ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: The importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can hardly be overemphasized in today’s academic and professional arena. More professionals and academics have been using GIS than ever – urban & regional planners, civil engineers, geographers, spatial economists, sociologists, environmental scientists, criminal justice professionals, political scientists, and alike. As such, it is extremely important to understand the theories and applications of GIS in our teaching, professional work, and research. “The Application of Geographic Information Systems” presents research findings that explain GIS’s applications in different subfields of social sciences. With several case studies conducted in different parts of the world, the book blends together the theories of GIS and their practical implementations in different conditions. It deals with GIS’s application in the broad spectrum of geospatial analysis and modeling, water resources analysis, land use analysis, infrastructure network analysis like transportation and water distribution network, and such. The book is expected to be a useful source of knowledge to the users of GIS who envision its applications in their teaching and research. This easy-to-understand book is surely not the end in itself but a little contribution to toward our understanding of the rich and wonderful subject of GIS.

Description / Table of Contents: The Carbiocial Project investigates viable carbon-optimized land management strategies for maintaining tropical ecosystem services under land use change and changing climate conditions in Southern Amazonia – a hotspot of global change. The project aims at understanding the vital natural processes and socio-economic driving forces in the region and develops strategies to enhance and protect carbon stocks in the recently deforested agroscapes of Central/Northern Mato Grosso and South Pará. That is why Carbiocial analyzes and models soil, water and climate as well as agro-economics, social and political transformations. Based on detailed storylines, the project aims at identifying possible entry-points for a necessary change in local and regional production patterns, considering local livelihoods as well as the present national and global economic, legal and political situation. This book gives an overview of the first results of the multi-disciplinary Carbiocial Project by publishing the main presentations, held on the Carbiocial Status Conference, on October 7-8, 2013, in Cuiabá. In sixteen chapters the authors elucidate the project‘s current state of knowledge, illustrating adapted methods for regional modeling and promising strategies for the Amazon development. | Contents --- Stefan Hohnwald & Gerhard Gerold: Carbon-Optimized Land Management Research for the Southern Amazon-Geographical and Organizational Settings of the Carbiocial-Carbioma Project Consortium --- Philip M. Fearnside, Aurora M. Yanai & Claudia S. M. N. Vitel: Modeling Baselines for REDD Projects in Amazonia: Is the Carbon Real? --- Jens Boy, Charlotte Schumann, Simone Strey, Robert Strey, Georg Guggenberger & Regine Schönenberg: Digging Deeper – Biographic Interviews as a Promising Tool for the Joint Dissemination of Natural- and Social Science Results in REDD Contexts --- Carlos E. P. Cerri, Thalita F. Abbruzzini, Carolina B. Brandani, Mariana R. Durigan & Denise Signor: Soil Carbon Stocks and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agrosystems in Brazil --- Karl M. Wantzen, Malte Unger, Eduardo G. Couto, Ricardo S. S. Amorim, Karina P. Peña & Ulrich Irmler: Carbon Farming: Enriching Tropical Farm Soils with Organic Matter --- Alphonce C. Guzha, Ricardo S. S. Amorim, Rodolfo Nóbrega, Gabriele Lamparter, Kristof Kovacs, Norma Bertão & Gerhard Gerold: Impacts of Land Cover and Climate Change on Hydrology and Hydrochemistry in Selected Catchments in Southern Amazonia: Preliminary Analysis and Results --- Marcus Schindewolf, Daniela Schönke, Ricardo S. S. Amorim & Jürgen Schmidt: Effects of Contour Banks and No-Till Measures on Run-Off and Sediment Yield in Campo Verde Region, Mato Grosso --- Alessandra R. Gomes, César G. Diniz & Cláudio A. Almeida: Amazon Regional Center (INPE/CRA) Actions for Brazilian Amazon Forest: TerraClass and Capacity Building Projects --- Patrick Hostert, Tobia Lakes, Hannes Müller, Florian Gollnow & Letícia B. V. Hissa: Land-Use Monitoring and Change Detection --- Jürgen Böhner, Helge Dietrich, Klaus Fraedrich, Tobias Kawohl, Markus Kilian, Valerio Lucarini & Frank Lunkeit: Development and Implementation of a Hierarchical Model Chain for Modelling Regional Climate Variability and Climate Change Over Southern Amazonia --- Claas Nendel, Hermann Jungkunst & Adriano M. R. Figueiredo: Intercol and Steps Towards a Simplified DSS --- Neli A. de Mello-Théry & Paulo R. Cunha: Environmental Policies and Forest Code: Changes and Repercussions on the Agriculture in Mato Grosso --- Regine Schönenberg, Korbinian Hartberger & Charlotte Schumann: Challenges and Chances of Social Transformation for GHG-Optimized Land- and Natural Resource Management Strategies: Stakeholder-Dialogues as Prerequisite for the Elaboration of Applicable Results --- José H. Benatti & Luly R. da Cunha Fischer: Land Use Regulations in the State of Pará: An Introductory Approach of Its Guidelines --- Martin Coy, Michael Klingler, Matthias Siebold & Thomas Berger: Socio-Economic Regional Change and Agro-Economic Development Along the BR-163 --- Edna Castro: Deforestation Along the BR-163: Socio-Environmental Conflicts and Ignored Governmental Politics

Description / Table of Contents: Issue Mapping for an Ageing Europe is a seminal guide to mapping social and political issues with digital methods. The issue at stake concerns the imminent crisis of an ageing Europe and its impact on the contemporary welfare state. The book brings together three leading approaches to issue mapping: Bruno Latour's social cartography, Ulrich Beck's risk cartography and Jeremy Crampton's critical neo-cartography. These modes of inquiry are put into practice with digital methods for mapping the ageing agenda, including debates surrounding so-called 'old age', cultural philosophies of ageing, itinerant care workers, not to mention European anti-ageing cuisine. Issue Mapping for an Ageing Europe addresses an urgent social issue with new media research tools.

Description / Table of Contents: ‘Landscape Biographies’ explores the long and complex histories of landscapes from personal and social perspectives. As an essential part of human life-worlds, landscapes have the potential to absorb something of people's lives, works, and thoughts. But landscapes also shape their own life-histories at different timescales, transcending human life-cycles and generating their own temporalities and rhythms. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the co-scripting of landscapes and people figures prominently in the (auto-)biographical works of writers and attracts the interest of geographers, archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists. This has even resulted in a new genre in landscape research, rapidly gaining in popularity, under the heading of 'landscape biography'. In ‘Landscape Biographies’, twenty geographers, archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists investigate the diverse ways in which landscapes and monuments have been constructed, transmitted, and transformed from prehistory up to the present, from Manhattan to Shanghai, from Iceland to Portugal, and from England to Estonia. Among the authors are distinguished scholars like Gísli Pálsson, Cornelius Holtorf, Joshua Pollard, and Mark Gillings.

Description / Table of Contents: Questo volume è l’esito del confronto e delle riflessioni sviluppate durante il II Workshop “AIIG Giovani” organizzato a Roma nell’aprile del 2013. Nasce da un desiderio, quello di presentare l’importanza della combinazione tra metodi d’indagine tradizionali e nuovi per costruire sapere geografico, e da una passione, sostenuta dall’intreccio di relazioni umane che si evolvono nel tempo. Per chiarire quale possa essere il contributo della geografia alla comprensione del mondo contemporaneo, sempre più complesso, gli autori presentano le principali metodologie geografiche in quattro sezioni: “Territori della tecnologia”, “Identità, spazi, luoghi”, “Nodi della rete” e “Approcci sperimentali nella scuola che cambia”. Emerge dal lavoro un quadro multifocale che rispecchia la poliedricità e la trasversalità della geografia contemporanea, ancorato al comune bisogno di sviluppare strumenti interpretativi e d’azione. Ci si muove nell’ambito di una geografia critica e della complessità in grado di fornire ai cittadini globali differenti strumenti di interpretazione e comprensione del mondo, nuove metafore a partire dalle quali costruire e sperimentare forme alternative di cittadinanza consapevole ed attiva. Qui la geografia ritrova lo slancio di una disciplina fertile capace non solo di descrivere la Terra, ma anche di immaginare e creare nuovi mondi possibili. L’approdo naturale di questo percorso è la realtà scolastica dove è possibile sperimentare nuove forme di sapere e azione per rispondere alla sfida educativa contemporanea.

Description / Table of Contents: In the last several years, much has been written about growing economic challenges, increasing income inequality, and political polarization in the United States. Addressing these new realities in America’s metropolitan regions, this book argues that a few lessons are emerging: first, inequity is bad for economic growth; second, bringing together the concerns of equity and growth requires concerted local action; and third, the fundamental building block for doing this is the creation of diverse and dynamic epistemic (or knowledge) communities, which help to overcome political polarization and to address the challenges of economic restructuring and social divides.

Description / Table of Contents: Pazifikstaaten wie die Fidschi-Inseln sind wie kaum eine andere Region der Welt gekennzeichnet von gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen und dem globalen Umweltwandel. Auf Basis eines partizipativen Forschungsdesigns, durchgeführt in ausgewählten Küstendörfern, untersucht dieser Band die Auswirkungen der Globalisierung und des Klimawandels auf die Lebensqualität ihrer Bewohner. Dabei wird aufgezeigt, dass die Dorfbewohner keine passiven Opfer externer Prozesse sind, sondern aktiv ihr Leben gestalten. Mittels neo-traditioneller Bewegungen gelingt es den Bewohnern weitestgehend, ein festes Wertefundament als Grundlage ihrer kulturellen Identität zu bewahren. Eine intakte Gemeinschaft steht dabei im Zentrum spiritueller, ökonomischer und sozialer Werte. Im Zuge der gesellschaftlichen Transformation agieren die Gemeinschaften nicht mehr ortsgebunden, sondern bilden mithilfe moderner Transport- und Kommunikationstechnologien globalisierte Netzwerke – ohne dabei die Bezüge zu ihrer kulturellen Herkunft zu verlieren. Auswärts lebende Familienangehörige tragen so Wissen und materiellen Wohlstand in die Dorfgemeinschaften und erweitern die Handlungspotentiale und Lebensstandards der Küstendorfbewohner. Im Zuge der Wissensvermittlung erfolgt jedoch insbesondere die Darstellung des Klimawandels und seiner Gefahren verkürzt und nicht auf lokale Werte zurechtgeschnitten, sodass es auch zu Wahrnehmungsverzerrungen und Fehlanpassungen kommt. Im Kontext von Entwicklungszusammenarbeit rät diese Untersuchung daher zu kultureller Sensibilität und einer kritischen Reflektion ethnozentrischer Weltanschauungen, um die Lebensqualität in fidschianischen Dorfgemeinschaften nicht zu gefährden. In diesem Band werden ethnographische Ideale für eine kultur- und sozialgeographische Forschung im globalen Süden aufbereitet. Konzeptionell ist die Untersuchung in die kritische geographische Verwundbarkeits- und Transformationsforschung eingerahmt. In einem kulturräumlichen Überblick wird zunächst aus historisch-politischer Perspektive die Bedeutung postkolonialer Belastungen auf gegenwärtige Transformationsprozesse aufgezeigt. Das Herzstück bildet anschließend die ausführliche Analyse gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozesse auf die Lebensqualität in drei Küstendörfern der Fidschi-Inseln. | As other Pacific Islands Countries, Fiji is shaped by processes of social transformations and global environmental change. This study utilises ethnographic ideals for enhancing cultural and social geographic research in the global south. A participatory in-depth analysis of rural life in three Fijian coastal villages is at the core of this study. This is framed by a historic-political overview of the burden of Fiji's colonial past. Fijian coastal villagers are not passive victims of global social transformation and climate change. Through neo-traditional movements they actively form processes of social and cultural change. Rural Fijian norms, values and cultural identity crystallize in robust communities. Via modern forms of communication and transportation Fijians established globalised networks securing individuals' quality of life. Family members living far from their home villages remain in contact with their relatives. This way they keep their Fijian Identities as source of wellbeing and as well support the villagers' material wealth and knowledge to enhance capabilities. Merely regarding hazardous climate change impacts the passed on knowledge is spread abridged and poorly fitting into local value systems. Therefore, misperceptions and maladaptations are prevalent. In consequence this study pleads for development agencies to act culturally sensitive and to critically reflect ethnocentric worldviews in order not to harm Fijian values and wellbeing.

Description / Table of Contents: Pazifikstaaten wie die Fidschi-Inseln sind wie kaum eine andere Region der Welt gekennzeichnet von gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen und dem globalen Umweltwandel. Auf Basis eines partizipativen Forschungsdesigns, durchgeführt in ausgewählten Küstendörfern, untersucht dieser Band die Auswirkungen der Globalisierung und des Klimawandels auf die Lebensqualität ihrer Bewohner. Dabei wird aufgezeigt, dass die Dorfbewohner keine passiven Opfer externer Prozesse sind, sondern aktiv ihr Leben gestalten. Mittels neo-traditioneller Bewegungen gelingt es den Bewohnern weitestgehend, ein festes Wertefundament als Grundlage ihrer kulturellen Identität zu bewahren. Eine intakte Gemeinschaft steht dabei im Zentrum spiritueller, ökonomischer und sozialer Werte. Im Zuge der gesellschaftlichen Transformation agieren die Gemeinschaften nicht mehr ortsgebunden, sondern bilden mithilfe moderner Transport- und Kommunikationstechnologien globalisierte Netzwerke – ohne dabei die Bezüge zu ihrer kulturellen Herkunft zu verlieren. Auswärts lebende Familienangehörige tragen so Wissen und materiellen Wohlstand in die Dorfgemeinschaften und erweitern die Handlungspotentiale und Lebensstandards der Küstendorfbewohner. Im Zuge der Wissensvermittlung erfolgt jedoch insbesondere die Darstellung des Klimawandels und seiner Gefahren verkürzt und nicht auf lokale Werte zurechtgeschnitten, sodass es auch zu Wahrnehmungsverzerrungen und Fehlanpassungen kommt. Im Kontext von Entwicklungszusammenarbeit rät diese Untersuchung daher zu kultureller Sensibilität und einer kritischen Reflektion ethnozentrischer Weltanschauungen, um die Lebensqualität in fidschianischen Dorfgemeinschaften nicht zu gefährden. In diesem Band werden ethnographische Ideale für eine kultur- und sozialgeographische Forschung im globalen Süden aufbereitet. Konzeptionell ist die Untersuchung in die kritische geographische Verwundbarkeits- und Transformationsforschung eingerahmt. In einem kulturräumlichen Überblick wird zunächst aus historisch-politischer Perspektive die Bedeutung postkolonialer Belastungen auf gegenwärtige Transformationsprozesse aufgezeigt. Das Herzstück bildet anschließend die ausführliche Analyse gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozesse auf die Lebensqualität in drei Küstendörfern der Fidschi-Inseln. | As other Pacific Islands Countries, Fiji is shaped by processes of social transformations and global environmental change. This study utilises ethnographic ideals for enhancing cultural and social geographic research in the global south. A participatory in-depth analysis of rural life in three Fijian coastal villages is at the core of this study. This is framed by a historic-political overview of the burden of Fiji's colonial past. Fijian coastal villagers are not passive victims of global social transformation and climate change. Through neo-traditional movements they actively form processes of social and cultural change. Rural Fijian norms, values and cultural identity crystallize in robust communities. Via modern forms of communication and transportation Fijians established globalised networks securing individuals' quality of life. Family members living far from their home villages remain in contact with their relatives. This way they keep their Fijian Identities as source of wellbeing and as well support the villagers' material wealth and knowledge to enhance capabilities. Merely regarding hazardous climate change impacts the passed on knowledge is spread abridged and poorly fitting into local value systems. Therefore, misperceptions and maladaptations are prevalent. In consequence this study pleads for development agencies to act culturally sensitive and to critically reflect ethnocentric worldviews in order not to harm Fijian values and wellbeing.

Description / Table of Contents: Im vorliegenden Band werden ausgewählte Facetten der Landschaftsinterpretation und des Tourismus beleuchtet. Die angeführten Fallbeispiele fokussieren dabei nicht nur verschiedenartige Räume (z. B. Mittel- und Hochgebirge, pazifische Inselwelt), sondern sie entstammen auch mannigfaltigen Themenfeldern (z. B. Kultur- und Naturtourismus, Inszenierungsstrategien, Reiseerziehung). In ihrer Gesamtheit spiegeln die Beiträge der einzelnen Autorinnen und Autoren das breite Interesse tourismusassoziierter Forschung und Praxis wider. Trotz der inhaltlichen Vielfalt implizieren die Ausarbeitungen die Aspekte „Bildung“ und „Wissensvermittlung“ als Leitgedanken im Rahmen der nachhaltigen Inwertsetzung natur- und kulturräumlicher Ressourcen.

Description / Table of Contents: This impressive collection celebrates the work of Peter Kershaw, a key figure in the field of Australian palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Over almost half a century his research helped reconceptualize ecology in Australia, creating a detailed understanding of environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within a biogeographic framework one of his exceptional contributions was to explore the ways that Aboriginal people may have modified the landscape through the effects of anthropogenic burning. These ideas have had significant impacts on thinking within the fields of geomorphology, biogeography, archaeology, anthropology and history. Papers presented here continue to explore the dynamism of landscape change in Australia and the contribution of humans to those transformations. The volume is structured in two sections. The first examines evidence for human engagement with landscape, focusing on Australia and Papua New Guinea but also dealing with the human/environmental histories of Europe and Asia. The second section contains papers that examine palaeoecology and present some of the latest research into environmental change in Australia and New Zealand. Individually these papers, written by many of Australia’s prominent researchers in these fields, are significant contributions to our knowledge of Quaternary landscapes and human land use. But Peopled Landscapes also signifies the disciplinary entanglement that is archaeological and biogeographic research in this region, with archaeologists and environmental scientists contributing to both studies of human land use and palaeoecology. Peopled Landscapes reveals the interdisciplinary richness of Quaternary research in the Australasian region as well as the complexity and richness of the entangled environmental and human pasts of these lands.