Geography Education

One of the nation’s most influential groups of engineers said it presented detailed warnings that a devastating storm surge in the region was all but inevitable and proposed ways to prepare.

MH: Hey, you know what? A bunch of engineers accurately predicted the kinds of damage the East Coast would face from a strong storm surge. Maybe we should give that science stuff a little consideration in our future plans in designing our cities.

Topography and elevation matters.  We can dry to make water dry ground (and vice versa), but not without future consequences.   

After cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage along the East Coast this week.

While the damage wasn't as bad as many feared it could have been, place and spatial context are especially important in assessing the impacts of a natural disaster.  This is a excellent collection of the many devastating images as a result of Hurricane Sandy.  To see some more local images, Rhode Island Department of Transportation put this collection together.   

National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service...

When the Pawtuxet River flooded in Rhode Island, I was watching this site to get a sense of how bad the flooding was and to put it in historic context (the National Weather Service has links to live data at many locations).  This particular station in NYC at the Battery is important to keep an eye on with Hurricane Sandy because if the strom surge is over 10 feet, the subway system could flood and the issues confronting New York would be devastating.  As meterologist Andy Lesage noted, "During Irene it got to 9.5ft, 8-12 inches shy of flooding the subway system so if the Battery gets to something like 10.25+ ft, it will indicate massive damage to the cities' infrastructure."  For more see, the Weather Underground and Jeff Masters' analysis.

Tags: disasters,water, physical, NYC, transportation, weather and climate.

Facebook most social cities: People everywhere use Facebook to check in to places. Here you can see the 5 top hotspots of the most "social"cities.

Questions to ponder: What attributes do these commonly 'checked into' landmarks have in common?  Are you surprised that some are or are not on the list?

Tags: socialmedia, place, tourism, infographic, London, NYC, Paris.

In a borough that has become a globally recognized icon of cool, residents are watching the renaissance with resentment and indifference.

Gentrification is inherently selective and consequently the impact is highly variable even among close neighborhoods.  What makes one nieghborhood a candidate for gentrification?  What qualities do neighborhoods of disinvestment share?  Who are the 'winners and losers' in this process? 

The official Web site of the High Line and Friends of the High Line...

What do you do with an outdated elevated train line running through a crowded neighborhood in New York City?  In the 1980s, residents called for the demolition of the eyesore since it was blamed for economic struggles of the community and increased criminal activity.  Unfortunately demolition is extremely expensive.  However, this one particular abandoned line has recently been converted into an elevated green space that has economically revitalized the local real estate.  Find out more about this innovated park and project.  To see a similar project in Saint Louis, see: http://grgstl.org/projects/the-trestle.aspx

This is an excellent interactive map that allows the user to explore the various neighborhoods of New York City and analyze the housing market for a particular income bracket.  I've discovered that trying to purchase a home or rent an apartment can be one of the best hands-on lessons in urban social geography.  I envision a dynamic project that could be designed around this resource where several members of a group are given different demographic characteristics (for example: single income, 2 married adults, 3 children under 10 years of age) and income levels and a fixed workplace.  Where would you live?  What determines your choices?  What would your personal geographies look like?    

Artist John Locke is converting obsolete Manhattan phone booths into mini libraries. Now if only people would stop stealing his entire book collection.

The pay phone has become an obsolete part of the urban infrastructure in the cell phone era, and the question of what to do with these has become a real issue.  Leaving them in their current form is essentially conceding that the city is technologically outdated and some fear that is the wrong message to be visually transmitting in the landscape.  As thousands of geographers are set to desend on New York City for the AAG conference, this is another example of appropriating public space for a communal project that deserves some firsthand investigation (I really want to see one!). 

I'm not a photographer, so Instagram isn't one on of my preferred social media platforms.  However, since National Geographic is world renowned for their images, this is a perfect outlet to share more images that wouldn't fit into their articles or other collections.  According to their Social Media expert, this foggy image of NYC is their most viewed image on Instagram. 

Subway tunnels and parts of the Financial District have been flooded...

The flooding has been as devastating as expected given the height of the storm surge, but this image of Ground Zero still is chilling. 

This is not nice, but it is still very funny.

Tags: mapping, NYC, cartography. 

"Residential segregation by income has increased during the past three decades across the United States and in 27 of the nation’s 30 largest major metropolitan area, according to a new analysis of census tract and household income data by the Pew Research Center.  The analysis finds that 28% of lower-income households in 2010 were located in a majority lower-income census tract, up from 23% in 1980, and that 18% of upper- income households were located in a majority upper-income census tract, up from 9% in 1980."  This interactive map allows the user to explore the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Read the article associated with this map.