Physical Geography Research Articles

Gendered childhoods and the inequity of accessing the outdoors

AbstractUnderstanding our beliefs and experiences means we must often explore our childhood experiences, and reflect on how, at certain points in our life, a range of barriers, obstacles, and societal or social constructs have resulted in shaping the opportunities we had and our behaviours in accessing them. Herein we consider and reflect on the paper ‘“Muddy Glee”: rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork’ and take inspiration to reframe and discuss a broader context of childhood experiences in setting the background for the observations made within the paper. We highlight and discuss three key provocations, which provide a framework to explore how social constructions of gender, from within the womb onwards, impact women's experiences, challenges, and pleasures of fieldwork in geography, and moreover link these experiences to the restrictions on access to the outdoors women experience in everyday life.

A Physical Geography Theory of the Different Origins of Western and Eastern Civilizations

The idea that the common ancestor of the human family originated on the African continent about 7 to 5 million years ago is not much disputed by the academic community. However, humans who originated from the same place are nowadays very different. Due to historical origins, customs and living environment, not only are there huge differences in skin color, physique and appearance, but also cultural differences. As the saying goes, one side of the land nurtures one side of the people, and the difference in the geographical environment makes people from different regions not only different from other regions in terms of physiology but also significantly different in terms of culture and psychology. In this paper, we start with the difference in the geographical environment and analyze its influence on the religious, written aspects and science of Eastern and Western cultures. Thus, the conclusion that geographical differences are the root cause of the cultural differences between East and West is drawn to promote economic and cultural exchanges between East and West, and thus better promote the development of world culture.

The geography of religions: Comparing Buddhist and Taoist sacred mountains in China

AbstractIncreasing attention has been given to geographical contributions to cultural heritage in religion. However, comparative quantitative research remains scarce. As a first attempt, this study presents findings from comparative spatial and statistical analyses of the geographical distribution and features of mountains in China sacred in Taoism and Buddhism. Because both have strong orientations to natural environments, we find more similarities than differences between them, even though the two religions have different origins, philosophies, and doctrines. The results empirically support the influences of Taoism on Buddhism in China, findings that supplement current understandings of Buddhism in China in terms of the geographical dynamics of integration and sinicisation of Chinese culture. The findings also enrich current debates, including in this journal, emphasising the importance of environmental symbols in studies on geography and religion. Connecting humanity with physical geography in light of the changes, including grief, being wrought in the Anthropocene, we hope to inspire more geographically grounded and methodologically eclectic studies on religions.

Banning super short-haul flights: Environmental evidence or political turbulence?

Several countries have considered banning or even decided to ban or tax super short-haul flights, arguing that the availability of rail alternatives makes them unnecessary. Such policies result from the need for governments to be seen as acting to mitigate climate change and scholars favouring energy (climate) efficiency perspectives over the absolute amount of fuel burnt (greenhouse gas emissions emitted). Yet climate change is due to absolute emissions, and it is a fact that the longer a flight is, the greater the amount of fuel is burnt (emissions). Considering all departing flights from 31 European countries, our study found that flights shorter than 500 km account for 27.9% of departures but 5.9% of fuel burnt. In contrast, flights longer than 4,000 km account for 6.2% of departures but 47.0% of fuel burnt, although with significant variation across countries. We conclude that targeting shorter flights (which often exist to alleviate physical obstacles imposed by physical geography) will contribute little to reducing the impact of aviation on climate, and that policy initiatives that target longer flights are urgently needed.

The state of mountain research in Canada

Nearly a quarter of Canada’s landmass is covered by mountainous terrain, making mountains an important aspect of the physical and human geography of the country. Mountain areas in Canada have motivated a great deal of research activity, yet the state of mountain research in the country has never been systematically characterized, precluding a detailed understanding of what is being studied, when, where, how, and by whom. In response, we conducted a systematic scoping review to rigorously identify, collate, and critically examine existing peer-reviewed articles related to mountains in Canada. 2,888 articles were included in our review, which reveals strong biases towards work in the natural sciences and in the mountain west, with little work to date in the social and health sciences or in other mountainous regions of the country. Our results demonstrate that Canada is among the most productive contributors to mountain research globally, but that topical and geographical biases in existing research effort leave important gaps that must be addressed to successfully navigate challenges and opportunities facing mountain areas in Canada. We provide a roadmap to guide future mountain-focused research activities in the country.

The socioecology of fear: A critical geographical consideration of human‐wolf‐livestock conflict

Animal fear can be an important driver of ecological community structure: predators affect prey not only through predation, but also by inducing changes in behaviour and distribution—a phenomenon evocatively called the “ecology of fear.” The return of wolves to the western United States is a notable instance of such dynamics, yet plays out in a complex socioecological system where efforts to mitigate impacts on livestock rely on manipulating wolves' fear of people. Examining Washington state's efforts to affect wolf behaviour to reduce livestock predation, we argue that this approach to coexistence with wolves is predicated on relations of fear: people, livestock, and wolves can arguably share landscapes with minimal conflict, as long as wolves are adequately afraid. We introduce the “socioecology of fear” as an interdisciplinary framework for examining the interwoven social and ecological processes of human‐wildlife conflict management. Beyond frequently voiced ideas about wolves' “innate” fear, we examine how fear is (re)produced through human‐wolf interactions and deeply shaped by human social processes. We contribute to the critical physical geography project by integrating critical social analysis with ecological theory, conducted through collaborative interdisciplinary dialogue. Such integrative practice is essential for understanding the complex challenges of managing wildlife in the Anthropocene.

Inclusive LGBTQ+ fieldwork: Advancing spaces of belonging and safety

AbstractIncreasing everyday levels of LGBTQ+ phobia and other forms of identity‐based prejudice reveal the need for systematic attention across the versatile geographic discipline to the belonging and safety of LGBTQ+ field researchers. Through an expanded reflection on Bracken and Mawdsley's (2004) account ‘“Muddy glee”: Rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork’ (Area, 36, pp. 280–286), we consider the major issues – including forms of discrimination, exclusion and, sometimes, violence – that LGBTQ+ researchers (and more widely fieldworkers engaging LGBTQ+ communities) encounter at different stages of field research. We pursue a critical dialogue with opportunities and limitations provided by field, disciplinary as well as home institutional contexts and practices, including ethics and risk assessments, codes of conduct and support levels (or rather their deficiencies).

A critical air quality science perspective on citizen science in action

ABSTRACT Air pollution is a hybrid phenomenon, understood and produced through social practices and material environmental processes. This hybridity leads us to engage critically with how air quality science is carried out. In dialogue with the critical physical geography subdiscipline, we propose a critical air quality science (CAQS) framework to study air pollution’s sociomateriality. We use CAQS to illuminate four tensions in the dynamics of knowledge production during a citizen science air quality monitoring project: making undone science matter, blurring “insiderness”/“outsiderness”, traffic as both life and death, and changing behaviours versus changing systems. Drawing on interviews with citizen scientists, we outline the implications of these tensions for air quality research design and reporting. The CAQS framework provokes critical thought about the consequences of how air quality science understands, creates and communicates knowledge, and how we can reconfigure our relations with the air to minimise air inequalities.

Adopting and using geospatial technologies for teaching geography in Latin American higher education

ABSTRACT The article presents the results of a regional study analysing the factors that predict Latin American faculty adoption and use of geospatial technologies (GST) for teaching geography. The research involved an online survey with 337 participants from 17 countries, who answered a set of items adapted from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology on five GST – desktop GIS, web-based GIS, remote sensing, GPS, and digital globes. The data was analysed using a structural equation modelling. The results confirmed that faculty who identified pedagogical benefits of using GST considered technologies as easy to master, and valued the opinion of people influential to them about using technologies were more likely to be motivated to use GST for teaching. In addition, faculty willing to use the GST and report adequate institutional conditions were more likely to be using the technologies for teaching. Additional statistical testing found that human geography faculty expressed an infrequent use of these technologies compared to their physical geography and geospatial technologies colleagues, who did report a more consistent use of GST. These findings suggest a divide among Latin American faculty regarding the motivation and institutional conditions to implement technologies, based on their field of expertise.

Spatial Patterns of Tourist Attractions in the Yangtze River Delta Region

Tourism is distinctly regional with respect to the regional distribution of tourism resources, tourist attractions and supply, and spatial continuity of tourist activities. Using point-of-interest data from 2166 tourist attractions in the Yangtze River Delta, this study analyzes the spatial distribution pattern of tourist attractions and their influencing factors by applying the methods of nearest proximity index, kernel density analysis, standard deviation ellipse, hotspot analysis, and spatial superposition analysis. The results show that the number of modern recreational tourist attractions accounts for the largest proportion. The spatial distribution pattern shows more attractions in the north than the south and more in the east than the west. The spatial density of tourist attractions in Shanghai is far greater than that in other regions, followed by Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The five types of tourist attractions show a significant aggregation state. Natural ecological tourist attractions are clustered near Nanjing and Huangshan; historical and cultural tourist attractions are formed in a T-shape by Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing; modern recreational tourist attractions are clustered in Shanghai and Hangzhou; and industrial integration tourist attractions are clustered in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Physical geography, traffic, and social economy are the main factors affecting the spatial distribution of tourist attractions.

Out in the field

AbstractThis commentary expands upon Bracken & Mawdsley's (2004) paper, ‘Muddy glee: rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork’ to consider the experiences of LGBTQI+ people. Reflecting on our own fieldwork experiences between the early 1990s and today, we provide personal insight into some of the challenges faced by LGBTQI+ field scientists. Although the nature of our personal challenges differs through time, space and our own specific identities and intersectionalities, we concur that exclusion of LGBTQI+ people is a widespread problem in fieldwork. This is true of many different modes of physical fieldwork, suggesting that redefining what fieldwork looks like does not automatically remove barriers to entry for marginalised groups. Instead, we argue that inclusivity should be championed across all types of field activities, and that discipline‐wide effort is required to ensure safe strategies are developed for all at‐risk individuals.

Challenges facing in Organizing Modern Geography Textbooks using Dewey Decimal Classification System: An Analytical Study

The Dewey Decimal Classification System is the basic standard used to organize the information resources collected in libraries. This classification method organizes the universal knowledge using Hindu-Arabic numerals from 000 to 999. In this regard, there are some problems in organizing Geography textbooks.Especially today; the Geography curriculum found in the University curriculum has expanded and developed into anInterdisciplinary Science filed that incorporates various other disciplines. However, the Geography textbooks cannot be organized into a single volume within the given numerical codes 910 and 913-919, which was refered by the Dewey Decimal Classification System. Modern Geography textbooks are not organized in a number construction like Philosophy, Religion and Art. For example, the branches of Human Geography include Political Geography; Cultural Geography and Economic Geography, which have to be organized under the main category of Social Science (300). Similarly, the main branches of Physical Geography are Topography, Geomorphology and Meteorology, Climate Geography, Atmosphere and Rocks, and Oceanography have to be organized under the main category of Science (500). The primary purpose of this study is to identify the Geographical textbooks scattered in different places and propose strategies that will make it easier for the reader to meet their needs. For this research, descriptive methods were used. This study recommends that the library shall develeop and maintain an ‘Athority File of Subject Headings’to organize the Geography Textbooks. Particulalrly this research concludes that organizing Geography textbooks under the Class code 550 will be a solution to bring the Geography textbook under one umbrella for the readers rather than organizing the Geography textbooks under the DDC’s given main category (910).

Construction of an adaptive river-based recreational network for urban river restoration: A case study of Rencheng District, Jining City, China

Recreation-oriented urban river ecological restoration can help restore damaged ecosystems and improve human well-being. This study selects the urban river network of Rencheng District, Jining City, China as a case to map and construct a river-based recreational network (RRN) in an urban river restoration context. Morphological spatial pattern analysis, connectivity evaluation methods, and an overlay method of ArcGIS are applied to identify river network connectivity and ecological sources, which are used to map RRN. The research findings show that except rivers in the Liangshan-Jining Canal, other rivers have medium, poor, or extremely poor ecological connectivity. The ecological sources are mainly distributed in the vicinity of Nanyang lake and Taibai lake. The distribution of river connectivity is largely correlated with the regional physical geography pattern (e.g., geological structure and topological position of water patches), as well as historical human activities (e.g., canalization). Furthermore, the continuous subsidence of coal mining subsidence areas, urban expansion and rural construction, environmental damage and pollution, natural changes (e.g., climate change) are the risk sources of river network connectivity. To restore the ecological and social connectivity of urban river network, an adaptive RRN is proposed according to the current environmental status and the factors affecting the river connectivity. Specifically, form-based and process-based restoration measures can be adopted in urban built-up areas and rural areas, respectively. The findings provide a holistic solution for the restoration and recreational use of urban river network at a regional scale, thereby promoting the coordination of urban ecosystems and sociocultural systems.

Namibian secondary-level school learners’ lived experiences of Physical Geography

In Namibian schools, structured and organised outdoor learning opportunities are not accessible to everyone or equally distributed. All Namibian learners do, however, have access to lived experiences outside of school and are exposed to different everyday environments. Learners’ lived experiences are not always recognised by teachers as a potential and relevant geographical resource for teaching and learning. The aim of this research was to analyse the reported geographical lived experiences of secondary school learners from Namibia to establish the role of their lived experiences in the acquisition of geographical consciousness. In total, 28 Grade 11 learners from five Namibian government secondary schools in Otavi, Rundu, Keetmanshoop, Walvis Bay and Windhoek were involved in the research. Attention was paid to whether and how exposure to lived experiences led to the visualisation and awareness of geographical place, space, concepts, and processes. The findings revealed that each participant’s lived experiences and the interpretations of their lived experiences are unique.

The Forward Operating Base as Heterotopia

The Forward Operating Base as Heterotopia Peter Molin (bio) Utopias and dystopias are well understood, but not many people outside academia have heard of heterotopias. French philosopher Michel Foucault introduced the term in his 1966 work The Order of Things, but his most well-known explanation of the term came in a talk to an audience of architects in 1967. Foucault described heterotopias in "Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias" as "certain [spaces] that have the curious property of being in relation with all the other sites, but in such a way as to suspect, neutralize, or invent the set of relations that they happen to designate, mirror or reflect." Wikipedia helpfully refines Foucault's definition: "certain cultural, institutional and discursive spaces that are somehow 'other': disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory or transforming. Heterotopias are worlds within worlds, mirroring and yet upsetting what is outside." In heterotopias, then, dominant societal values and structures, along with familiar patterns of human cognition and relationship, are either intensified or transformed, or both. Foucault gives a list of examples of heterotopias—ships, gardens, fairs, cemeteries, bars, brothels, prisons, hospitals—and since his time critics have applied the term to many other human-made locations. The question here is whether the forward operating bases (FOBs) built by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan to house soldiers and from which to stage operations might be considered heterotopias. And if so, what explanatory power does the concept possess to tell us about how soldiers' lives were transformed by living on FOBs? My thoughts on the matter were inspired by reading the graphic-memoir first-person stories recounted in True War Stories: Tales of Deployment from Vietnam to Today (2020), edited by Alex de Campi and Khai Krumbhaar. Several of the tales in True War Stories recount their authors' deployments in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Okinawa. Most, though, are set on FOBs associated with Iraq and Afghanistan, with Camp Victory in Iraq and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan being the most prominent. Actions "outside the wire" or on smaller combat outposts provide a contrast to FOBs in several stories, but for the majority of the narrators a large FOB was the setting for their most intensely felt events and impressions of war, the military, and deployment. [End Page 39] Foucault tells us that heterotopias come in different flavors, with different functions. "Deviant" heterotopias, such as prisons and hospitals, house individuals who fall outside of the society's mainstream. Another category is "heterotopias of ritual or purification"—public spaces such as churches that serve spiritual purposes. "Heterotopias of time," such as museums, impart heightened alertness to historical and cultural difference. The different kinds of heterotopias overlap, and many heterotopias serve multiple purposes, but the salient point is that heterotopias are charged spaces—occupants of heterotopias know they are being affected by them, even if they are not sure how. Of particular interest are "crisis heterotopias," which are places where individuals go through intensive but short-lived transitional experiences. Foucault mentions as examples boarding schools and military service, and it is hard not to think that the military training bases and FOBs are also crisis heterotopias. Young men and women are socialized as soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors on stateside bases, and the process intensifies on FOBs during deployment. Much of this socialization, with its concomitant alteration of outlook and thought, is a result of training, the military's hierarchical structure, and the demands of military missions, but the physical geography of the FOB also contributes much to the process. The stories related by the narrators in True War Stories are ones that could only have taken place on an FOB; the authors carry minor and major dramas of their FOB experience forward with them in life, and the tales they tell reflect their effort to understand and narrate them. The vivid, fulsome, and detailed graphic-art panels accompanying the stories artistically reinforce the prominence of the FOB as the stage for the human drama described. The artwork illustrates how the FOB as a heterotopia alters familiar spatial sensibilities and rearranges apperceptions of time. "Merry Christmas, Khaareji," written by Jonathan Bratten and illustrated by Edin Marron and Dee Cuniffe, takes...

Physical Geographical Factors Leading to the Disparity of Regional Development: The Case Study of Java Island

The complexity of regional disparity has encouraged viewing this issue from various perspectives, one of which is the role of physical geography in disparity. On Java Island, an observation on the role of geographical aspect is needed due to the spatial sturdiness of disparity. This study aims to provide quantitative proof that differences in the physical geography of Java’s regions account for the persistent regional disparity. We applied two approaches namely correlation and typology, employing data of physical geographical attributes and development level. The methods used were correlation analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and one-way ANOVA. Based on the correlation approach, we found the association of regional development level with terrain ruggedness, soil parent materials, sea depth, elevation, and precipitation. Then, based on endowment-based typology approach, Java’s regions could be grouped into lowland, volcanic, old volcanic, and calcareous dry regions. The two latter performed poorly in all socio-economic indicators examined.

Disciplinary structure and development strategy of physical geography in China

Disciplinary structure and development strategy of physical geography in China

Ecological livelihoods of farmers and pollinators in the Himalayas: Doing critical physical geography using citizen science

In farming communities dependent on the cultivation of pollinator‐dependent crops, the livelihoods of farmers are inextricably linked with pollinator health. A global pollination crisis interlinked with a crisis of food production and farmer livelihoods, exacerbated by processes of socio‐environmental change, is emblematic of the Anthropocene and of the kinds of ecosocial problems with which critical physical geography (CPG) engages. We propose examining the farmer‐pollinator system in the Indian Himalayas through an ecological livelihoods approach using a range of collaborative citizen science methods including bloom observations to document pollinator visits, plant phenological observations to document year‐round floral resource availability, and farm diaries to document orchard management practices. An ecological livelihoods approach draws on posthumanist theory, which has remained largely disengaged with methodological questions that are of concern to CPG. Citizen science, although widely used across a range of disciplines, has seen limited engagement in CPG. After elaborating some of the opportunities and challenges that an engagement between CPG, posthumanist theory, and citizen science opens up, we propose a methodology that would be simultaneously epistemological (understanding interdependence between livelihoods of farmers and pollinators) and ontological (imagining and building worlds where farmer and pollinator habitats are recomposed).

Identifying the Relationship between Livelihoods and Land Ecosystem Services Using a Coupled Model: A Case Study in the “One River and Two Tributaries” Region of Tibet

In fragile and impoverished areas, identifying the interrelationship between livelihoods and ecosystem services can help protect the ecological environment and improve human well-being. This study selected the “One River and Two Tributaries” region (ORTTR) in Tibet with a fragile, sensitive ecological environment as the study area. With the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 as the research time points, a coupled evaluation model of residents’ livelihood and land ecosystem services was constructed to study the relationship between the two. Results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree between the two continued to increase because of the improvement in residents’ livelihood and ecosystem services. The level of coupling coordination gradually changed from a reluctant coordination stage to a moderate coordination stage. The coupling coordination degree showed more revealing results than the coupling degree in time scale. The relative development type between the two was mainly of the type lagging residents’ livelihood. By considering the physical geography and socio-economic characteristics and the relative development types, the counties and districts in the ORTTR are divided into ecological conservation areas, ecological restoration areas, and ecological reconstruction areas. The coupled model can evaluate the relationship between livelihoods and ecosystem services from a systematic integration perspective and provide scientific support for the improvement of regional human well-being.

Emerging Tools for the Interpretation of Glacial and Periglacial Landscapes with Geomorphological Interest—A Case Study Using Augmented Reality in the Mountain Pass of San Isidro (Cantabrian Range, Northwestern Spain)

The application of Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that complements and enriches the live view of a place with virtual elements, is a relatively new approach that has been demonstrated to be useful as an educational tool for the interpretation of geological and geographic features. In addition, it is a technology consistent with challenges related to enhancing the geotourism experience in geologically diverse terrains, and consistent with the sustainable use of resources in rural and natural areas. The focus of AR in this contribution is primarily for academic use. Here, we developed a pioneering AR project, at the San Isidro Pass, located in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, more specifically, in the central-eastern sector of the Cantabrian Mountain range (the Asturian Massif) and the northern slope of the Sierra de Sentiles. This is a high mountain area where the low incidence of Pliocene and Quaternary fluvial erosion has favored the preservation of a great geodiversity. In this case study, the approaches of geology and physical geography as subjects in official university studies have been used as a reference framework. Fieldwork was carried out to design an itinerary, or geotrail, of Points of Interest (POIs), that highlight the geological values of this montane region by visualising and interpreting nine glacial and periglacial landscapes using dynamic graphic resources (animated videos, panoramic and spherical tours and rotating and expandable 3D models combining conventional terrestrial photography and 360° photography, aerial photography, thematic cartography, etc.) composed by graphic processing software. The result is the design of AR tools which could be used by public and private entities as a product suitable for university teaching but also a work that could guide other geoeducational actions or institutional action for official heritage recognition. In isolation, these POIs function as ‘geosites’; when combined in sequence (POI 1 to POI 9), these POIs function as a ‘geotrail’ to highlight the diversity of glacial and periglacial landscapes and their sedimentary deposits; when viewed as an ensemble, POIs combine to be similar to a ‘geopark’ that emphasises glacial and periglacial landscapes and sedimentary deposits.