ALBERT

Description: Book Review Essay ''Social mixing as state-led gentrification?'' M. Rosol Soc. Geogr., 7, 47-49, doi:10.5194/sg-7-47-2012, 2012

Description: The Night Light Development Index (NLDI): a spatially explicit measure of human development from satellite data C. D. Elvidge, K. E. Baugh, S. J. Anderson, P. C. Sutton, and T. Ghosh Soc. Geogr., 7, 23-35, doi:10.5194/sg-7-23-2012, 2012 We have developed a satellite data derived ''Night Light Development Index'' (NLDI) as a simple, objective, spatially explicit and globally available empirical measurement of human development derived solely from nighttime satellite imagery and population density. There is increasing recognition that the distribution of wealth and income amongst the population in a nation or region correlates strongly with both the overall happiness of that population and the environmental quality of that nation or region. Measuring the distribution of wealth and income at national and regional scales is an interesting and challenging problem. Gini coefficients derived from Lorenz curves are a well-established method of measuring income distribution. Nonetheless, there are many shortcomings of the Gini coefficient as a measure of income or wealth distribution. Gini coefficients are typically calculated using national level data on the distribution of income through the population. Such data are not available for many countries and the results are generally limited to single values representing entire countries. In this paper we develop an index for the co-distribution of nocturnal light and people that is derived without the use of monetary measures of wealth and is capable of providing a spatial depiction of differences in development within countries.

Description: Community development and social actor theories: a case study in Montréal (Canada) G. Sénécal Soc. Geogr., 7, 37-46, doi:10.5194/sg-7-37-2012, 2012 Research focusing on community development processes is increasingly making use of the notion of actor. Actors are engaged in a system of actions. A range of sociological theories has given rise to the various stances adopted by social actors, including the theatrical actor, the strategic actor, the actor-network, or the reflexive actor. We review these theories in an attempt to define an analytical framework by employing what we call a bricolage methodology. The aim is to gain insight on the interactions that bind together the various stakeholders by function (acting and the actors' roles) in the fields of action (the scenes of interaction and real interventions) and on effects (the results of these actions). We then propose to apply our analytical framework to a case study on the process of developing an action plan in the Villeray district of Montréal (Québec, Canada).

Description: Just passing through: the risky mobilities of hazardous materials transport J. Cidell Soc. Geogr., 7, 13-22, doi:10.5194/sg-7-13-2012, 2012 The scientific construction of risk is usually based on the probability of an event occurring in a specific location from a specific hazard. Hazardous waste transport is an example of a risk source that is fixed in neither time nor space, with materials traveling through the landscape. Residents living along fixed transportation routes likely to experience an increase in the amount and potency of hazardous materials traveling through their communities draw on distant places and spaces in order to define the risk they face as they try to make absent places and materials present. However, because those places and spaces are distant and absent, regulatory officials can resist their inclusion by arguing that only what is on site matters. This site of struggle over sources and construction of risks can best be understood through Law and Mol's spatiality of fire space. Using two North American case studies, this paper draws on the concepts of fire space and mobilities to explain the nature of the risk that mobile materials pose, including the disconnect between citizens' objections to increased hazardous materials transport and the environmental review and regulatory processes meant to prevent catastrophes from occurring.

Description: Investigating community behaviour after the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake: a case study of Kawaguchi, Japan M. Gismondi Soc. Geogr., 7, 1-12, doi:10.5194/sg-7-1-2012, 2012 Every year, earthquakes cause economic and human losses around the globe. In Japan, a great deal of attention has focused on improving the safety of structures and individuals in the last decade. The introduction here of several new related policies, together with continuous discussion of such policies, has raised the level of environmental security nationwide. Despite this significant effort, individual preparedness and awareness are still lacking, especially in rural areas, where technological advancements and policy applications often arrive late. In this paper, Kawaguchi in Niigata Prefecture, Japan was chosen as study area because of both the major damage experienced during the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake and the particularly dynamic socio-cultural activities of the community. Using interviews and questionnaires to collect information, this study aims to investigate the causes of local variations in community behaviour after the earthquake. Geographic location as well as everyday social relationships, social interactions and organisation are considered the main causes of the differences in community organisation during the recovery process. This study highlights the necessity for more localised emergency education in order to promote longer-lasting awareness and preparation in rural areas.

Description: Participative environmental management and social capital in Poland A. Hunka and W. T. de Groot Soc. Geogr., 6, 39-45, doi:10.5194/sg-6-39-2011, 2011 Eastern European countries, such as Poland, often illustrate social capital studies. Upon entering the European Union, social capital in Poland was seen as a problem in implementing new regulations, particularly in the field of environmental policy. Equally important, environmental issues often present a high degree of complexity – and European legislation requires multi-stakeholder involvement in decision-making processes. Thus, the dilemma: on the one hand, there is a demand to engage and consult many actors; on the other hand, the actors function in administrative culture with a ubiquitous top-down approach taken by institutional decision makers. This paper attempts to address the problem from the perspective of social capital theory. An overview of administrative culture and examples of decision-making processes shows the way decisions are currently made. We also propose a way to achieve more participative environmental management.

Description: Vollzug und Sprache Physischer Geographie und die Frage geographischen Takts B. Zahnen Soc. Geogr., 6, 47-61, doi:10.5194/sg-6-47-2011, 2011 Der Aufsatz versteht sich als ein Beitrag zu der sozial- oder kulturwissenschaftlichen Diskussion der Humangeographie um die Möglichkeit der Einbeziehung einer Dimension der Natur bzw. der „Materialität“, zugleich aber auch als ein theoretischer Entwurf einer „Physischen Geographie im starken Sinne“, die nicht mehr in dichotomer Entgegensetzung zur Humangeographie zu verstehen ist und die Möglichkeit bietet, genuin geographische Prozesse und Seinsweisen als solche zu verstehen. Ausgehend davon, dass es Physische Geographen bzw. Geowissenschaftler gibt, die ihr Tun als „Gespräch mit der Erde“ bezeichnen, deckt der Aufsatz zum einen auf, inwiefern dieses Tun aufgrund einer grundlegenden Ebene, die sich aus dem Prozess der eigenen Erfahrung übergänglicher Naturgebilde der Erde ergibt, als etwas qualifiziert werden kann, das eine gewisse Form „doppelter Hermeneutik“ involviert. Zum anderen wird gezeigt, dass aufgrund dieser grundlegenden Ebene die Möglichkeit des revidierten Verständnisses von Physischer Geographie – also der „Physischen Geographie im starken Sinne“ – in dem derzeitigen physisch-geographischen Tun eines naturwissenschaftlichen Selbstverständnisses bereits angelegt ist. Ferner wird deutlich, dass sich in diesem Zuge neue Zugangsmöglichkeiten zur Geschichte des Fachs ergeben. In diesem Sinne wird die alte Idee eines „geographischen Takts“ neu beleuchtet und entfaltet. Abstract. The paper can be understood as a contribution to the discussion about how to involve "nature" or "materiality" in the undertakings of social or cultural scientists or human geographers, but at the same time as a theoretical conception of "physical geography in a strong sense" which can no longer be understood as being in dichotomic opposition to human geography and makes it possible to understand genuinely geographical processes and qualities [Seinsweisen] as such. Taking as a starting point the fact that there are physical geographers and earth scientists who characterise their doing as a "conversation with the earth", the paper reveals in which way it is appropriate to qualify this doing as involving a kind of "double hermeneutics": namely due to a foundational layer which arises from the process of experiencing transitional formations of the natural appearances of the earth. The paper also shows that due to this foundational layer, the chance of a revised understanding of physical geography – i.e. of "physical geography in the strong sense" – is already inherent in current physical geography as a natural science. Moreover, the paper shows that its insights open up new ways to understand pivotal traits of the history of geography. In this sense, the old idea of a "geographical tact" is illuminated and unfolded in a new way.

Description: Der Konstruktivismus lernt laufen: „Doing more-than-representational geography“ A. Strüver Soc. Geogr., 6, 1-13, doi:10.5194/sg-6-1-2011, 2011 Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit verkörperten Subjekten als „laufenden“ Themen einer Sozial- und Kulturgeographie nach dem Cultural Turn, die die Errungenschaft der so genannten „Neuen Kulturgeographie“ radikalisiert, um dadurch den Repräsentationsbegriff um performative Praktiken sowie deren materialisierte Verkörperungen zu erweitern. Anhand der „Versportung“ von städtischen Alltagsräumen geht es dabei insbesondere um das ko-konstitutive Wechselverhältnis von verkörperten Subjekten und sozialräumlichen Verhältnissen mithilfe von Subjektkonzeptionen im Anschluss an Foucault und Butler. In Kombination mit dem interaktionistischen Subjekt- und Praxisverständnis der Mikrosoziologie wird schließlich die gesellschaftliche Raumproduktion vom Subjekt her gedacht – einem Subjekt, das sowohl konstituiert durch als auch Konstituens von Gesellschafts- und Raumstrukturen ist. Abstract. This contribution concentrates on embodied subjects as "on- going " topics of a social and cultural geography after and beyond the cultural turn – a geography that radicalises the achievements of the so called "new cultural geography" by way of extending the concept of representations in order to focus on performative practices, materialities and embodiments. Taking the "sportification" of urban everyday spaces as example, it elaborates on the co-constitutive interrelations between embodied subjects and sociospatial conditions with reference to Foucault's and Butler's conceptions of the subject. Eventually, these conceptions are combined with a rather micro-sociological and interactive notion of subjects and practices ("doings"), aiming at an understanding of the social production of space that gives special attention to the subject – a subject that is both constituted by and constitutive of social and spatial structures.

Description: Families and food: beyond the "cultural turn"? P. Jackson Soc. Geogr., 6, 63-71, doi:10.5194/sg-6-63-2011, 2011 This paper provides some personal reflections on the ''cultural turn'' in human geography including a tentative chronology of events. It outlines some of the characteristics of the ''cultural turn'' and some of the criticisms that have been levelled against it. In the body of the paper, I attempt to assess the value of the ''cultural turn'', conceptually and methodologically, as applied to two recent research projects on the geography of food and families. The paper concludes that the ''cultural turn'' greatly enriched the study of human geography through its analysis of discourse, representation and practice. But other approaches are required to explain broader changes in political-economy and the materiality of nature. While the ''cultural turn'' contributed to our understanding of materiality and our place in a more-than-human world, geographers are now also embracing other approaches such as those informed by actor-network theory and geographies of emotion, embodiment and affect. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research on the political and moral economies of food, focusing on contemporary consumer anxieties at a range of geographical scales.

Description: Déjà-vu: tourist practices of repeat visitors in the city of Paris T. Freytag Soc. Geogr., 5, 49-58, doi:10.5194/sg-5-49-2010, 2010 In the context of sustained growth in European city tourism, competing travel destinations develop marketing strategies that include measures to attract an increasing number of repeat visitors. This paper explores the case of Paris in order to provide a better understanding of the specific motivations, interests and activities of leisure tourists who had previously stayed in the capital of France. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of "distinction" it is argued that repeat visitors tend to differentiate themselves from other tourists. On the basis of substantive field work in Paris, a set of repeat visitor practices is presented that include strategies to avoid spatial concentrations of major tourist spots in order to participate in Parisian everyday life. Moreover, it is suggested to conceptualize the encounters between repeat visitors and tourism destinations as a lifelong relationship, which can be renewed and reproduced through further visits and virtual encounters. The distinct characteristics of repeat visitor practices have substantial implications for the organization of tourism in the city and the relationships between first-time tourists, repeat visitors and the local population.