Geographical Economics and Sciences

Today's Outline

Course Agenda

  1. Course map and syllabus
  2. Introduction:
    • Part I: Geographical Sciences and Sustainable Development
    • Part II: Geographical Economics and Development

What is this Course About?

  • The geographical configuration of people, ideas, and goods shapes the evolution of places, environments, and societies.

  • The intersection of economics, geography and environment

  • Combines GIS/mapping and Data Visualization Tools

    • As we will see, the Possibilities are Infinite!!!

A Bit About Myself

  1. 老家： 密歇根
  2. 活动：踢足球
  3. 研究：经济发展，区域经济，地理经济

Integrating Geographical Economics with Geographical Sciences

  • There is growing concern about human alteration of the environment, the impacts of globalization, and resource depletion on:
    • climate change
    • land-cover change
    • sustainability
    • migration
    • and global inequality
    • among many others

Course Introduction

The Driving Questions for this Course

  1. How are we changing the physical environment of Earth’s surface?
  2. How can we best preserve biological diversity and protect endangered ecosystems?
  3. How are climate and other environmental changes affecting the vulnerabilities of coupled human-environment systems?
  4. How and where will 10 billion people live?
  5. How will we sustainably feed everyone in the coming decade and beyond?
  6. How does where we live affect our health?
  7. How is the movement of people, goods, and ideas changing the world?
  8. How is economic globalization affecting poverty and inequality?
  9. How does the concentration of production (Agglomeration) and Innovation affect economic development?
  10. How are geopolitical shifts influencing peace and stability?
Lets look at a few examples

Part 1: Geographical Sciences and Sustainable Development

Human Impacts on the Environment

  • Mapping the ecological footprint
    • e.g. # of planets needed if all people on the planet were using the same resources

Implications for Global Warming?

  • Mapping temperature anomalies: Change in temperature by region compared to 1951-1980 period. Using a population-centric view, we see how how the human population was affected by the climate trends.

  • The steady increase in temperature is seen as an indicator that climate patterns are changing.

Hurricane Katrina: Human-Environment Example

  • August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana and nearby areas.
  • Levees failed, led to widespread flooding.
  • 1,500 deaths, $40-50 billion in physical damages,
  • Largest forced migration of residents in U.S. history,
    • 410,000 evacuees by October 2006 (Groen and Polivka, 2008).
(Source: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Hurricane Katrina: Human-Environment Example

Hurricane Katrina: Human-Environment Example

  • New Orleans: 6 feet below sea level, completely surrounded by water
  • System of levees keep the city from flooding.
  • The levees in the city’s east known to be not reliable.
  • Many of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people were at great risk of flooding.

Hurricane Katrina: Human-Environment Example

(Source: American Communities Project, Brown Univ.)

Hurricane Katrina: Human-Environment Example

  1. Katrina is human–environment event…
    • Impacts would be less severe in a more organized landscape…
  2. Important Socio-spatial variations and patterns
    • e.g. Did policy differences influence why some neighborhoods gained population since the storm?
Post-Katrina Population Change, 2005-08
(Source: American Communities Project, Brown Univ.)

Geography and Health

  • Access to health care will also be stretched by an expanding, increasingly mobile population
  • Standards in the treatment and prevention of illness will vary according to location.
  • Spatial Analysis of disease and health care patterns important

HealthMap

Group Discussion (3-4 students)

Break into groups and introduce yourselves (name, hometown, major, favorite dish you ate during 春节)

Then, discuss the following：

  1. Can you think of another example of how people change their physical environment (in China or elsewhere)?

  2. How might such changes to the environment affect local populations?

  3. How can policy influence human-environment outcomes?

Part II: Geographical Economics and Development

Economic Globalization

Movement of People, Goods and Ideas

  • Increased dramatically over the past several decades

  • Affects transportation, communication, the economy, and even patterns of political conflict.

  • Pressing need to understand the causes and consequences of increasing mobility…
    • and mobility differences from place to place.

Refugee Crises: Example

  • Almost 900,000 refugees in Europe by sea in 2015 > the total 2006-2014 (UNHCR).

  • Many refugees from Libya and the African coast and arrived to Italy.

Refugee Crises: Example

  • In 2014, Europe took measures to cut off sea routes to Italy
  • Implications: (Italy, 1/2 # refugees; Greece > 9x increase)

To Summarize, Geographical Economics and Sciences…

  • studies variety of questions related to human and physical phenomena

  • intersects Economics, Geography and the Environment

  • depends upon and requires diverse technical skills:
    • GIS/mapping, remote sensing, spatial statistics/econometrics and data visualization techniques