Studentification leads to significant socioeconomic and demographic changes in urban neighborhoods. Yet the phenomenon is understudied in midsized U.S. college towns. Using census data from 1990 to 2020, resident interviews, and archival materials, this study examines five neighborhoods surrounding Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The study explores demographic shifts, off-campus housing dynamics, and socioeconomic transformations in the five study neighborhoods. We identify the acquisition of residential property by parents of college-aged students, which we term student-parent homeownership, as a central mechanism of neighborhood transformation in Lubbock. By examining this process in a midsized U.S. college city, the study extends the studentification scholarship and contributes to ongoing debates about how parent-led housing acquisition reshapes urban neighborhoods. These findings contribute to the broader discourse on urban change and to the long-term study of how competition for urban space evolves across generations and national contexts.
This article investigates the configuration of social mixing and proximity within the peripheral neighborhoods of Arezzo, Italy-namely San Donato, Saione, Tortaia, and San Marco alla Sella-utilizing a student-led participatory mapping protocol that integrates fieldwork, qualitative observation, and digital visualization. The study involved university students mapping sociocultural, educational, religious, commercial, and recreational nodes, resulting in microscale "snapshots" that were subsequently synthesized into a comprehensive neighborhood-level analysis. The findings depict the area as a dense yet fragmented socio-spatial ecosystem, where everyday inclusion is maintained through a polycentric network of community hubs. The analysis underscores both the presence of hyperproximate social infrastructure and the persistence of gaps in visibility, coordination, and accessibility. Methodologically, this research contributes to discussions on collaborative mapping and data humanism by emphasizing lived experience and local knowledge while experimenting with digital platforms to render complex socio-spatial patterns both legible and narratively rich.
Dozens of locations across the United States were impacted by the development and deployment of American atomic weapons. Some of these places continue to change along with the world around them. Other sites remain in intentionally static space. Using a cultural landscape approach, this paper analyzes two such places that represent two broad groups of static atomic landscapes: 1) atomic testing sites; and 2) remnant sites for containment of stored materials and byproducts from the processing and extraction for and scientific testing of atomic technology. Influencing the static nature of such landscapes is a combination of intentional government-led efforts to monitor and keep such sites unchanged (to prevent potential contamination in the surrounding communities) and the remoteness, inaccessibility, and sometimes hidden nature of such locations. But another outcome is the creation of several largely stable, unchanging, distinct, and meaningful landscapes that reveal some of the less-known messages from the atomic age. Thus, even static spaces can be a dynamic force for placemaking for those who interact with the sites.
Evacuation route planning is an essential component of risk and disaster management to ensure the safe evacuation of populations during emergency situations, especially in areas prone to geological and hydrological hazards, such as landslides, floods, or flash floods. This study presents the development of an agent-based model for pedestrian evacuation route planning using NetLogo software package, applied to a study area with a history of flood and landslide events. The model utilizes geospatial data to simulate pedestrian movement and evacuation processes. Results indicated that the model effectively identifies efficient and safe evacuation routes while respecting spatial constraints and risk areas. The simulation environment enables realistic evacuation dynamics and demonstrates the model's potential to support emergency contingency planning and response strategies.
Socioeconomic conditions, as well as locational and geographical factors, play a significant role in the geographical distribution of tiny houses. This paper aims to map the distribution of tiny houses in Turkey and identify the underlying factors contributing to this distribution. Tiny houses are frequently examined within the context of social policies aimed at addressing homelessness and housing insecurity. However, their significance and application in Turkey differ considerably. This exploratory study adopted a mixedmethods research design, integrating secondary quantitative data derived from surveys, social media content, YouTube videos, and systematic field observations into a comprehensive dataset. Based on the findings derived from the secondary dataset the location preferences of tiny house owners in Turkey are shaped by factors such as proximity to natural environments (for example, mountains, forests, and lakes), workplaces, primary residences, coastal areas, and accessibility to urban centers. Tiny houses are predominantly concentrated in the more developed western regions of Turkey. Key areas include the Istanbul metropolitan region and its hinterland, as well as the cities of & Idot;zmir and Mu & gbreve;la, which are situated along traditional tourism routes. These findings contribute to the geographical understanding of tiny houses in non-Western contexts.
Since the late-twentieth century, the Southern United States has emerged as the beating heart of the modern Republican Party, providing it with political purpose, cultural identity, and a populous geographic base. The Republican transition to Trumpian populism did not alter the region's overwhelming allocation of electoral votes to the party in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections. Nevertheless, significant readjustments in local voting patterns unfolded across these three elections. Republicans deepened their support in Appalachian counties with White "ancestral Democratic" voting tendencies, racially mixed counties in the Deep South, and majority-Hispanic counties in Florida and Texas. Conversely, Democrats made inroads in "New South" counties experiencing demographic diversification and higher levels of affluence. Using a spatial error model, the author finds that the Hispanic population, educational attainment, age, income, and migration rates are strong predictors of Trump-era electoral shifts, while Black and conservative Christian population components are statistically insignificant. Voting readjustments during the Trump era have maintained Republican dominance in all Southern states with the exceptions of Virginia and Georgia, which appear increasingly favorable for Democrats.
Protected areas aim to conserve biodiversity and the natural environment, yet their effectiveness depends on how people understand and relate to them. This study examines perceptions of Monte Louro, a Natura 2000 site in Galicia (Spain), to analyze how conservation designations shape people's representations and relations to the landscape. Drawing on semistructured interviews (n = 13) and questionnaires (n = 136), we identify two main interpretations of the area: one that sees it as a wild landscape, and another that emphasizes its agrarian past and shaping by humans. The Natura 2000 designation plays a key role in reshaping these views. Visitors tend to perceive the area as more natural simply because it is formally protected, while local residents experience increasing emotional detachment as restrictions limit traditional practices. These contrasting responses reveal how conservation policies alter place meanings and produce new social distances. The findings highlight a persistent gap between institutional conservation frameworks and local perceptions, underscoring the need to integrate cultural and historical values into management strategies.
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.
This article investigates the return migration of Ukrainians who left for abroad after February 2022 when the war with Russia escalated and who returned to Ukraine so that they lived in the country by the summer of 2024 when the war was still going on. It explores their complex journeys back to Ukraine and their future migration aspirations. Utilizing survey data, interviews, and field observation regarding returnees alongside information from international organizations, the study reveals how their experiences were shaped by a mix of voluntary decisions and forced circumstances, influenced by immediate safety needs, long-term goals, and evolving war conditions. While abroad, many migrants kept strong connections with Ukraine through social media and short visits, and most returned with a strong desire to settle back into familiar surroundings. The vast majority of return migrants were women and children. There is a predominant reluctance among returnees to leave Ukraine again, emphasizing their commitment to staying in Ukraine despite ongoing challenges.
Like most American cities, Colorado Springs saw a decline of housing and population in its inner-city neighborhoods as suburbanization became the dominant housing model from the mid-twentieth century through 2010. At the same time, affordable units in the downtown were not built as land developers responded to market forces that generated larger profits from stand-alone suburban houses. This paper uses a historical GIS database to record and map 3432 houses that were destroyed or converted to some other land use in the city's downtown and discusses the reasons for this loss. The data reveal that the African-American community was particularly hard hit with nearly 70 percent of their houses destroyed, abandoned, or otherwise removed. The loss of these traditional neighborhoods contributes to a lack of affordable housing and the removal of lower income residents, along with a decline in urban vitality, historical character, and mixed uses in the urban core. Within the past decade there has been renewed investment in downtown housing on lots abandoned over the previous decades, a form of new-build gentrification that further exacerbates the demographic shift to wealthier residents.
There are approximately 1.2 million people of Czech ancestry in the United States, yet relatively little is known about the approximately 60,000 to 80,000 immigrants who arrived after 1989. This study employs the aspirations-capabilities framework to examine this more recent immigrant group and its engagement with institutional networks linked to Czechia and the Czech diaspora. Based on data gathered from two online surveys and qualitative interviews we answer the following questions: What were the aspirations and capabilities of Czech immigrants settling in the United States during the postcommunist era? How did this twenty-first century cohort of immigrants engage with organizations created a century earlier and did this engagement facilitate their capabilities? Who participates in these organizations and how might this engagement impact future mobility decisions? We conclude that long-established immigrant organizations contributed to the capabilities of many recent Czech migrants in the United States, which affirms patterns seen with other immigrant groups. In addition, we highlight that such organizations are important components to geographical opportunity structures that influence destination choice and future mobility decisions.
To examine the layered, complex, and often contradictory processes of displacement and belonging, this special issue brings together a transnational collective of women scholars, including two Indigenous scholars from Aotearoa New Zealand and Hawai'i who study different facets of human displacement and forced mobility. The central aims of the special issue include three key initiatives: First, we aim to explore the processes through which displaced persons actively (re)construct belonging, emphasizing the everyday, affective, and relational dimensions of home-making. Second, we strive to highlight human agency, creativity, and resistance of forcibly displaced people. Finally, we highlight Indigenous and diasporic perspectives to shed light on how histories of colonialism, dispossession, and relational attachment to land shape contemporary experiences of displacement and belonging.
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.
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.
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 & Scaron;okac community of Croats in Ba & ccaron;ka, 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 & Scaron;okac Croatian community living in the Ba & ccaron;ka 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.
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 M & amacr;ori individuals who have lived experience in the diaspora. K & omacr;wetewete, 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 t & umacr;rangawaewae (ancestral homeland), and diasporic relations to the homeland. This paper highlights the need for better recognition of M & amacr;ori in the diaspora and argues that it is essential to decolonize place-based markers that continue to limit cultural-identity experiences.
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.
