ALBERT

Description: Intercultural interaction and "situational places": a perspective for urban cultural geography within and beyond the performative turn P. Dirksmeier and I. Helbrecht Soc. Geogr., 5, 39-48, doi:10.5194/sg-5-39-2010, 2010 With the performative turn in social sciences and the humanities the concept of performance has arrived in human geography. Performance denotes an understanding of social actions and practices as constitutive for non-representational realities. This paper looks at the relationship between places and performance especially in urban geography and develops the new term "situational place" to grasp the increasing phenomenon of (intercultural) encounters in the cities of modern world society. "Situational places" are situated performances of these (intercultural) interactions between strangers in cities of the contemporary world society. With the aid of performance theory the influence of the omnipresent interactions between strangers in cities on urban space is conceptualized. Therewith, we hope to present some fruitful theoretical and empirical possibilities for a cultural urban geography within and beyond the performative turn.

Description: Reflections on "doing" cultural geography – "being" a cultural geographer in the Netherlands B. van Hoven Soc. Geogr., 6, 29-37, doi:10.5194/sg-6-29-2011, 2011 In this article, I explore Dutch social geography in the context of "the cultural turn". In so doing, I extensively draw on writing from the Anglo-American context which somewhat complicates the matter. Barnett (1998) implied that the "cultural turn" is not a "coherent and singular process" (379) which will emerge from my reflections as well. But even though the disciplines have undergone different ways of becoming, Dutch geographies are, formally, valued and assessed by procedures that have developed alongside, if not as a part of, the cultural turn(s) in the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands, different Departments have been a part of (or apart from) the cultural turn in different ways. In this article, I draw on some of the similarities and differences but will focus to a large extent on my own institutional context at the University of Groningen.

Description: Erzählter Raum und Erzählraum: (Kultur)Raumkonstruktion zwischen Diskurs und Performanz A. Harendt and D. Sprunk Soc. Geogr., 6, 15-27, doi:10.5194/sg-6-15-2011, 2011 Ziel des Aufsatzes ist es, die mediale Erzeugung geographischer Wirklichkeiten durch so genannte Weltenkenner im Sinne einer Geographie der Medien zu untersuchen. Es gilt die Frage zu beantworten, mit welchen Zuschreibungen ausgewählte Weltenkenner territoriale Raumausschnitte belegen und welche raumbezogenen Gegenwartsdiagnosen von ihnen gegeben werden. Weiterhin sind die Gründe für ihre Autorität und Popularität zu klären. Über zwei theoretische Zugänge – Diskurs einerseits und Performanz andererseits – wird sich der raumbezogenen Deutungs- und Sinnstiftungsarbeit deutschsprachiger Weltenkenner angenähert. Die theoretische Verbindung der verbalen Diskurs- und Argumentebene mit der bild- und körperbezogenen Performanzebene kombiniert sprachliche und nicht-sprachliche Weisen der Welterzeugung. Beide, so unsere These, sind konstitutiv für eine Analyse der Weltenkenner und ihrer Wirklichkeitskonstruktionen. Für das Zusammendenken der beiden Ebenen schlagen wir die Konzepte des Erzählten Raumes und Erzählraums vor. Abstract. The aim of the article is to analyze the construction of geographical realities in the media by so called world "insiders". Which attributes do the world insiders ascribe to spatial territories and which dia- and prognoses of the contemporary world do they offer? In addition, the question has to be raised as to why their interpretations are so appealing and popular. Two theoretical approaches – discourse and performance/performativity – form the framework of the analysis. The theoretical link between the discursive and argumentative level on the one hand and the performative level on the other hand combines verbal and non-verbal geography-making. Our claim is that both levels are essential for an analysis of the world insiders and their ways of world construction. To integrate these two levels we suggest the concepts of Narrative space and Narrated space.

Description: Community development and social actor theories: a case study in Montréal (Canada) Social Geography Discussions, 8, 61-81, 2012 Author(s): G. Sénécal Research focusing on community development processes is increasingly making use of the notion of actor. The actor is engaged in a system of actions. A range of sociological theories has given rise to the various types of 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 tinkering methodology. The aim is to gain insight on the interactions that bind together the various stakeholders by function (acting and the actors' roles) on 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: The Lumen Gini Coefficient: a satellite imagery derived human development index Social Geography Discussions, 8, 27-59, 2012 Author(s): C. D. Elvidge, K. E. Baugh, S. J. Anderson, P. C. Sutton, and T. Ghosh The "Lumen Gini Coefficient" is 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 alternative measure of the distribution of "human development", called the "Lumen Gini coefficient", 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: Just passing through: the risky mobilities of hazardous materials transport Social Geography Discussions, 8, 1-25, 2012 Author(s): J. Cidell 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 rural community behaviour after the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake: a case study of Kawaguchi town, Japan Social Geography Discussions, 7, 39-68, 2011 Author(s): M. Gismondi 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 town 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.