Residential landscapes across the United States have been significantly altered in recent years by the increased racial and ethnic diversity evident within urban areas. In New Orleans, Louisiana... Show More

Residential landscapes across the United States have been significantly altered in recent years by the increased racial and ethnic diversity evident within urban areas. In New Orleans, Louisiana, residential landscapes were particularly impacted by the disruptive influences associated with Hurricane Katrina, a storm that ultimately transformed the demographic make-up of this urban area. This research investigates the impacts that increased diversity has had on the levels of residential segregation among racial and/or ethnic groups in New Orleans from 2000 to 2010. Empirical analysis entailed the measurement of two dimensions of segregation evident among Non-Hispanic whites, African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Measures of residential exposure were decomposed in order to investigate the relative impacts of metropolitan-wide compositional change and intra-urban redistributive change on segregation among the four groups. During the 2000s, New Orleans exhibited very modest forms of residential integration. Results suggest that Non-Hispanic whites, Asians, and Hispanics exhibited some degree of “ethnic (or racial) self-selectivity” that functioned to concentrate these groups residentially, although these forces were partially overwhelmed by other forces operating at both the neighborhood and metropolitan scales. The evidence further suggests that the residential experiences among minorities were strongly impacted by the redistributive behavior of whites.

Social cohesion is an important determinant of functioning and healthy communities but its spatial distribution and relation to residential segregation within cities has not been adequately... Show More

Social cohesion is an important determinant of functioning and healthy communities but its spatial distribution and relation to residential segregation within cities has not been adequately addressed due to the lack of small area data. A disconnect exists between the social capital and segregation literature. This paper presents how neighbourhood cohesion is spatially distributed in Sydney and Los Angeles using synthetic spatial microdata. The results indicate that Sydney has a relatively dense clustering of neighbourhood cohesion, whereas in Los Angeles it is more dispersed. In both cities, cohesion is highest in Anglo/white concentrations, and lowest in ethnically diverse areas. In Los Angeles, neighbourhood cohesion is significantly higher in African American concentrations than in Hispanic and Asian concentrations. Overall cohesion rises with the economic status in Los Angeles but not in Sydney.

Miami’s marketers have a long and successful history of creating and recreating imagery that draws visitors towards the ‘magic city’ or the ‘tropical playground.’ This paper investigates Miami’s... Show More

Miami’s marketers have a long and successful history of creating and recreating imagery that draws visitors towards the ‘magic city’ or the ‘tropical playground.’ This paper investigates Miami’s marketing from an historical perspective by examining the role and legacy of various discourses emanating from powerful city actors over the past century. Spatial analysis including spatial autocorrelation and Local Moran’s I are conducted to investigate further Miami’s geographical segregation. The findings suggest that unequal, segregating and exclusive discourses have become so normalized within Miami’s marketing and political structure that change is becoming increasingly difficult as attitudes institutionalize further. Using a discourse analysis set around a framework of social exclusion and adverse incorporation, and semi-structured interviews, this paper also examines the current spatial formation of the city with insights from leading figures in Miami’s marketing industry to suggest that the right to the city is still a distant dream for Miami’s other neighborhoods and populations.

Auto burglary is a rising concern for small cities that rely so highly on revenues from malls and shopping. The fear of auto burglary dispels possible business partners, shoppers, and workers. This... Show More

Auto burglary is a rising concern for small cities that rely so highly on revenues from malls and shopping. The fear of auto burglary dispels possible business partners, shoppers, and workers. This piece of research was conducted in Shenandoah, a small city near Houston, Texas. Shenandoah has been experiencing a fast-growing economy and annexation process. The research highlights the potency of space-time analysis for the local police department. The paper describes the temporal trends of auto burglary offenses. Hot spots of auto burglary offenses in different time periods are identified, which provide a clue for police to prioritize limited resources. In addition, this project analyzes the repeatability of auto burglary incidents in the same locations. The space-time analysis reveals that, once an auto burglary incident occurred, one week is the optimal time period for police to actively patrol, or adopt other preventive strategies on the same location to deter the potential follow-up auto burglaries.

Participatory GIS projects are increasingly popular in urban governance. This paper explores the complexities of a community involved pilot project that was implemented in the town of Verona... Show More

Participatory GIS projects are increasingly popular in urban governance. This paper explores the complexities of a community involved pilot project that was implemented in the town of Verona, Wisconsin and critically examines their GIS (Geographic Information Systems) practices and the support structures that played an important role in facilitating GIS use. The paper first traces the evolution of the project, and the role of the various actors in shaping it and then shows that relations between key institutions and actors played a crucial role in shaping the pilot project. While inherently supportive, these actors occupied a dominant power position, setting a top down tone to the project from its onset. As such, the project simultaneously enhanced and constricted the process of participation and spatial knowledge production of the community residents.

The proliferation of online emission calculators and the growing popularity of carbon footprint assessments recently underscores an emerging interest among Americans in understanding their personal... Show More

The proliferation of online emission calculators and the growing popularity of carbon footprint assessments recently underscores an emerging interest among Americans in understanding their personal environmental impacts, especially in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. While studies have quantified carbon footprints at a variety of geographic scales using economic data, or a combination of economic and census data, few have produced results that were immediately useful for local-scale emission reduction efforts. The authors explore the feasibility of utilizing block group level census data to estimate the residential carbon footprint of an American city. A census-based emission model was adapted from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Individual Emission Calculator. Block group census data were used as surrogates for household energy consumption and transportation related carbon emissions. Although lacking some of the finer nuances of individual behavior assessments, this approach enables analysis of a continuous urban landscape with a relatively high degree of data resolution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and standard desktop-software. The model output, paired with choropleth and dasymetric visualizations, illustrate that census data can be successfully adapted to estimate the residential carbon footprint for Austin, Texas, and by extension, any other American city with equivalent census data coverage.

Most classroom instruction related to urban geography and design relies heavily on static photographic images that highlight form, but don’t necessarily engage the idea of function. Because of the... Show More

Most classroom instruction related to urban geography and design relies heavily on static photographic images that highlight form, but don’t necessarily engage the idea of function. Because of the relative ease of digital video editing and the portability of high-definition digital video cameras, using instructor-collected video in the classroom is less-demanding than in the past. This paper highlights how short video vignettes can better elucidate urban concepts and explains best practices in crafting educational objectives and professional video products.