Graduate Paper Abstracts
Adam Aaron, CSU Fullerton
Building and Delivering Digital Infrastructure
"Information drives people’s actions and geographic information provides meaning to the world around
us, geographic knowledge fuels the human decision making process. As geographers, it is imperative
that we provide people with a digital infrastructure that enables them to acquire the knowledge needed
to navigate space. This paper proposes and implements the integration of multiple GIS platforms into
the operations of Cal State Fullerton. Desktop and mobile applications were developed for both student
and faculty use. Enabling this virtual geographic world for the campus saves resources and provides the
means for people to make more informed decision about the campus.
Adebayo Oluseyi Akintunde, UC Davis
A Geographical Analysis Of HIV/AIDS And Religion In Northern Nigeria
Poverty has been identified as one of the major problems in the developing countries and Nigeria is no
exception despite being an oil rich nation. Poverty affects every facet of life including that of the family
institution. Increasingly, this institution where young members of the society are expected to be
socialized is faced with difficulties in fulfilling its roles. The prevailing breakdown of the institution has
led to numerous social problems where young children now take to the streets for survival. My paper
delves into the social cultural/structural factors that have created the perpetual presence of these street
children by examining the Tsangaya i.e. the Quaranic system of education and how it may play a central
role in the sustained production of street children in Kano. Using ethnographic analysis, the paper
attempts to classify various street children by exploring the factors that have made the practice of
seeking alms a wide spread phenomenon across the Northern Nigeria cities. Findings show that societal
issues such as the prevailing norms about alms giving, religious indoctrination and extreme financial
hardship intersect to create incentives and this type of behavior among young children.
Luis F. Alvarez-Leon, UC Los Angeles
Digital Territorialities of Content Distribution
Although it is not immediately evident, the distribution of digital content is structured according to a
territorial logic. This is obscured by the disembodied nature of digital commodities and what we
perceive to be the free flow of information. However, through the use of Digital Rights Management
(DRM) technologies and other tools, copyright holders and policy makers embed these commodities
with the boundaries and limits of their distribution. The use of DRM in digital content, whether in the
Internet or other forms of distribution is a decision that has impacts in the configuration of markets in
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the content industries and therefore their geographic expression. Furthermore, it is evidence of how the
purportedly disembodied nature of digital media can in fact be highly correlated with specific political
geographies, such as the regulatory protection offered by confining the distribution of information to
the specific boundaries of states and jurisdictions. In order to understand the political economy of
information it is essential to bring to the fore the technologies that structure it and the territorialities
through which they operate.
Cameran Ashraf, UC Los Angeles
Bytes and borders: Understanding software-mediated political geographies
Modern state borders are of an equivocal nature, simultaneously enabled and frustrated by technology.
These borders are most commonly encountered at airports and checkpoints - spaces which are
increasingly reliant on software to create and reinforce ideas of territorial inclusion and exclusion.
Through their dependence on software, we can consider these spaces to be 'code spaces' which only
emerge through the work of software in the world. Although the Internet has been conceptualized as
nationalized as well as borderless, little research has applied ideas of code spaces to digital territoriality
and electronic flows of information. This paper presents an initial exploration into the construction and
development of digital borders, shedding light on new ideas of territory in the digital age using several
case studies.
Siyu Cai, UC Los Angeles
Industrial Operation and the Governance Structure in China: A Case Study of Foxconn's Factory
Relocations
This paper seeks to examine the rationale behind Foxconn's factory relocations from Guangdong toward
interior regions in China; it achieves this goal via a two-fold framework. First, the paper examines
Foxconn's industrial operation, that is, its industrial organization, industrial location, and regional
development process. Second, the paper then connects Foxconn's industrial operation to the
governance structure in China at both the national and local level. The highly skewed relationship
between Foxconn and the Original Equipment Manufacturers, and the close, but non-transparent
relationship between the company and local governments in China are amongst the most prevalent
social relationships driving Foxconn's factory relocations.
Chris Castagna; CSU Sacramento, Sacramento City College & CSU Stanislaus
Tangled up in Pine: Maori Perspectives on Global Industrial Forestry in Aotearoa/New Zealand
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This paper investigates interactions between local and global forces using the example of Maori
responses to the introduction of global industrial forestry to Aotearoa/New Zealand. This work is
grounded in the argument that global projects are not simply imposed on locales. Maori have not been
passive; they have made, and continue to make, choices from positions that reflect cultural, social,
political, economic, and ecological concerns and these decisions have influenced the practice of forestry.
The integration of New Zealand into the world economy has not obliterated Maori relationships with
land and place, but added new layers of interest and opportunity. Further, they are not monolithic; their
decisions reflect diversity within and between any tribal grouping. This paper is based on interviews
conducted with selected Native participants from two regions in North Island, New Zealand: Te
Urewera-Kaingaroa and Te Tairawhiti.
Crystal English, CSU - Northridge
Strategic Forecasting for Geospatial Crime Analysis: Enhancing Traditional Methods
Strategic forecasting does not concern itself with particular criminals. It is a process used to answer
questions of effects of increased population on crime, and looks to address long-range concerns
(Gottlieb, 1998). That definition of strategic forecasting has recently expanded with the advent of
technological advancements in geographic information systems and crime mapping techniques; or has
it? Where a few law enforcement agencies have had media-worthy success using sophisticated
algorithms designed by seasoned mathematicians or high-level statistics software companies, the vast
majority of policing agencies across the nation still complete strategic forecasting using traditional
methods. This paper discusses those traditional methods using street robbery data and explores
whether a geospatial element can truly be added with minimal cost and training.
Juan Carlos Garcia & Tiffany Seeley, CSU Fullerton
Gentrification: Exploring Place in “Downtown Orange County”
Santa Ana is the most populous city of Orange County and home to one of the region’s most significant
Latino enclaves. Since the early 1990s, gentrification pressures have been slowly changing downtown
Santa Ana's Latino "sense of place". Presenters Juan Carlos Garcia and Tiffany Seeley have spent the
vast majority of their lives living within walking distance of downtown Santa Ana yet their experiences of
its changing landscape have been markedly different. From the perspective of personal experience and
field research, we discuss Santa Ana's changing downtown and the impact gentrification inevitably has
on its sense of place. We conclude that while gentrification is creating a place for newcomers, it is also
causing a loss of place for the immigrant Latino population that has used downtown Santa Ana for
decades.
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Katherine Glover, UC Los Angeles
150,000 Years of Climate Change from West Coast Pollen Records
More than ever, we need to understand how a complex global climate system responds to change.
Paleoclimate studies are a crucial part of this understanding, and have been conducted on the North
American west coast since the 1970s, utilizing marine cores and long-lake records. Palynology, the study
of fossil pollen, is an important tool in climatic reconstructions, as many terrestrial species are sensitive
to changes in water supply and temperature. The vegetation assemblage at a location will change as
climate does. From Washington to the Santa Barbara Basin, paleoclimate records show that the period
from 130,000 to 115,000 years BP is most similar to the present day. This paper is largely a review of
existing pollen work on sites that are at least 130,000 years old, and discusses Baldwin Lake (San
Bernardino County, California) as a potential candidate for a much-needed terrestrial paleoclimate
record for southern California.
Deborah Giles, UC Davis
Killer Whale Biogeography: Using non-invasive remote sensing equipment and GIS to assess potential
effects of vessels on killer whale group behavior in the Salish Sea
In 2005, an isolated population of killer whales known as the Southern Residents (SR) were listed as
endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act; vessel presence and noise were listed as factors in
their decline. This study examined habitat use and group behavior changes in response to vessel
density, distance and/or activities. An equipment package consisting of a GPS, laser rangefinder and a
digital compass was used to generate georeferenced offset latitude/longitude points for whales and
vessels; this equipment allowed for data collection at distances greater than established viewing
guidelines thus minimizing potential impacts from the research vessel. GIS was used to visualize habitat
utilization, analysis indicates a change in whale group behavior state and spatial structure in the
presence of low vs. high numbers of vessels. Results also show the whales resting less during daylight
hours; reduced prey availability and increased vessel presence are being examined as causes of this
behavioral shift over time.
Peter Hansen, CSU Chico
Creation of an open source web-based geospatial decision support tool for environmental CEQA review
Geographic information systems (GIS) and other geospatial support tools can be utilized by
environmental planners during environmental impact review. However, these tools are typically beyond
the reach of environmental planners due to a high cost of entry, a steep learning curve, and disparate
geospatial datasets. The CaliforniaOpenAtlas project aims to alleviate these issues by cataloging
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datasets into a streamlined and usable web-based decision support tool built with freely available open
source geospatial software for use by environmental planners.
Farshid Haque, UC Davis
State Project of Disease Traceability: Control Nature to Protect Animal Agriculture
Humans contract over 60 percent of all diseases from animals. Efforts to deal with bouts of anthrax,
Foot-and-Mouth Disease, West Nile virus, tuberculosis, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Exotic
Newcastle Disease, and the more recent avian and swine influenza have involved partnerships between
the United States Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Food and Agriculture,
industry, animal scientists, and veterinarians (Henderson, 2007). The federal and state governments
want to develop an animal traceability system nationwide to protect the health of the human
population and animal agriculture industry, and minimize economic losses from a disease outbreak
(Smith & Saunders, 2005). However, livestock disease traceability frameworks and food safety programs
demonstrate modes of governmentality whereby the State partners with the university-industry
complex to effect power on small businesses through shaping the identity of livestock communities. The
State influences adoption of animal traceability technologies through promoting an entrepreneurial,
modernizing ethos in livestock businesses.
Alexander Hayes, CSU Chico
Miner versus Modoc: A History of Conflict Over Resource Usage in the Watersheds of Northeastern
California During the Gold Rush Era
My paper presentation will be on my graduate thesis. The study I am doing is essentially a comparative
study of the land usage techniques used by gold miners, and the Modoc people, in the watersheds of
Northeastern California during the Gold Rush Era. The question I am answering is how differing views on
land usage led to conflict between the miners and Modoc people. After I have introduced my problem, I
will then briefly go over my literature review which discusses environmental history and the different
ways it can be used to examine history. I will then cover my methodology. In my methodology section I
will go over what sources I used to find out the land uses of both miner and Modoc. After my
methodology section concluded I will discuss my findings which will conclude my presentation.
Colleen Hiner, UC Davis
Re-conceptualizing the rural-urban interface: ‘Meaning, model and metaphor’ and the polarization of
ideals and preferences for rural space
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Social, economic and environmental shifts are reshaping the form and function of rural places, especially
rural places along the urban edge. However, less written about the actual interface – that place where
“urban” and “rural” meet. Although scholars acknowledge that there are a variety of forms the physical
interface can take, I take this characterization further, re-conceptualizing the rural-urban interface to
encompass both the physical-material and the sociopolitical, situating contrasting people and places in
an ongoing negotiation of place and environmental meaning. With this reconceptualization, I argue that
the rural-urban interface serves simultaneously as meaning, model, and metaphor. Even as rural and
urban places grow physically, materially and economically closer due to global and regional shifts, the
social and cultural differences between them are maintaining their significance. In other words, along
the rural-urban fringe, cultural homogenization is not occurring alongside physical standardization.
Instead the opposite is true; ideals and preferences regarding landscapes and lifestyles are polarizing. In
this paper, I examine how the polarization of ideals and preferences, as enacted along the rural-urban
interface, impacts land use planning and management as well as social, environmental and economic
outcomes.
Daniel Larson, CSU Chico
Navigating the Labyrinth: Forest Roads in the United States
"Forest roads form an extensive network within many public lands throughout the United States. Over
885,000 km of roads have been constructed on federal lands for purposes of mineral and timber
extraction, transportation, and recreation (Switalski et al. 2004, 21). These forest roads serve many vital
socio-economic functions such as providing access for logging, administration, outdoor recreation, and
Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) use. However, the presence and use of these roads also result in increased
sediment delivery into the surrounding watershed, habitat fragmentation, and adverse impacts upon
fire regimes. Environmentalists have applauded road decommission programs while outdoor
recreationists and ORV enthusiasts are outraged by increasing limitations on public forest road access.
This paper will review all pertinent literature in order to create a model for understanding of the various
debates surrounding forest roads.
Alex Mandel, UC Davis
Android-Roadkill, Geographic Citizen Science Concept
With millions of owners and thousands of apps, smartphones present a new common technology that
can be leveraged for participatory geography. One example is the citizen science wildlifecrossing.net
website, for reporting sightings of roadkill. Based on this website we developed a proof of concept
smartphone application with data entry, GPS, geo-tagged photos, and maps under an open source
license for the Android platform. It allows phone users to collect data, review, and submit data to the
website where-ever they go and whenever they want. The project demonstrates the components
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necessary to build a citizen science application and is intended to be a guide for others in the
development of future citizen geography applications.
Omar Mere, CSU Northridge
California’s Agricultural Virtual Water Export Trade
Due to globalization, and more specifically global trade in agriculture, people in other parts of the world
affect our local water systems. Heavy demand for agricultural products that require a lot of water
contribute to the change in our policies and our behavior towards our own water supplies. By continuing
to export water-intensive products from California to other countries, we are also exporting water in its
virtual form. Virtual Water is the amount of water required to produce an agricultural product. This
research analyzes agricultural export trends among some of California’s crops over the last few years
estimating the total amount of water that left the state with those exports.
Ashley Misje, CSU Fullerton
Russian Hegemony in the Arctic Space? Contesting the Popular Geopolitical Discourses.
As Arctic ice continues to melt, the region is becoming a contested space between coastal states vying
for sovereign rights over newly accessible natural resources. Russia’s 2007 deep sea flag planting at the
North Pole has prompted a geopolitical game wherein the Arctic states are attempting to legally extend
their current maritime boundaries. The Arctic states are legitimizing their territorial claims through
international maritime law via the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since the
flag planting incident, studies have emerged which depict the region as one of Russian aggression with a
future set for physical clashes. These analyses have also concluded that the UNCLOS is not a viable
mechanism for overseeing Arctic claims and that inevitably Russia will use military force to gain power in
the region. But, what these narratives fail to do is understand the Arctic political environment from a
geographic perspective. This thesis offers an alternative paradigm to understanding Arctic geopolitics
and the mechanisms that guide action in the region. Through a discourse analysis of the UNCLOS, this
study will examine the physical geography of the Arctic space as it affects Russian power through
international law. This establishes Russia’s political position among the Arctic states and legitimizes the
UNCLOS as an affective mechanism for guiding soft power politics in the region. Overall, this thesis
emphasizes the importance of geography in interpreting Arctic politics and power relations. It also sheds
light on the significance of looking at regional systems and different scales of analysis.
Tom Narins, UC Los Angeles
Contemporary Latin America and the Geopolitics of Change
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This project focuses on the shifting nature of foreign intervention and influence in South America over
time. This work’s timeframe ranges from the early 16th century up until and including the
contemporary period – a period where China is considered by many to be the new and emerging
international ‘power player’ in South America. This work employs a three-part framework as a way of
validating the hypothesis that contemporary Chinese geopolitical influence in the region is, in fact,
exaggerated. This project asserts that China’s geopolitical influence in South America, while growing, is
still in its infancy and making the projection that China is becoming a regional hegemon is not only
premature but also ignores a revival of sovereignty ‘movements’ amongst Latin American states. This
‘China exaggeration’ thesis is especially salient given the relatively minor Chinese presence in the region,
the sustained US presence the growing political and economic impact of the region’s ‘core’ actor - Brazil.
Lindsay Naylor, University of Oregon
Food Sovereignty and the Politics of Indigenous Resistance in Chiapas, Mexico
This presentation will examine how agricultural production is implicated in the politics of indigenous
autonomy in Chiapas, Mexico. In the past decade communities in Chiapas that are supportive of the
Zapatista movement have articulated new forms of autonomy, sovereignty and food production systems
through practices that diverge from the neoliberal model. Through efforts to strengthen subsistence
food production, and produce for global fair trade markets, these communities are seeking to
renegotiate a fundamental dimension of their marginalization within Mexican territory. Existing analyses
indigenous autonomy tend to focus on the macro-scale, few examine in-depth how indigenous families
and communities in resistance enact autonomy and food sovereignty on a day-to-day basis. Drawing on
preliminary fieldwork conducted in 2010, this presentation will expand on these more theoretical
observations to discuss how food production practices both ameliorate inequities associated with
unequal access to resources and shape new narratives of indigenous autonomy and food sovereignty.
Avo Nersesian, CSU Northridge
Is Music Losing its Sense of Place?
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not music is becoming placeless in this age of
mass internet communication. Digital media has made it possible for anybody with access to the
internet to buy and share music. Additionally, inexpensive audio recording programs have made it
increasingly easier for the average person to make high quality music from the comfort of his bedroom.
In this unprecedented era of musical democratization, does place still have an effect on music’s
production and consumption? Relevant literature will be reviewed and a new research project will be
proposed.
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Joshua Perlman, UC Davis
Estimating N2O emissions from US maize production with the DNDC model
We evaluated the use of the “DeNitrification DeComposition” (DNDC) model to estimate N2O emissions
from agriculture for large geographic areas, using maize production in the United States as an example.
We address practical and methodological issues, including how much model spin-up time is necessary;
whether to run the model in “site” or “regional” mode; the importance of considering crop rotations;
and the contribution of “background emissions” (emissions that occur when no crop is grown). We
discuss geographic variations in emissions from maize production. "
Bryan Pon, UC Davis
Designing affordable solar lighting: exploring the minimum manufacturing costs of a solar-powered LED
light for Zambia
The economic, health, and environmental costs of kerosene, candles, and other fuel-based lighting are
well-documented. As a result of efforts by the World Bank and other organizations, a new category of
solar-powered lighting, the solar portable light, is being promoted as a more affordable alternative to
fuel-based lighting. This paper uses the UC Davis Lighting the Way Zambia project as a case study to
understand the minimum manufacturing costs of an affordable solar portable light. The study examines
functional preferences of users in Zambia, translates these into performance requirements, and then
determines the cost implications for those requirements. The results suggest that an 18-lumen solar
portable light with a 4-hour run time would meet many users' needs, and could be manufactured for
approximately US$9 per unit and sold for approximately US$20 retail, resulting in a payback period of
about 5 months.
Diane Rachels, CSU San Diego
Comparison of chaparral re-growth patterns between Santa Ana and non Santa Ana wind driven fires
Fire has a fundamental role in maintaining ecosystem functions and the regeneration of key species in a
chaparral community. This study seeks to understand the connection between vegetation type and
structure and environmental response to extreme fire events by analyzing life form re-growth patterns
from different fire types in the same environment. In San Diego, the Cedar fire that occurred in the fall
of 2003 was unique in that one side was burned with wildfire fueled by dry, strong Santa Ana winds
while the remainder of the area burned under a mild westerly wind, allowing fuel-fed conditions. I
used high spatial resolution aerial imagery and a spatial-contextual classifier to map three different
chaparral study sites within the Cedar fire perimeter. Results were also compared to post-fire remnant
vegetation patches. Preliminary results show that there are differences in re-growth patterns between
the study sites that could be attributed to fire type.
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Noah Rodriguez, CSU Chico
Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources
Refinement of hydraulic fracturing techniques has streamlined the extraction of natural gas from shale
rock formation. It is only within the last decade that the concerns of human health and environmental
consequences from hydraulic fracturing have surfaced. Exploitation of shale gas drilling, exposure to
hydraulic fracturing chemicals, and lack of federal regulation and policy adoption have led to outbreaks
of water contamination. Hydraulic fracturing for shale gas has an immense environmental impact to
human health, the natural environment, and natural resources. Immediate federal and regional
regulation and oversight programs to monitor the water resources from potential contamination are
needed to further investigate the impacts from hydraulic fracturing. This paper discusses the lack of
federal and state policy regulations, consequences of hydraulic fracturing contagions, the environmental
impacts related to contamination of water resources, and other potential adverse effects from hydraulic
fracturing.
David Schwartz, CSU Long Beach
Search and Rescue Deficiencies in the Northwest Passage
The Arctic is undergoing drastic changes due to climate change which has also created new
opportunities and concerns for the states and organizations in the region. The concern of this paper is
how this warming affects shipping activities in the Northwest Passage of the Canadian Arctic. In turn
this has increased the use of the Passage and has stressed Canadian search and rescue (SAR) resources
due to an increasing inability to provide direct rescue ability. Through the course of this paper the exact
forms of this increased use will be highlighted to show what exact stresses will be placed on the SAR
system. This will be used to demonstrate what shortcomings are in the SAR system that is in place in
terms of capability and ability followed by what short-term measures can be made to solve these
deficiencies. Taken together, the whole system will be shown with the hope that a potential problem
will be adverted before the system is faced with a situation that could overwhelm it.
Tyler Sonnichsen, CSU Long Beach
Fast and Frightening: spatial boundaries for women in the punk community
In the high-energy spaces created in the audience at punk rock shows, women often find themselves
marginalized physically and mentally. This reality flies in the face of punk’s inclusive ethos and relatively
anti-sexist politics. The dynamics that govern this phenomenon of hostile space range from negativity
toward femininity in the rock world, a heightening of emotional ‘homosocial’ behavior more present
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among men at punk shows, and physical barriers women generally face due to body size and strength. I
draw these conclusions based not only on a variety of sources and empirical evidence from years of
attending punk shows, but by focusing on two shows observed in the Orange County, CA city of
Fullerton in the span of one month in 2011.
John Teeple, UC Davis
A Geography of the "Unhandselled Globe": On Thoreau's Radical Place-Based Education.
Place-based education (PBE) is an attempt to root teaching and learning in place. In PBE, curricula and
assessment, in all subject areas, are grounded in the experience of local natures, the built environment,
political and economic life, and cultural life. PBE, however, is a method still in search of its foundations.
While there are occasional references to precursors, there has been to date little direct engagement
with the work of such influences. Thoreau, in particular, has been cited as a model for contemporary
PBE, and yet examination of Thoreau’s own ideas on education is lacking. In this paper, I will engage
with Thoreau’s radical pedagogy of place, identifying in his work a source of strength and critique for
both PBE and mainstream educational practice. Thoreau emerges as a teacher and student of place,
committed to geographical experience in all its variety.
Michele Tobias, UC Davis
A Model of Succession in California's Foredune Vegetation System
Plants have been thought to build foredunes and back dunes on beaches by stopping the landward
movement of sand. These plants are adapted to thrive with repeated burial and effectively hold sand in
place as they grow up through deeper sand deposits. Measurements of the locations of plants and
slopes on which plants grew were made at 17 California beaches. A cluster analysis of typical beach
plant species based on their distance from the high water line, slope on which the plants were found,
and elevation reveals groups that can be attributed to the function of plants in building beach
topography, which are consistent with groups suggested by the historic literature. From these groups
and the roles described in the literature, I developed a conceptual model of succession for foredune
plants on California's beaches.
Stacie A. Townsend, CSU Long Beach
Evolving California Fiction: Literary Representations of Landscapes and Emotional Geographic Constructs
Literature has played an intrinsic role in fueling our collective knowledge and sentiment about California
(its romance, dream and mythology). Through literature, California evolves into a geographic construct
that is not only factual and experienced, but also emotional. This process is at once both on-going and
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constantly evolving. This study deconstructs the creation and perpetuation of California as a distinctive
physical and and cultural landscape as well as an emotional geographic construct by employing content
analysis of selected works of fiction written by authors who have contributed iconic images of California.
Drawn from different eras in state history, these literary works allow for examination of geographical
change in thema, expressed perceptions of place, and representational language. This study likewise
contributes to identifying the oftentimes elusive conceptual forces shaping California, offering a
geographic interpretation of these meanings and perceptions of California as they have existed and
changed since the origin of its statehood.
Bidita J. Tithi, UC Davis
‘All collaborators are equal but some collaborators are more equal than others’: The politics of
knowledge production and (non-)representation in the discourses of sea level rise in Bangladesh
In the current discourse regarding sea level rise in Bangladesh, there have been different types of
collaborations between ‘local people’ and ‘experts’. Using the lens of political ecology and feminist
critical discourse, two of such discursive sites are examined. Although each of these sites provide useful
representations of the crisis which can inform climate change mitigation policies, these sites are also
spaces of epistemic violence where the words of local groups are ignored, changed or distorted due to
unequal power sharing among the collaborators. This paper problematizes the concept of ‘local
collaborators’ and critically analyzes the power dynamics within such collaboration in order to examine
who are represented (or left out) and whose voices are included (or excluded).
Janet Voltz, CSU East Bay
Frontier Settlement Patterns on the Oregon California Stage Road
The history of the Western United States during the 1800s is replete with stories of adventure,
overcoming obstacles. One of these stories is the origin of the Oregon California Stage Road. The
development of transportation in the West over the past 200 years was complex and involved
transporting goods and people over rivers, dense forests, and treacherous mountain passes. The 19th
Century in the United States saw expansion into the new western territories precipitated by the
discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada and subsequent gold and silver discoveries elsewhere. The route
from Portland to Sacramento became an important link to the California gold fields. Some of the towns
and villages along the route prospered and developed into significant nodes while others disappeared
from the map. This presentation examines the relationship between the road and the development of
two settlements in Oregon prior to the establishment of the railroad.
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Diane Ward, UC Los Angeles
Placemaking Strategies and Spatial Configurations of Artist-Run Spaces in Los Angeles
Art galleries, art walks, and arts performances are all vital to placemaking in “creative cities.” However,
artist-run spaces and related artist-organized activities and events often operate outside the for-profit
galleries and larger cultural institutions, instead engaging in community building and neighborhood
revitalization, sometimes operating within, sometimes outside, an exchange economy. This study looks
at the placemaking goals and strategies of three artist-run organizations in Los Angeles. The resulting
spatial configurations of the artist activities are varied and emerging, often defying concepts of bounded
neighborhoods or spaces. Through brief histories as well as interviews with key figures in these
organizations, the organizational choices and resulting spatial effects of artist practices are examined.
The result of these practices is the creative construction, through artist spaces, of new social roles for
artists as community members advocating for the ongoing articulation and attainment of the goals of
people in particular places.
Matthew Weber, CSU Chico
Spatial Analysis of Joint Replacement in California 1995-2010
Utilization rates for medical procedures have been found to vary significantly from place to place. Thus
far studies have focused on regional variation between large areas over short time spans. This study
uses inpatient data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning Development over a fifteen
year period to observe hospital level variation in utilization for two common procedures, knee and hip
replacement. Using geographically weighted regression to evaluate variables that influence utilization, a
more accurate assessment of variation can be modeled. Results show that patient demographics,
insurance types, and hospital characteristics do not have significant influence on utilization patterns.
Instead, missing variables such as physician enthusiasm for these procedures may be the driving factors
in variation seen across the state and over time.
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