constitute in fact necessary elements for the use of urban areas, but assume an extra function related to the valorization of the territory.
Furthermore structures for mobility are a component of the touristic supply system especially the rope transport structures
that offer dynamic and unique point of views. Cable ways in urban area have this characteristic more than other rope transport systems.
Starting from this assume, the article describes four projects developed in the last years in Campania Region and a transport system carry out in Perugia. The five study cases demonstrate how an increasing attention rope transport technology is diffusing in different contest especially for tourism uses.
The first case is the Giffoni Valle Piana inclined lift that should connect the city centre in the valley with the medieval Castle. This
project is strictly related to a general touristic strategy of the whole municipality. The second project regards the Ravello-Minori cable way and the objective to offer a sustainable alternative to the private car for travelling around two of the most beautiful areas in the Amalfi coast.
The third project is located in the centre of the city of Naples and regards a cable way for the connection between the principal museums of the metropolitan area: the National and the Capodimonte museums. The new infrastructure is well integrated in the multimodal transport network and will offer spectacular visuals for tourists and residents. The Perugia Minimetro is the fourth study case and constitute an example of good integration between sustainable transport and urban planning development. The last project is the Fisciano people mover that has the aim of connecting two university campus with the interchange station of the National rail network.
The description of the study cases give a general idea of the contest where the transport infrastructure is located, the general objective of the project and some information of the different technology used. In this way the general description of the cases can offer interesting remaks for students and professionals. Finally the article propose a comparison between the different transport technology, giving some construction data that have been synthesized in a table. In all the study cases emerge the importance of designing the new infrastructure not only for touristic uses, but also for systematic mobility. It is necessary in fact a strong integration of the new rope systems with the existing monility supply system.
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"Neoliberal economics have emerged in the post-Cold War era as the predominant ideological tenet applied to the development of countries in the global south. For much of the global south, however, the promise that markets will bring increased standards of living and emancipation from tyranny has been an empty one. Instead, neoliberalisation has increased the gap between rich and poor and unleashed a firestorm of social ills.

This book deals with the post-conflict geographies of violence and neoliberalisation in Cambodia. Applying a geographical analysis to contemporary Cambodian politics, the author employs notions of neoliberalism, public space, and radical democracy as the most substantive components of its theoretical edifice. He argues that the promotion of unfettered marketisation is the foremost causal factor in the country’s inability to consolidate democracy following a United Nations sponsored transition. The book demonstrates Cambodian perspectives on the role of public space in Cambodia's process of democratic development and explains the implications of violence and its relationship with neoliberalism.

Taking into account the transition from war to peace, authoritarianism to democracy, and command economy to a free market, this book offers a critical appraisal of the political economy in Cambodia.
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Reviews:

Gunn, G. C. 2013. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43.1: 188-191.

Brickell, K. 2011. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 52.3: 372-374.

Percival, T. 2011. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 32.2: 270-272.

Christie, R. 2010. South East Asia Research, 19.2: 349-372.

Ordóñez de Pablos, P. 2010. International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management, 1.4: 65-66."

"Abstract: This study focuses on the place, internal structure and foundation of civilian administration areas in Eastern Anatolia Region within the scope of administrative division systematic of the country. Afterwards, the status changes and other amendments on civilian administration areas are dealt with in their historical period by making analysis on the reasons.
Among various reasons for choosing administrative geography as the discipline, civilian administration areas as research topic, Eastern Anatolia region as the research site, historical, regional and administrative geography methods as the theoretical and methodological approach are primarily the several historical, administrative, political, social, cultural, economic and densely experienced facts that administrative geographical studies concerning Turkey are not included affluently in the current literature, there are not any geographical regional studies related to civilian administrative divisions, the Turkish communities who came Anatolia to settle considered at first the explorements in Eastern Anatolia Region and the region is in the planning and action orbit of various actors. As a result, we are of the opinion that this article will fill an important gap related to the studies conducted on administrative and regional geography in terms of subject, purpose and method.
Keywords: Region, Eastern Anatolia Region, civil administrative area, administrative status, administrative geography."

This paper investigates the range of contributions that engineering can make to a socially inclusive society. Reviewing how the concept of social inclusion differs from the concept of poverty, the multi-dimensionality involved and the connectivity between the various subsystems that constitute society, this paper illustrates the range of fronts open to civil engineers when seeking to tackle social inclusion but also how tackling social inclusion on one front may lead to exclusion in others. The result is a call for heightened awareness of the multi-dimensionality of social inclusion and the connectivity between different subsystems so that engineers can proceed with caution when construction social inclusion initiatives.

"Geographers are in demand in business, government, nonprofit, and education sectors due to the range of knowledge and skills they bring to their work. Few disciplines prepare individuals like geography for bridging the social and environmental sciences, as well as the arts and humanities.

Practicing Geography: Careers for Enhancing Society and the Environment is a comprehensive new resource from the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and Pearson, designed to prepare students for STEM careers in business, government, and non-profit organizations. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project brings together members of the geography community to discuss workforce needs, expectations, and core competencies in professional geography, profiling the professional applications of and opportunities in geography today. Practicing Geography presents dozens of geographers applying their knowledge, skills, and perspectives in communities, businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, both domestically and internationally."

"This video is a beginner's guide to metadata. The video expains what metadata is and why it is important to create it.

You can also view this video, and an interactive elearning module about geospatial metadata on the GoGeo portal website at

http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/gogeo/metadata/mdLearnMain.htm

These can be useful resources for lecturers who wish to introduce metadata to their students."