Geographical Perspective Research Articles

Patterns, evolution and determinants of child trafficking in Henan Province, China

ABSTRACT Child trafficking is a serious social problem in China that has led to numerous family tragedies and drawn considerable attention. Here, we used a new database to investigate child trafficking in Henan Province in central China from a geographical perspective to help researchers better understand and explain trafficking activity. We discovered that trafficking cases involved more male than female children and that the trafficking rate was the highest for younger age groups. Child trafficking presented an interannual variation of ‘rise and fall’ between 1949 and 2018. An increasing trend in trafficking cases was observed after 1981, peaking in 1991, followed by a rapid decline in trafficking cases in subsequent years. Trafficking occurs more frequently during the summer than in the winter. The geographic hotspots of trafficking have continuously expanded over time from central to southwestern to southeastern Henan Province, thus revealing a triangular trafficking pattern of decentralization. The spatial pattern of child trafficking is strongly influenced by transportation. We expect these findings to provide a valuable reference for local governments in their efforts to prevent and combat child trafficking.

GIS-Based Interactive Technology in Demographic Record Management and Mapping Towards Sustainable Community

Management of demographic records plays a vital role in understanding and planning for the needs of community living. However, managing conventional records requires more time, cost, and energy without accurate assurance. As there are raising concerns in assessing community information for charity purposes, safety coordination, and crime prevention, especially during emergencies; integrating demographic data with spatial information is becoming significantly important. This paper aims to establish an accessible and visible digital platform of demographic information for respective sectors, namely, the KRT, Qariah group, NGOs, and representatives of CSR projects. The objective is to digitize interactive demographic record management and mapping through GIS-based technology. This study adopts a Geographical Information System (GIS) to digitize information using web GIS integrating with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for data acquisition in the community sampling areas; Puncak Iskandar. The proposed system which leverages the power of spatial analysis and visualization, utilizes GIS technology to store, analyse, and visualize demographic records in a geographical context. It incorporates various demographic data sources, such as census data, health records, and administrative data in managing more efficient and effective data with lower cost, energy, time, and resources. Furthermore, the GIS-based system enables the identification of spatial disparities, inequalities, and interventions in demographic characteristics. Therefore, the integration of this system into community demographic management has provided a powerful platform for accessing and coordinating population dynamics, problem-solving, and sustainable development. The implementation in Puncak Iskandar enhances the accessibility, and visualization of demographic data, enabling policy-makers, researchers, and planners to make informed decisions based on a geographical perspective. The findings demonstrate the reliability of GIS-based demographic record management in a community living towards supporting evidence-based planning, resource allocation, and policy formulation for a wide range of applications, including urban planning, public health, and social services towards a sustainable future.

Cyberspace Serves Culture: Experiences from Iran During the COVID-19 Crisis

During the last two years, we have witnessed incredible advancement in the growth of research on E-culture. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, this advancement was not only a Eurocentric development but could also be seen in non-European countries like Iran, which has accelerated rapidly towards digitalization. This paper is the first attempt to present a comprehensive review of Iranian digital cultural initiatives during the quarantine period of the COVID-19 outbreak (March 2020 to May 2020). This study uses VOSviewer software to analyze the digitalization trend in Iran from a thematic and geographic perspective. The results reveal that there was a significant ascending trend in the number of launched digital cultural projects in Tehran province during the quarantine period. Based on the data sourced from the General Directorate of Islamic Culture and Guidance of Tehran province ‘’اداره کل فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی استان تهران’’, 30 digital projects with a socio-cultural scope were identified. This result is in line with the development of digital capabilities in the country. A key finding was the dominance of research related to social media platforms, as highlighted by the high number of digital cultural activities that were launched through Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram. This has clear implications for the improvement of E-culture in the country and the development of this domain by recognition of its social, economic, and environmental values. Moreover, the majority of cultural activities revolved around virtual festivals celebrating Iran's intangible cultural heritage, including prominent events like Nowruz (the Persian New Year). This has revealed the dominant role of cultural heritage in the progress of digitalization. These results enabled us to provide an initial framework of digital tendencies in Iran that could potentially contribute to E-culture promotion through the development of new digital tools and formats.

Spatial-temporal coupling pattern between irrigation demand and soil moisture dynamics throughout wheat-maize rotation system in the North China Plain

Irrigation water requirement (Iwr) and soil moisture (SM) are two essential metrics that guide scientific irrigation and agricultural water-saving practices. Although they have been extensively studied in the North China Plain (NCP), an exploration into their spatial-temporal coupling pattern remains absent. Here, the spatial-temporal coupling pattern underlying the variations of Iwr and SM across the winter wheat–summer maize rotation system within the NCP was elucidated from a geographic perspective, by developing a geo-statistic framework that integrated the global spatial autocorrelation, spatial hot-spot technique, geographically weighted regression, and the optimal parameters-based geographic detector. From 2000–2019, the Iwr and SM exerted a distinct geospatial heterogeneity. Winter wheat demonstrated a spatially descending gradient in Iwr from north to south, while the pattern in summer maize Iwr varied greatly across periods. Generally, winter wheat had a higher Iwr, while the geospatial pattern of summer maize Iwr displayed a greater variability. Spatial pattern of SM in 0–100 cm soil horizon exhibited an approximately inverse trajectory to that of Iwr, while SM in 100–200 cm horizon demonstrated a spatial staggered pattern. In most cases, there existed a notable negative coupling between Iwr and SM at 0–100 cm depth, but not universal at 100–200 cm. Nonetheless, a pronounced reciprocal enhancement mechanism between SM of two layers was confirmed. Between 2000 and 2019, a geospatial decoupling trend was detected between Iwr and SM throughout the NCP. Despite remaining universality, the pattern of high irrigation demand induced by soil moisture deficit was being weakened. Given these, climate-adaptive water-saving strategies were updated, which provide a new implication for regional agricultural water-saving practice and sustainable production.

Rediscovering rural territories: Local perceptions and the benefits of collective mapping for sustainable development in Colombian communities

Territorial analysis contributes to sustainable rural development practices and social action. Based on the qualitative methodological principle in the application of collective mapping, where peasants are the main actors in identifying local realities from a participatory geographic perspective, it is possible to characterize multiple rural realities and their community diversity. Firstly, recent qualitative methodological tools are identified to evaluate the scope of application and level of satisfaction of local actors in a Colombian rural context. Secondly, an explanation of the collective mapping method with communities is addressed for its subsequent application. Finally, local perspectives are examined based on the documentation of sociocultural and environmental components, threats, pollution, and places of interest within the territory that allow for the construction of the visual tool in active community participation workshops. Therefore, the article's purpose is to discuss the benefits of collective mapping as a playful and visual option for the rediscovery of the territory from local perspectives, leading to reflection on the need to create sustainable rural development strategies.

Maps of Solar Wind Plasma Precipitation onto Mercury’s Surface: A Geographical Perspective

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, possesses a weak intrinsic magnetic field, and has only a very tenuous atmosphere (exosphere). These three conditions result in a direct coupling between the plasma emitted from the Sun (namely, the solar wind) and Mercury’s surface. The planet’s magnetic field leads to a nontrivial pattern of plasma precipitation onto the surface that is expected to contribute to the alteration of the regolith over geological timescales. The goal of this work is to study the solar wind plasma precipitation onto the surface of Mercury from a geographical perspective, as opposed to the local time-of-day approach of previous precipitation modeling studies. We employ solar wind precipitation maps for protons and electrons from two fully kinetic numerical simulations of Mercury’s plasma environment. These maps are then integrated over two full Mercury orbits (176 Earth days). We found that the plasma precipitation pattern at the surface is most strongly affected by the upstream solar wind conditions, particularly the interplanetary magnetic field direction, and less by Mercury’s 3:2 spin–orbit resonance. We also found that Mercury’s magnetic field is able to shield the surface from roughly 90% of the incoming solar wind flux. At the surface, protons have a broad energy distribution from below 500 eV to more than 1.5 keV, while electrons are mostly found in the range 0.1–10 keV. These results will help to better constrain space weathering and exosphere source processes at Mercury, as well as interpret observations by the ongoing ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission.

Geografické aspekty zmien náboženskej štruktúry Slovenska medzi sčítaniami 2001, 2011 a 2021

This article examines the changes in the religious structure of the population of Slovakia from a geographic perspective between 2001 and 2021 with a focus on the five largest churches in Slovakia (Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession, Greek Catholic Church, Reformed Christian Church, and Orthodox Church) and the population with no religious belief. The 2011–2021 period was significant for the secularisation of society, which was reflected in an increase in the size of the population with no religious belief. The article’s chief goal is to identify the regions (at the level of individual districts or parts of districts) that saw the most significant rise or decline of individual churches.

The ethnic density effect as a contextual influence in ecological disease models: Establishing its quantitative expression.

Research suggests higher neighbourhood ethnic minority density to be associated with lessened chances of ethnic group illness. We focus on the density effect on psychosis, arguing that (at higher ethnic concentrations) it acts as a contextual influence attenuating the compositional influence whereby minority ethnicity is associated with higher psychosis risk. In terms of ecological disease regression, the ethnic density effect will then be apparent in nonlinear impacts of minority concentration. Contextual effects may also be evident in spatially varying regression coefficient models for psychosis. Nonlinearity or heterogeneity may be associated with other contextual processes where geography modifies demography (e.g. deprivation amplification). We illustrate these issues with an analysis of psychosis prevalence in 4835 London neighbourhoods. The data are collected in primary care (during 2019/20) using clinical diagnosis (e.g. based on referrals to specialists or psychosis hospitalisation), and refer to patients currently under care: such care may extend retrospectively over several years. The data offer a complete population perspective in contrast to survey data, which typically offer limited geographic perspectives. We consider impacts on psychosis prevalence of non-white ethnicity, as well as those of deprivation, social fragmentation and urbanicity. We find evidence suggesting nonlinear impacts of non-white ethnicity on psychosis (essentially flat risk above a threshold concentration), but find no evidence for deprivation amplification.

칸트의 『자연지리학』에 대한 시론적 연구

With the recent discussion of cosmopolitanism, interest in Kant’s geography is gradually growing. In the history of geography, Kant’s concept of space has been treated as important since a long time ago, but there were not many discussions about the contents of his Physical Geography (Physische Geographie) lectures and edited posthumously edited textbook. Therefore, the direction of reconsideration of Kant’s geography was suggested from the following several points of view. First, this study interpreted the meaning of David Harvey’s critique of Kant’s geography as an example. Harvey’s criticism of ‘geographical racism’ is meaningful in that it actively examines the geographical perspective as well as the anthropological and sociological criticism of Kant’s critical philosophy. Second, Kant’s Physical Geography and Anthropology from a Practical Perspective (Anthropologie in Pragmatischer Hinsicht) were compared and reviewed focusing on the explanation of the differences between races and ethnic groups. Kant’s geography sought to break away from the system of natural theology and the concept of design theory. Fourth, the contradiction between Kant’s geography and anthropology needs to be understood within the tension between the geo-environmental Eurocentrism inherent in Enlightenment philosophy and Cosmopolitanism as a liberating possibility.

From systemic to sustainability transitions: An emerging economy perspective on urban sprawl and the automobile revolution

There is mounting evidence that the current model of economic development negatively affects many ecological processes and creates serious threats to the sustainability of economic processes and welfare. In response to those threats, policies have been introduced at supranational and national levels to alleviate the most burning environmental challenges and mitigate their consequences for humanity. At the same time, however, there is a growing understanding that economy–environment relations have to be analysed and approached from a geographical perspective, as this sheds more light on spatial differences and specificities, the unevenness of transition processes and their social consequences as well as the need to perform the transition towards sustainability in a spatially sensitive manner. This article seeks to reconstruct and analyse two processes – urban sprawl and the automobile revolution – that took place in the Polish urban regions during the systemic transformation period and to discuss their potential consequences for the transition to sustainability from a geographical perspective. We show that different places, due to their specificities and legacies, start sustainability transitions from different initial conditions that might affect the pace of this process as well as its environmental and social consequences.

An empirical analysis of premature deindustrialization in latecomer developing countries

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of premature deindustrialization among latecomer economies in developing countries across the globe. This study applies a fixed effect model based on panel data as a methodology. The main findings and conclusions of this study are as follows: First, the fixed effect model based on panel data, which was used as a baseline analysis for looking at the link between manufacturing and income using the latecomer index, found that developing economies that joined the global economy after 1990 were deindustrializing too quickly. Second, from a geographical perspective, the acceleration of premature deindustrialization was confirmed in Latin America and some areas of Africa. Third, the quantile regression, which was used to test how stable the results of the fixed effect model estimation were, found that developing economies were deindustrializing too soon. Finally, alternative estimations demonstrated that partaking in global value chains (GVC) facilitated industrialization, whereas natural resource abundance prevented it. In terms of practical implications, GVC participation can be a good way for latecomer in developing economies to avoid premature deindustrialization. Resource-rich economies could keep the Dutch disease effect from speeding up premature deindustrialization by putting their resource revenues to productive uses, like building infrastructure.

Using a Cost-Distance Time-Geographic Approach to Identify Red Deer Habitat Use in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Animal movements are realizations of complex spatiotemporal processes. Central to these processes are the varied environmental contexts in which animals move, which fundamentally impact the movement trajectories of individuals at fine spatial and temporal scales. An emerging perspective in time geography is the direct examination of the influence that varying contexts may have on observed movements. An approach that considers environmental context can yield actionable information for wildlife management, planning, and conservation; for instance, identifying areas of probable occupancy by an animal may improve the efficiency of fieldwork. This research develops the first known practical application of a new cost-distance-based, probabilistic voxel space–time prism (CDBPSTP) in efforts to more realistically characterize the unobserved habitat occupancies of animals occurring between known positions provided by location-aware technologies. The CDBPSTP method is applied to trajectory data collected for a group of red deer (Cervus elaphus) tracked near Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. As a demonstration of the added value from examining how context influences movement, CDBPSTP habitat occupancy results are compared to the earlier PSTP method in context with empirical and theoretical understandings of red deer habitat preference and space-use behaviors. This comparison reveals that with CDBPSTP, variation present in the mover’s environment is explicitly considered as an influence on the mover’s probable path and occupancies between observations of its location. With the increasing availability of high-resolution geolocational and associated environmental data, this study highlights the potential for CDBPSTP to be leveraged as a broadly applicable tool in animal movement analysis.

A geographical perspective on the formation of urban nightlife landscape

The significance of nightlife and the nighttime economy has witnessed a growing prominence in the realm of urban development. The urban nightlife landscape, serving as the backdrop for urban nighttime pursuits, plays a significant role in determining nighttime consumption patterns and overall nocturnal experiences. However, there is a significant lacuna in the existing scholarship on the fundamental reasoning behind the formation of nightlife landscapes, with the primary analytical focus in earlier studies on daytime landscapes. Drawing upon a spatiotemporal geography perspective, this paper aims to uncover the underlying logic behind the various forms of urban nightlife landscapes. It seeks to identify the key factors that shape these landscapes, thus unveiling their formation mechanisms, overall typology and aesthetic characteristics. Based on the cases of four bar streets in Guangzhou, China, this study argues that the historical heritage and location advantages give rise to two developmental forces in shaping the nightlife landscape: romanticisation and commercialisation. The intertwining of these two forces results in four fundamental categories of urban nightlife landscape: ordinary leisure, gentrification, creative and nostalgic districts, each exhibiting distinct aesthetic characteristics. This paper provides insights into the formation and aesthetic mechanisms of urban nightlife landscapes, and emphasises the importance for urban planners and policymakers to take the spatial-historical context into account when formulating strategies for urban beatification initiatives.

A study on the spatial distribution and historical evolution of grotto heritage: a case study of Gansu Province, China

Grottoes are a comprehensive art treasure trove that integrate architecture, sculpture, and murals. They showcase the historical spiritual civilization of humanity and provide a solid foundation for studying the dissemination and development of Buddhist culture. Gansu Province is an important node on the transmission route of Buddhist culture, constituting a relatively complete and rich history of Buddhist art and cultural history. This article uses GIS technology to systematically analyse the spatial distribution characteristics and spatiotemporal evolution patterns of grottoes in Gansu Province from the Wei Jin to the Ming and Qing dynasties and explores the main factors affecting their distribution. The results indicate the following: (1) the grottoes in Gansu Province exhibit clustering and uneven distribution characteristics, which form the core aggregation area of Qingyang Tianshui City and the secondary aggregation area of Wuwei and Zhangye City. (2) Spatiotemporal characteristics show significant changes in the number and focus of excavation and repair of grottoes in Gansu Province over the years. The Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and Ming and Qing Dynasties had more grottoes than the Wei, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties. The overall centre of gravity shifted from northwest to southeast. Natural factors such as topography, stratigraphy, and hydrology and cultural factors such as politics and transportation significantly impacted the spatial pattern of grotto heritage in Gansu Province. Exploring and studying the spatial layout of grotto heritage from the perspective of historical geography is beneficial for understanding the cultural development and historical changes in Buddhism and is of great significance for the development of landscape environmental protection and utilization of grotto heritage.

Substrate Words Examined from the Perspective of Linguistic Geography (III)

In this article we have proposed to present results of the research of the layer of autochthonous words from the Romanian language, namely the letter C (căciulă – ciucă). It is about research from the perspective of the linguistic geography of the substrate words căciulă, călbează/gălbează, căpuşă, cătun, ceafă, cioară, cioc, ciucă in the Romanian language spoken east of the Prut, according to the data provided by linguistic atlases (ALM, ALRR. Bas., ADCC/ОКДА), dialect texts, the dialectological archive/Dialectal dictionary, etc., elaborated by researchers from Chisinau. The identification of native words from the Romanian-speaking area in the east of the Prut with those from the vocabulary of the Daco-Romanian dialects on the right of the Prut, but also with those from the southern dialects – Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, IstroRomanian – allow us to note some similarities regarding their character as preservers of old elements in the lexical field.

Towards landscape conscience: a geographical perspective

This article aims to show the reciprocal significance of space to human conscience and vice versa. We argue that human conscience is equally founded on external, spatial relations rather than strictly internal states or processes, and we apply the concept of ‘conscience’ to the landscape (‘landscape conscience’). Through an extensive literature review of relevant scientific fields, the article builds its argument for the spatiality of conscience beyond its previously strictly anthropocentric emphasis as a purely internal phenomenon, towards a more contingent and comprehensive approach to its study as a humans-space/landscape interrelationship. Further, we aim to elucidate the ways in which ‘landscape’ is amenable to—and consequently may profit from—the employment of the concept and insights of ‘conscience’. The interconnections and interlinkages of the three broadly defined domains/spheres of human faculties/capacities (perception, emotion, behaviour) in formulating and linking together human interrelations to the surrounding world, emerge as inherently instrumental to conscience formation.

Spatial Spillover and Convergent Mechanism of Urban–Rural Financial Imbalances: Evidence from China

Based on the perspective of financial geography, this study analyzed the convergent mechanism of urban–rural financial imbalances under the influence of spatial spillover through the theoretical framework of spatial process, spatial action, and spatial convergence. Then, we empirically tested the spatial spillover, spatial difference, and spatial convergence of urban–rural financial imbalances in China from 1991 to 2021. We found that urban–rural financial imbalances showed significant spillover effects and heterogeneous characteristics. Spillovers based on financial radiation and exclusion were apparent during the urban financial agglomeration stage, decreasing with geographical distance, and had an essential impact on the convergence of provincial urban–rural financial imbalance. As such spillovers declined during the financial diffusion period, new spillovers at the technology and information dimensions, which were less geographically constrained, came into play and contributed to urban–rural financial convergence. The policy implications are that it is necessary to pay attention to the spatial interaction of urban–rural financial inequality, correctly use their spillover effects to achieve financial convergence, and activate new spatial spillover channels according to their spatial interaction mode changes for further urban and rural financial convergence.

Getting the first gig: Exploring the affective relations of accessing place-based platform labour

Platform labour has established itself as a new form of work in recent years. The platforms themselves advertise the flexibility and freedom of being an independent contractor as beneficial characteristics of their working arrangements. However, existing studies show that these promises do not always correspond to workers' lived experiences. While manifold research discusses the often precarious working conditions of established platform workers, less is known about gaining access to gig work in the first place. This paper draws attention to onboarding processes in the place-based gig economy. From a feminist geography perspective and building on geographies of affect, this paper analyses the process of getting a first paid gig, focusing on how emotions shape platform workers' daily lives. Through autoethnography, I reflect on my own experiences of trying to establish myself as paid platform worker. Contrary to common assumptions, I argue that access to the place-based gig economy is not necessarily straightforward. The paper shows how the labour mediation processes implemented by the platforms create in- and exclusions from the beginning. By letting the workers chase a first gig, the platform capitalises on extended unpaid labour, which is key in maintaining the value production in the gig economy itself.

Integrated Zoning and Spatial Heterogeneity of Coastal Watershed-Nearshore Waters

Integrated land-sea development and protection are important for the sustainable development of coastal areas. To promote the transition from separate land-sea management to integrated land-sea governance, the scientific delineation of the integrated spatial zoning units of coastal watershed-nearshore waters is an important tool for integrated land-sea management. From the perspective of physical geography, this study uses digital hydrological analysis based on DEM data to determine the coastal basin range and generate multilevel watersheds and river networks using different thresholds, and establishes spatial correspondence among physical geospatial spaces, such as watershed zones, coastlines, and nearshore waters, after considering the boundaries of major estuaries and bays. On this basis, the coastal zone is divided into several integrated spatial zoning units of coastal watershed-nearshore waters, and a physical geography-based integrated spatial zoning method is developed to form a physical geography-based land-sea integrated spatial zoning scheme. This study conducted spatial heterogeneity research of the integrated spatial zoning units, from the perspectives of topography analysis, land use analysis, socioeconomic analysis of the watershed, sea use analysis, seawater quality analysis of the nearshore waters, and load pressure analysis of the watershed-nearshore waters. The elemental differences of zoning units are studied in detail, which can provide a data reference for establishing the relationship between watersheds and nearshore waters. Applying this research method to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, where the land-sea linkage pattern is forming, can provide a spatial reference and scientific basis for land-sea integrated management for ecological protection and sustainable resource utilization in the coastal zone.

Weaponizing Urban Development: Critical Geographies of Militarism in Rio de Janeiro

Access to land and to adequate housing—a constitutionally granted right in Brazil—is currently under attack by non-state armed actors, the so-called militias, in Rio de Janeiro. In their attempts to widen territorial control, “militias” weaponize urban development. To understand such form of militarization, I argue that we need to add a geographical perspective to literatures on criminal governance: Terrain and its political materiality is the basis and not only the outcome of spatial claims to power. To sustain this contribution, I turn to local scales and add insights from ethnographic studies on how paramilitary groups affect the lives of residents. I trace the paramilitary influence along their terrain-shaping and urban development activities. The empirical basis of my argument is drawn from the northern periphery of Rio de Janeiro, looking at how “militias”—emerging as armed developers out of a past as Death Squads—expand their influence by investing in urban development. In this paper, “militia” is conceived as a floating signifier. As such, the meaning of militia is contested, as it encompasses a wide range of practices including civil construction, laying infrastructure, and landscaping. This way, the term “militia” becomes a cornerstone of a militarized urban development discourse and practice. “Militia,” as the encompassing center of a narrative cluster, bolsters bellicose forms of governing urban expansion, thereby further militarizing the everyday life of a large part of the marginalized urban society.