With more of the world’s booming population living in urban areas, especially in the developing world, cities will hold the key to the quality of life of billions of the world’s residents. This interactive resource from the Guardian looks at the rise of megacities and some of the issues associated with them.

Source: author

Somewhat regrettably, those scorching days admiring sporting finesse, feeling the heat of the sun against skin (and the 100% recycled polyester iconic top of a Games Maker –the not so regrettable aspect) are now a distant memory, washed out by a month’s worth of downpour in one day.

Having had the topic of weather embargoed for the summer (Games Makers were implored not to be quintessentially British and moan about the weather), the country has returned to its favourite topic of conversation, wiping even the Duchess of Cambridge off the front pages.  According to the Met Office official blog, the culprit is an ‘unusually active’ and ‘lingering’ (blame that part on the jet stream) low pressure system from the Atlantic which has had a field day moving north across the UK, picking up the cooler polar air en route, causing a deeper depression, not only meteorologically but also metaphorically in its wake.

Future climate projections suggest a rise in frequency of such extreme events.  Some geographers, Marc Tadaki and colleagues, are caught up in whether physical geography needs to exist,  and/or indulge in a ‘navel gazing and angst’ debate as to the purpose of geography (Dalby, 2012 p.270).  However, others have simply rolled up their sleeves and are conducting geographical analyses, improving the understanding of and addressing climate change and human vulnerabilities, as noted by Simon Dalby in his recent book review in The Geographical Journal.   These applications and analyses form the basis of information provided by organisations like the Environment Agency, whose website provides the latest flood alerts and enables householders to identify the extent to which, if at all, their homes are at risk of flooding. A catastrophe modelling firm, working with the European Space Agency, has recently launched a mapping tool with geo-coded ‘snapshots’ and impact assessment features to help insurers handle the aftermath of flooding.

Extensive systems and infrastructure, including governance arrangements, are in place to attempt to reduce the impact and effects of flooding.  Homeowners in the UK at risk of flooding currently benefit from the “Statement of Principles”, an agreement between Government and insurers, although it will expire on the 1^st July 2013.  Defra are currently working on a replacement.  An article in The Geographical Journal, provides a timely reminder of the complexities encountered in public engagement within flood risk management (FRM) and the potential negative consequences that can result if the local micro-politics are not understood and sensitivities, particularly repercussions of shifts in local power relations, are not accounted for before application of FRM engagement.

One way of reducing the scale of flooding in urban areas is to intercept and delay rain and surface runoff by utilising and improving urban ecosystems.  Built environment industry experts are looking at innovative ways of ecologically adapting the built environment, there’s an annual conference and, this year, a public exhibition of the Integrated Habitats Design Competition’s winners and finalists in October at the Natural History Museum (a Fringe Event of the UN Convention on Biodiversity).  This just goes to show that urban ecosystems can be enhanced, have social, economic as well as ecological value and, as Robert Francis and colleagues point out in their article in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, offer opportunities for innovative research.

Flooding – availability and coverage of insurance Association of British Insurers

S. Dalby, 2012, Geo 2.0: digital tools, geographical vision and a changing planet, The Geographical Journal 178 270–274

UK Climate Projections:  Briefing report (UKCP09) Defra

R. A. Francis, J. Lorimer and M. Raco, 2012, Urban ecosystems as ‘natural’ homes for biogeographical boundary crossings, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 37 183–190

Defra tweaking statement of principles replacement Insurance Times.co.uk

What’s bringing the stormy weather to the UK? Official blog of the Met Office news team

Satellite Flood Footprints PERILS

M. Tadaki, J. Salmond, R.  Le Heron and G. Brierley, 2012, Nature, culture, and the work of physical geography, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 37 547–562

C-P. Tseng, and E.C. Penning-Rowsell, 2012, Micro-political and related barriers to stakeholder engagement in flood risk management, The Geographical Journal 178 253–269.

Britain gets almost a month of rain in 24 hours , The Guardian

‘A platitude is that which every one admits and no one remembers’, W L Grant surmised in May, 1911, ‘[t]he platitude with which I begin is that Canada is a large country…a great truth’. In the aftermath of the American Civil War, British and Canadian officials scrambled to strengthen Canada’s authority from the relatively urbanised Atlantic and Great Lakes regions to the sparsely populated West. They undertook construction of one of the longest railroads in the world, a line traveling west from the rivers and inlets of Québec, across the expansive Alberta prairie, and through the Rocky Mountains to British Columbia. Today, Canadian National Railways (CN) stands as one of Canada’s most important assets, a symbol of the Dominion and Canadian pride, and an economic lifeline stretching the length of the North American continent (p. 598). But its name, Canadian National, is perhaps misleading, for CN’s network, through corporate acquisition, now extends south, through the Midwest and down the length of the Mississippi River, through the heartland of the United States (see image).

Julie Cidell’s (University of Illinois) analysis in the most recent edition of Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers both acknowledges resurgent interest in transport geography and explores a contentious recent episode in CN’s expansion into the United States. In late 2007, CN approached US Steel with an offer to purchase Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern (EJ&E), a vital connector railroad network in Chicago. Similar in scope to Boston’s (in)famous ‘Big Dig’, the EJ&E was constructed to increase transport efficiency in one of the United States’s busiest railroad centres. As is often the case in densely populated areas, local residents protested against CN’s plans to increase railroad traffic from an estimated five trains per day to nearly thirty trains per day (pp. 598-601).

Cidell’s article is an excellent definitional source, explicating how planning officials understand ‘sky’, ‘airspace’, and Cidell’s own variant: ‘trainspace’ – the legal, safety, and geographical environment surrounding the trains, railroad tracks, and properties. The author seeks to explore how trainspaces interact with other spaces, including (perhaps most notably) national space.

Although the United States and Canada are traditionally extraordinarily close allies, CN’s ambitious proposal catalysed highly defensive reactions from US residents. Although those affected by the suggested changes cited noise, smog, and other intrusions, a principal concern was that a foreign corporation wanted to manage a vital American trainspace. Although CN officials were quick to point out that US employees could benefit from the company’s proposal, legitimate concerns were repeatedly raised over how the acquisition of US railroads by a Canadian firm would benefit any actors other than Canadian interests. Ciddell’s article provides an exciting framework to model other air- and trainspace conflicts throughout the world.

W L Grant, 1911, Geographical Conditions Affecting the Development of Canada, The Geographical Journal 38 362-74.

Julie Cidell, 2012, Fear of a Foreign Railroad: Transnationalism, Trainspace, and (Im)mobility in the Chicago Suburbs, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 37 593-608.

Also see: Benjamin J Sacks, 2010, Rethinking Transport Geography, Geography Directions, 25 August 2010.

To the J1s: All the best for promos!

Although geography isn’t a hard core science subject, it still requires a certain amount of practise! The following is a compiled list of human geography essay questions from 2007 prelims, 2008 prelims and past year A Levels for your reference.

Globalisation
Population Geography
Urban Geography

I have previously received requests from students to look at their essays (outlines or full essays), so I was thinking of extending this ‘help’ to everyone else too. If you need some opinion on any essays you have done, email them in doc or docx format to caughtingeog@gmail.com and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. The busiest period is typically the week before the actual exam though, so the earlier you send in your outlines, the better.

Good luck!!!!

Hazards and Management
Indonesia: 6.3-quake hits off Indonesia’s Sumatra: USGS.
Guatemala: Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire erupts, thousands evacuate.

Globalisation
World: Oslo, Zurich and Tokyo are world’s most pricey cities: Study.

Urban Geography
Singapore: 5 new bus routes, over 90 new buses by year-end. External team to conduct safety audit of SMRT project.
Singapore: Rochor area’s diversity attracts researchers.

Others
Japan: Japan aims to phase out nuclear energy by 2040.

Hazards and Management
Thailand: Old Thai capital flooded after river bank breaks.

Urban Geography
Singapore: $43m off-road cycling paths to be built in 7 estates.

Beer tasting was not the intent of the trip, but i did have a hope for it
since this is also my vacation.

After a trip to the South Carolina Acqurim and the Charleston City Market we stopped into the Noisy Oyster for lunch. Lucky they had a few home grown brews on the menu.

I ordered a four brew flight with Palmetto’s Pale Ale, Westbrook’s Thai White and Holy City’s Porter. The 4th for some reason was a Sam Adams Boston Lager; go figure.

The Holy City Porter was good. Nice espresso nose and smoky malts. I could drink it all day in a climate other than the muggy south.

If you are a west coast pale fan then you would be disappointed by the Palmetto Pale Ale. It was good and the hops are there, but not overtly so; closest mate wood be Sierra Nevada Extra Pale. I’ve had there Amber on other trips, which is a quality beer and so was their Pale.

I liked the Thai White quit a bit. Belgian Wit with a heavy haze and what had to be grapefruit peel as a key ingredient. The brewers website says it was inspired by Thai food. I can’t figure the link. There were an abundance of Belgian tourist in Thailand when I went years ago so maybe the idea struck the brewer on a trip after hanging with Belgian’s? Anyway, it does not matter.

What matters is this area has several good craft brewers and many are in downtown, which I have always loved. I skipped beer photos in favor of landmark photos for this blog.

Although not a Charleston beer I did have Sweet Water’s 420 Extra Pale at Blu in Folly Beach (good food on the beach). The 420 is a reference to the interstate loop in the ATL and not the time to smoke wacky tobacco. Nothing of note on this beer. It tasted like a Sierra Nevada also.

I did discover a spot called the Folly Beach Brewing Co. A visit did not work with my plans so I skipped it but it looked like a nice bottle shop and beer bar on Folly’s main drag. At some point maybe I will get back and go try it out.

One highlight of the trip was going out with my brother for a few beers. We hit Taps Brews in Summerville (nice bottle shop with 8 rotating taps). There I enjoyed a Holy City Laser Schwartz and a few other pretty ales from the east coast including Brooklyn’s Oktober Fest. I was a bit more engaged in talking than taking beer notes, but trust me I had good beer. After Taps we hit a local bar for a few more. I had another Holy City (their Pilsner). All in all I liked the Holy City product and wish I had gone to their tap room in North Charleston.

We finished off our trip with a visit to my uncle in Horseshoe, North Carolina, near Asheville. This area is on the verge of explosion. Oskar Blues, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are set to open operations in the next year or so. Asheville is also home to a pretty fair number of micro brew operation including Highland (great Scotch Ale they have). I think these guys will actually help spur this area on as a strong competitor to Colorado’s Front Range, Portland, and Nor Cal. North Carolina has the economic and population growth and lure of beautiful mountain towns to tourist and equity migrants to make a big splash over the next few years. Hell if I could pull it off, the low cost of living, landscape and atmosphere, would suit me just fine and I’d get the hell of California and move back (lived in Durham for 5 years) to Carolina in a heart beat.

Urban Geography
Singapore: Fewer satisfied with public transport compared to a year ago: Survey.

Globalisation
Singapore: Singapore remains 2nd most competitive economy in the world.

Others
World: Global climate talks make headway: UN.

Urban Geography
Egypt: A challenging ‘rubbish’ test looms for Egypt’s new leader.

In Tokyo, subdivision of land is very common to avoid high inheritance taxes. Properties and land are becoming more and more tightly structured. Therefore originally single-storey buildings were reduced to half their base area and developed by building one floor on the top of it. The next generation divided again, and built another floor on it. So the plot of land got smaller and smaller, the living space regarding the square meters stayed nearly the same –with the effects of a high-density settlement and therefore urbanism.

So where are the similarities to areas in western city districts undergoing Gentrification or similar transformation processes caused by actions of the Creative Class? The concentration of people counting themselves to the Creative Class provides and develops urbanism – even in former not so high-density areas. Urbanism itself develops when a large number of people act in a limited (urban) space. Important is the word “certain”. There is no urbanism (and therefore no transformation process) with no or few people. Because space is mostly limited in transformation areas – and so is the number of offices and studios- people have to (and, because of creative and economical synergy effects, want to) share those areas –the Creative Class is no One-man-project. Because of sharing offices, exhibition spaces and clubs, a large number of people act in a limited space – and create urbanism.  So it’s the starting point that is quite different, but the effects of subdivisions of the land in Tokyo and/or sharing work and entertainment spaces in western city districts are pretty the same, even concerning the rising rents …

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Further reading: ARCH+, August 2012

Picture: The shot was made myself during a trip to Tokyo in spring 2012. It shows a typical old building, surrounded by newly erected multistorey buildings.

Hazards and Management
Thailand: Forest dam threatens Thailand’s tigers: WWF.
South Korea: Death toll from South Korea typhoon climbs to 15. 2nd typhoon threatens battered Korean Peninsula.
Japan: Japan estimates monster quake could kill 320,000.
US: Hurricane Isaac makes landfall, New Orleans braces.

Urban Geography
Singapore: Affordability ‘still key’ in transport fare revision. New Thomson MRT line to open from 2019, and have 22 stations.

Population Geography
India: Overwhelming majority of Indians prefer arranged marriages: Survey.

The Hustle, the Bustle and all the Kerfuffle

-

Cross road, adrenaline pumping, phew safely across

The smell, the sound, the shops, the street are all in total chaos.

“Why are we here?” we ask ourselves in a doubtful tone,

To do geography fieldwork, so you’d better not moan.

-

On went the happy geographers, writing as they went;

The sweat, the smog, the spit, the shit were all pre-sent.

“Why are they doing that?” they ask themselves in an inquisical tone,

“because that’s the way of life here, so you’d better not moan.”

-

Lost now, wrong way, in a neighbourhood;

The chat, the sale, the talk, the words; nothing understood.

“You want buy watch?” they’re asking in a forceful tone,

“not right now, the geographers reply, we’d better get home.

-

On went the happy geographers, day merging with night;

The hustle, the bustle and all the kerfuffle carried on with might.

“What makes this space special?” one asks, “what does everyone say?”

We’re not to sure why, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The idea is to build up a new functional city. With the help of creative business, the goal is to create the number one hip place in London for sure. So while the building machineries are shaping new grounds in London’s East, the IKEA furniture, hum sorry, city planning crew is working on a new project, situated in Hamburg. Rumors say, that the IKEA quarter will be built in the area of an old, vacant industry district. No skyscraper buildings, only small blocks combining offices and apartments will be built to adapt the local scenery. Nothing is fixed yet, but let’s see. Hamburg is a very young and dynamic city, always famous for squatting and urban transformation processes (“Die Rote Flora”). Gentrification processes always proceeded in a kind of “natural” way – so the creative scene was not settled anywhere, the did it because of their own purpose. The attempt of building up the new “HafenCity” was neglected by loads of people in the creative scene, and also by a lot of inhabitants. The idea behind the “HafenCity” was to create a brand for Hamburg – to attract external investments and tourism. After all, it worked, but will IKEA town work too? I don’t know, but we’ll see…

Further reading:

http://strandeast.com/

So stay tuned and thanks for reading!

you need:

• a (not famous) district with lower-income inhabitants
• high-level income inhabitants leaving and avoiding the neighborhood
• dropping or already very low rental charges
• regional potential of creative folks of any kind (musicians, artists, graphic designers, urban planners )
• vacant housing structures

Now it’s the planners turn to create an idea, a brand or something else attracting creative input. And you utilze the dropping rental charges in combination with the creative class as a tool : people can use structures to work, live and (and that’s the most important part) shape their surroundings. Old, dirty houses may stay old and dirty, but the structures will become kind of “community centers” – the creative class uses typical horizontal integration: they stay in one district, support their own community and they surely won’t be disappointed at first, when they pay little (or sometimes none at all) rent for their flat, studio and working place. Some places even support squatting processes to implement those new creative structures. Sounds great? Until this point, it is for sure. But as soon as the district undergoes a changing process – from the former poor, red light, immigrant or whatever place to the trashy, modern and hip (that’s the word, yes) quarter, the rental charges will rise- and the people who made the district a famous one, will have to leave, they are not the winners of the gentrifying process.

So there are lots of ideas and concepts to do gentrifying processes without suppress immigrants, pioneers or gentrifyers, some of them include non-profit ideas, temporary usage of vacant building structures and even self-administrations of whole districts. There are also plenty of places all over the world, each one unique, but still undergoing a similar process.

Feel free to add comments, critics and (most important of all) new input!

Thanks for reading,

ructa

The “Rise of the creative class” (Richard Florida) surely provides opportunities for development within urban structures. Nowadays, it’s not possible to use the term without combination to “gentrification”, a process of up- valuing an urban district by following a (quite simple) recipe:

you need:

• a (not famous) district with lower-income inhabitants
• high-level income inhabitants leaving and avoiding the neighborhood
• dropping or already very low rental charges
• regional potential of creative folks of any kind (musicians, artists, graphic designers, urban planners   )
• vacant housing structures

Now it’s the planners turn to create an idea, a brand or something else attracting creative input. And you utilze the dropping rental charges in combination with the creative class as a tool : people can use structures to work, live and (and that’s the most important part) shape their surroundings. Old, dirty houses may stay old and dirty, but the structures will become kind of “community centers” – the creative class uses typical horizontal integration: they stay in one district, support their own community and they surely won’t be disappointed at first, when they pay little (or sometimes none at all) rent for their flat, studio and working place. Some places even support squatting processes to implement those new creative structures. Sounds great? Until this point, it is for sure. But as soon as the district undergoes a changing process – from the former poor, red light, immigrant or whatever place to the trashy, modern and hip (that’s the word, yes) quarter, the rental charges will rise- and the people who made the district a famous one, will have to leave, they are not the winners of the gentrifying process.

So there are lots of ideas and concepts to do gentrifying processes without suppress immigrants, pioneers or gentrifyers, some of them include non-profit ideas, temporary usage of vacant building structures and even self-administrations of whole districts. There are also plenty of places all over the world, each one unique, but still undergoing a similar process.

Feel free to add comments, critics and (most important of all) new input!

Thanks for reading,

cheerio,

ructa