Source: www.youtube.com
Kunstler argues that American architecture and urban planning are not creating public places that encourage interaction and communal engagement. We should create more distinct places that foster a sense of place that is ‘worth fighting for,’ as opposed to suburbia which he sees as emblematic of these problems.
Question to Ponder: How should we design cities to create a strong sense of place? What elements are necessary?
This one’s actually really hard.
Source: matadornetwork.com
Pictured is the only “gimme” in this quiz.
“SOMALILAND, a slim slice of Somali-inhabited territory on the southern shore of the Gulf of Aden, ticks almost all the boxes of statehood. It has its own currency, a reasonably effective bureaucracy and a trained army and police force. But it has yet to receive official recognition from a single foreign government in the years since it declared independence in 1991. To the outside world, it is an autonomous region of Somalia, subject to the Somali Federal Government (SFG) in Mogadishu. Why is it not a state? Throughout the post-independence era, geopolitics in Africa has tended to respect ‘colonial borders’, i.e. the borders laid down by European colonial powers in the 19th century. Across the continent, there have been only two significant alterations to the colonial map since the 1960s: the division of Eritrea from Ethiopia, in 1993; and South Sudan from Sudan, in 2011.”
Source: www.economist.com
Somaliland is a ‘pocket of stability in a chaotic region.’ The global community fears that granting recognition to a Somaliland might led to further devolution, even if the unrecognized government is functioning. This is an excellent article from the Economist that demonstrates some of the key requirements to be a state, political and regional geography. For another example of political geography of aspiring states, here is an article about the limited prospects of a future Kurdish state.
Tags: devolution, political, states, sovereignty, autonomy, unit 4 political, Somalia, Africa.
“Half of Canada’s 33.5 million people live in the red part, the other in the yellow. More population divided maps (Source: reddit.com)”
Source: mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com
Land-wise, Canada one of the world’s biggest countries, but population-wise, most of it is quite barren. What geographic factors explain the population concentration and distribution in Canada?
Tags: Canada, map, North America.
At least a dozen countries have had attacks since the Islamic State, or ISIS, began to pursue a global strategy in the summer of 2014.
Source: www.nytimes.com
There are a series of maps in this article that put ISIS’s shift in targets into spatial context. This other set of maps shows how ISIS has expanded over time.
Tags: political, terrorism, conflict, geopolitics.
“GIS is waking up the world to the power of geography, this science of integration, and…creating a better future,” proclaimed Esri founder Jack Dangermond at the 2015 Esri User Conference.
Source: www.esri.com
If you haven’t discovered the power of geography or the power of GIS, this article from ArcNews is for you. If you need to convince others of the power of geography, this is for you to strengthen your case.
Tags: GIS, ESRI, mapping, cartography, geospatial, edtech, geography education, unit 1 GeoPrinciples.
“The evolving role of cities and regions presents planning challenges as urban areas are work to achieve particular social, economic and environmental goals. This video explores a range of cities to examine how fully integrated planning, design, engineering and management capabilities can help to improve cities.”
Tags: urban, planning, urbanism, architecture.
Source: www.youtube.com
“The attacks suggest that ISIS is being forced into ‘mainstream’ terrorism long before it had planned to and a terrible meeting of the minds between Al Qaeda and ISIS.”
Source: www.thenational.ae
This is more ‘instant analysis’ so take the conclusions with a grain of salt, but the idea that the strategic aims of ISIS (a.k.a.-IS, ISIL) and Al-Qaeda are starting to align is worth investing.
Tags: political, terrorism, conflict, geopolitics.
“How did Southern Californians come to treat their highway route numbers as if they were proper names?”
Source: www.kcet.org
I can’t say how delighted this native Southern Californian was to read this (and especially to rediscover the classic SNL skit). Despite living in Rhode Island, I retain this linguistic quirk that I subconsciously learned as a kid growing up in Southern California. This is a shibboleth of mine, a distinctive pronunciation, word choice, or manner of speaking that reveals something about the speaker (such as place of origin, ethnic background, or group membership).
Questions to Ponder: What are other shibboleths that you know? Do you use any?
Tags: California, language, transportation, toponyms.
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 