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Presents an introduction to the March 2005 issue of the journal "Area."

Editorial. Recounts the tasks and responsibilities of the co-editor of the physical and environmental geography periodical 'Area.' Differences in writing style and expectations of publishing; Journal's mission statement; Other journals on earth and environmental science.

The problematic of the activist/academic relationship has been a source of sustained concern for radical Geographers over the past 15 years. Drawing on my personal experience within the radical climate movement(s), this paper looks to develop on the commitments of militant research, contribute to the development of militant ethnography as a research approach and consider the subsequent implications for thinking through the activist/academic problematic. Elaborating on the epistemological distinction between 'truth relaying' and 'knowledge production', it is contended that militant research is an orientation and process synonymous with the disavowal of positivist knowledge and the construction of situated partisan knowledge(s). Rather than the (social) science of transmitting truth, research thus becomes the art of producing tools you can fight with. From this perspective, the activist/academic problematic is not a 'neutral' problem but a product of a certain way of knowing associated with the academy. The paper concludes that our concern should not be to navigate between (and thus reiterate) the fields of 'activism' and 'academy', but to surpass the problematic altogether. We are tasked not with reproducing the university in its current form, but reimagining it as a machine for the production of other worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how work on knowledge and policy mobilities can be used to analyse the processes behind and the local impacts of mobile sustainable building assessment models such as BREEAM and LEED. After reviewing existing concerns and critiques relating to the impacts of these models on the local sensitivity of sustainable building designs, consideration is given to the effects on local sensitivity of 'who mobilises' the models, the 'intercity issues' associated with generating commensurability between places and the way 'events along the way' are used to sell models. These questions reveal that work on knowledge and policy mobilities provides a useful framework through which to develop social science perspectives on the local impacts of mobile building assessment models. In particular, this approach highlights how processes of mobility are used to frame approaches to sustainable building design and potentially undermine attempts to render models sensitive to local challenges and solutions. It is, therefore, suggested that the knowledge and policy mobilities informed approach adopted here is beneficial as it places less emphasis on the intrinsic technical features of models and more emphasis on the powerful effects of processes of mobilisation on understandings and practices of sustainable design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses research on electronic waste in Canada and Bangladesh. We engage with ongoing debates in geography and the broader social sciences on the need to move beyond linearity in the analysis of commodity/value chains and global production networks. Our analysis suggests that the problem of linearity may be an artefact of theoretical and methodological presuppositions, which explains its longevity as an issue in methodological approaches and empirical research. Recent theoretical insights from actor network theory, combined with our own research on electronic waste, provide a potential solution to the problem of linearity. Our research points to the need for a focus on 'actions', not just 'things', in tracing economic activity. This signals a shift away from beginnings and endings in production network approaches to analyses that are concerned with boundaries and edges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of publishers as cultural agents is under-researched by those who have made use of the extensive canon of twentieth-century countryside writing. This paper calls for an historical geography of publishing, which treats publishers as a vital element in the production and circulation of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the future planning of the editorial team of the journal "Area." The kind of short, argument-led articles that are published by the journal provides an invaluable insight into the new frontiers of geographical knowledge. However, this task is not merely to evidence diversity. "Area," is beginning to play an important role in drawing environmental and human geography into deeper dialogue. In 2004, 27.3% of the published papers were in physical and environmental geography, in 2003 the figure was 26.5%.

Adverse events such as disasters are interpreted through a system of meaning provided by culture. Historically, research into society's response to disasters provides numerous examples of community resilience in face of adversity. However, since the 1980s, numerous researchers have challenged the previous optimistic accounts and argue that such incidents result in long-term damage to the community. It is claimed that community response to a disaster episode is far more likely to be defined by its vulnerability than its resilience. This new vulnerability paradigm of disaster response is underpinned by the belief that contemporary technologically driven disasters have a peculiarly destructive outcome. This paper explores the changing conceptualisation of adversity. It suggests that the shift from the expectation of resilience to that of vulnerability is best understood as an outcome of a changing cultural conceptualisation of adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks why we teach what we teach to geography undergraduates in quantitative methods courses. We re-consider the origins of quantitative geography and note how partial and historically contingent the traditional syllabus is. From this basis, we suggest that other approaches should be considered in order to provide a broader training in quantitative methods. We then propose an example syllabus that attempts to integrate a range of quantitative methodologies within a common, applied context that is also connected to relevant social, economic and political issues. We conclude that students with a better understanding of methods in physical and social science could be very valuable to the betterment of society, but to achieve this may require a change to our quantitative methods teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the paper 'The Diversity of Diversity,' by David Voas and Paul Williamson. Background on the concept of census enumeration district in the context of geodemographics; Effectiveness of geodemographic classification; Ways of improving classification techniques.

Presents the authors' response to a critique on their paper 'The Diversity of Diversity.' Advantages and limitations of adopting problem-specific or general purpose area classifications; Ways by which new classifications could take advantage of the emerging microdata; Accuracy of problem-specific area classifications.

Postgraduate students are at the forefront of geographical research, forging their career in a rapidly changing landscape. The ideology of geography as a single discipline is being erased, enabling complex geographical questions spanning both natural and social sciences to be properly addressed. A postgraduate event organised in a thematic manner, rather than by discipline, reveals that postgraduate students still associate with 'human' or 'physical' geography, rather than with interdisciplinary work. However, students who overcome time constraints and have exposure to, or engage with, interdisciplinary research gain valuable transferable skills, enhancing research outputs and employability. Therefore, postgraduate perceptions of interdisciplinary research are important for geography to advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction to a special section on the future for research on the topic of religion and geopolitics, some terminological, theoretical, methodological and analytical possibilities are set out. A distinction is drawn between 'religious geopolitics' and the 'geopolitics of religion'. Research published thus far on this intersection has limited thematic and topical scope. I further this critique by suggesting new theoretical and methodological possibilities by pointing out the poverty of thinking in the dualistic terms, religion/secular. I conclude this introduction by providing four analytical approaches to the intersection between religion and geopolitics. The essays in this special section are attempts to present future coherence to this growing literature but also illustrate the many divergent possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban avian foraging is strongly affected by approaching people. Avian alert distances, the instant of a bird's appraisal of human intrusion, have not been studied in a comparative mode for passerines, despite their prominent ecological importance in parks. Alert distances for 13 passerines were examined in parks in Stirling, Scotland, using an innovative approach emphasizing human behaviour and periods between alert and flight distances, termed alert periods. Larger species were less tolerant of humans, although attracted to human wastes. Alert distances also varied according to vegetation variation. Park design may use alert distances to plan vegetation layout as well as reduce disturbing human behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the authors’ experiences as German-language speakers working at different stages of their careers within Anglo-American human geography, this article reflects on the workings of (foreign) language, not only through academic publications but more widely in research contexts and everyday work. This is done by three personal observations, highlighting the relevance of (foreign) language interactions in terms of research practice as well as the poetics and politics of language. We argue that a wider recognition of language in the practical terms of academic work is called for in the light of an increasing ‘internationalization’ of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the metaphors of general fitness and N-K spaces can assist in the understanding of the development of the physical landscape. Different modes of change can be viewed as different types of movement in, and distortions of, these phase spaces. Visualized in this manner landscape change can be viewed as both channelized, constrained and random. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]