Papers by Christian Bittner
Land Use Policy, 2013
ABSTRACT The paper analyses the changing pattern of land uses in rural settlements located in the... more ABSTRACT The paper analyses the changing pattern of land uses in rural settlements located in the rural–urban fringe and makes a link between the results to socio-economic developments and to changes in the rural policy at the national level. Using historical sequences of land use maps and using geostatistical analysis, we observe changing land use patterns in three Moshav type settlements – the most common type of rural settlement in Israel – in three different rural–urban fringes belts along the coastal area. We identify basic trends of specialisation and intensification of agricultural land use as well as expansion of built up structures for residential and commercial purposes. These trends which are rather similar for all three cases, we argue, reflect economic and social changes in rural settlements in general and in the rural–urban fringe in particular. The evolving patterns in the three Moshavim in the Israeli rural–urban fringe (RUF) can be understood as adjustment measures at the household level to development and changing policies at the macro level, particularly towards the rural sector. There are two major domains of change. First, a transition from dependence on farming to a more diversified economic base suggesting newly shaped interrelationships with the urban space. Second, a new residential development program which has rejuvenated failing and ageing rural settlements. The outcome is a major process of restructuring which affects the economic, social and environmental spheres, and necessitates sensitivity on the part of institutional decision makers towards the complex and diverse realities of relevant actors on the ground, through which all current and future land use policies are mediated. Moreover, being exposed to uncontrolled and often chaotic adjustment measures over the last three decades, it might be necessary to regulate and preserve some of the Moshav’s distinct features so it does not to fade into an ‘ordinary suburb’.
Kritische Kartographien der Stadt
In: B. Belina, M. Naumann und A. Strüver (Hg.): Handbuch kritische Stadtgeographie. Münster, Westf, 64–70., 2014
Reproduktion sozialräumlicher Differenzierungen in OpenStreetMap: das Beispiel Jerusalems
Kartographische Nachrichten 64 (3), 136–144., 2014
The level of detail in OpenStreetMap data is not spatially homogeneuos. The density of data varri... more The level of detail in OpenStreetMap data is not spatially homogeneuos. The density of data varries not only across large regions, but also on local scales across neighbourhoods. Partly, those discrepancies seem to follow social fragmentations. Employing the city of Jersualem as a case study, this article discusses how empirical research on social fragmentations in OpenStreetMap data can be conducted through geostatistical methods.
Tracing contingencies: analyzing the political in assemblages of web 2.0 cartographies.
Geojournal 78 (6), S. 935–948., 2013
Abstract Our paper presents a theoretical approach to critical research on web 2.0 cartographies.... more Abstract Our paper presents a theoretical approach to critical research on web 2.0 cartographies. Within the geoweb, dynamic and collaborative web based maps have become a popular medium for collating and communicating geographic information. Web 2.0 cartographies are often promoted as facilitating public participation and democratizing geographic knowledge. Such claims demand a closer look at the processes through which people do engage in these cartographic projects and the multiple actors, institutions, norms and technologies at work. In the context of ‘theorizing the geoweb’, here we propose conceptual tools for analyzing these myriad interactions within web 2.0 cartographies. We understand web 2.0 cartographies as assemblages of subjects, materialities and practices, or ‘actor networks’. Yet explorations of actor-networks describe existing relations and as a consequence tend to overlook what has been excluded or lies outside of such assemblages. In order to overcome this blindness we suggest bringing together actor-network theory with the concepts of hegemonic discourses, contingency and the political from Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau. These two political theorists stress the idea that specific social realities become fixed, sedimented and perceived as natural while other possible social realities become marginalized. Using the example of the dynamic ‘Palestine Crisis Map’ (an Ushahidi Crowdmap) we demonstrate a methodology that emphasizes sensitivity towards moments of exclusion and struggle, where the political unfolds. Theorizing the political in this way extends the processual approach within Critical Cartography and offers a conceptual basis for critical research on the social dimensions of web 2.0 cartographies and geoweb practices.
Das Dekonstruieren der web2.0 Karte. Vorschläge zur Analyse dynamischer und interaktiver Karten multipler und diffuser Autorenschaften.
In: I. Gryl, T. Nehrdich und R. Vogler (Hg.): Geo@web. Medium, Räumlichkeit und geographische Bildung. Wiesbaden, 111–126., 2013
The paper analyses the changing pattern of land uses in rural settlements located in the rural-ur... more The paper analyses the changing pattern of land uses in rural settlements located in the rural-urban fringe and makes a link between the results to socio-economic developments and to changes in the rural policy at the national level. Using historical sequences of land use maps and using geostatistical analysis, we observe changing land use patterns in three Moshav type settlements -the most common type of rural settlement in Israel -in three different rural-urban fringes belts along the coastal area. We identify basic trends of specialisation and intensification of agricultural land use as well as expansion of built up structures for residential and commercial purposes. These trends which are rather similar for all three cases, we argue, reflect economic and social changes in rural settlements in general and in the rural-urban fringe in particular. The evolving patterns in the three Moshavim in the Israeli rural-urban fringe (RUF) can be understood as adjustment measures at the household level to development and changing policies at the macro level, particularly towards the rural sector. There are two major domains of change. First, a transition from dependence on farming to a more diversified economic base suggesting newly shaped interrelationships with the urban space. Second, a new residential development program which has rejuvenated failing and ageing rural settlements. The outcome is a major process of restructuring which affects the economic, social and environmental spheres, and necessitates sensitivity on the part of institutional decision makers towards the complex and diverse realities of relevant actors on the ground, through which all current and future land use policies are mediated. Moreover, being exposed to uncontrolled and often chaotic adjustment measures over the last three decades, it might be necessary to regulate and preserve some of the Moshav's distinct features so it does not to fade into an 'ordinary suburb'.
Krisen- und Konflikt-Karten im Web 2.0. Ein kritischer Blick auf die neuen Krisen und Konfliktkarten.
In: Geographische Rundschau 63 (11), 60–65., 2011
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Papers by Christian Bittner