ABSTRACT Forest ecosystems in many low-income tropical countries experience high rates of degradation. Often, remote sensing and forest surveys are used to assess the degradation, neglecting local knowledge in the evaluation and management responses. In this study, we integrate scientific and local knowledge to co-create customized indicators for qualitatively plumb forests and identify suitable management strategies. We used the Drivers-Pressures-Stressors-Condition-Responses framework to guide this collaborative process. Working with 100 farmers in 10 communities, we used in-depth interviews, historical narratives, photography, and geospatial methods to conduct extensive “forest walks” to measure forest quality. Participants described their perception of forest quality based on seven co-created indicators and the impacts of human-environment interactions. We found that co-created indicators of forest quality generally align with indicators used in ecological science, highlighting synergies for collaborative assessment. Perception of forest quality is based mostly on intrinsic value placed on ecosystem services and the degree of human impacts on forest condition. Local knowledge integration and co-creation in forest quality assessment uncovered nuances of the drivers of forest deforestation, which aids in the development of customized co-management strategies for regeneration and conservation. Overall, the study underscores the importance of bottom-up collaboration in bridging the science-policy-practice gap to address forest degradation.

ABSTRACT In the immediate decades following the end of World War II, Northwestern University rapidly and unexpectedly emerged as an important node in American geography. Prior to 1945, Northwestern did not have an independent geography department, but by 1965 Northwestern had become a preeminent center of geographic thought. This paper examines how Northwestern became a substantial producer of academic geographers and of interdisciplinary geographic thought/methods, focusing on the period from 1945–1965. The piece reflects on how this period at Northwestern reshaped geography in the United States more broadly in the second half of the twentieth century. Through an examination of the faculty and graduates of the program, this paper explores how Northwestern provided fertile ground for the continuation of existing, and the innovation of new, geographical traditions.

ABSTRACT Previous work has suggested that protected areas, both in the United States and around the world, have been disproportionately established on lands of low economic potential. As the bulk of protected areas occur in rural settings, the possibility that less valuable lands are more often reserved from development deserves separate examination in cities. Leading late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American pioneers of urban planning explicitly recommended the use of economically marginal lands for city parks, as did decision makers in public discussions. An examination of protected areas in America’s six largest cities today shows them to be unusually concentrated on terrain of high elevation, steep slope, and high flood potential, all factors likely to have discouraged intensive development. The past consequences of such targeted site selection have included the displacement for park creation in a number of cities of economically and racially marginal communities who had settled on such residual lands. The results, in addition, support the claim that land protection has been a lower priority, in urban as well as rural settings, than the extent of protected areas would suggest, and they underline the potential importance of the physical environment in understanding urban geography.

ABSTRACT Diaspora, the migration of people away from their homelands, is a contemporary experience of Indigenous communities. Of concern in Indigenous diaspora research is how one maintains cultural identity while living within exclusionary environments that have the lasting influence of settler-colonial assimilationist ideologies. This paper contributes to the growing conversation around the Indigenous diaspora by drawing on the narratives of three Māori individuals who have lived experience in the diaspora. Kōwetewete, an Indigenous qualitative research method, invited conversations from the diaspora into this paper. Participants provided insights concerning the complexity of identity assertion in the diaspora, themes of belonging and connection to tūrangawaewae (ancestral homeland), and diasporic relations to the homeland. This paper highlights the need for better recognition of Māori in the diaspora and argues that it is essential to decolonize place-based markers that continue to limit cultural-identity experiences.

ABSTRACT Despite an increased number of emigration cases, there is still a certain group of individuals who remain deeply attached to their place of residence, finding comfort in familiar physical, social, and cultural surroundings. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to identify the principal characteristics of place attachment among representatives of the Šokac community of Croats in Bačka, a minority community situated in the northern part of Serbia. Some of the characteristics of this community are related to contemporary demographic problems, such as depopulation, aging, and emigration. In respect to that, it could be said that one of the challenges of this research was to identify the leading characteristics of the place attachment among those members who decided to stay within the researched area. The research was conducted through a survey of 170 members of the Šokac Croatian community living in the Bačka region. The collected data were analyzed using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses, as well as t-tests and ANOVA. According to the research results, place identity, community, and place dependence, as well as the family and friends bonding, play an important role in strengthening the respondents’ attachment to the place and community and in practical terms of tourism development, depopulation, and cultural heritage.

ABSTRACT Anti-urbanism, in terms of ideology or aesthetics, emerged in the nineteenth century against the backdrop of industrialization and urbanization. It was rooted in the Romanticist movement: the city, construed as the embodiment of modernity, was viewed as antithetical to Romantic ideals of the nation and of nature. This essay sheds light on the meaning of anti-urbanism, its role in our understanding of cities and urbanity, and how it has come to figure prominently in art and politics. It concentrates on the historical and contemporary experiences of Germany and the United States. In politics, anti-urbanism came to the fore with the rise of fascism, and it is echoed in present-day, far-right populism, even if it never acquired ideological coherence. Fascism brought aesthetics into politics in unprecedented manner. It transformed politics into an aesthetic experience, where spectacle and emotional appeal prevailed over rational discourse, in ways reminiscent of the Romantic notion of “sensibility.” Drawing on Yi-Fu Tuan’s distinction between “cosmos” and “hearth,” the article underlines the enduring importance of Romanticism and Modernism as ways of seeing. It concludes with a comparison of anti-urbanism in fascist and far-right ideologies.

ABSTRACT Vacant lots are often perceived as contributing to negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts on surrounding communities. However, they also offer opportunities for strategic interventions that promote heat resilience. This study uses a decision-scale congruence analytic approach to examine the correlation between extreme heat and community resilience in the context of vacant lots in the city of Mesa, Arizona. By identifying and analyzing over 1,200 vacant lots, we assessed spatial patterns of Community Resilience Estimates (CRE) for Heat and Body Heat Storage (BHS) to understand their correlation at the unit of analysis of vacant lots, where key decisions are made concerning land use. The results reveal a nonrandom spatial distribution of CRE for Heat and BHS across Mesa’s vacant lots. Vacant lots are disproportionately concentrated in neighborhoods with lower resilience, exacerbating heat exposure. Communities with limited access to cooling infrastructure, tree canopy, and other resources experience lowered heat resilience. A positive correlation between CRE for Heat and BHS shows that areas with higher heat exposure tend to have lower community resilience, reinforcing the need for cooling interventions. This study highlights the potential for converting vacant lots into heat-resilient, community-serving spaces. Using our findings, decision makers can identify priority areas and leverage vacant lots to mitigate heat impacts and foster community resilience.