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Zoning and zone mapping
Published in Catherine Dawson, A–Z of Digital Research Methods, 2019
Zoning and zone mapping are used in a number of disciplines and fields of study including human geography, physical geography, cartography, environmental sciences, climatology, geomorphology, urban planning, economic geography and history. Examples of research projects that have used, assessed or critiqued these techniques include research into how zone maps are used to regulate urban development (Moga, 2017); institutional conflicts over the use of Flood Maps in the UK (Porter and Demeritt, 2012); mapping and monitoring land cover and land-use changes in Egypt (Shalaby and Tateishi, 2007); an analysis of how zone maps encourage or hinder development near transport hubs (Schuetz et al., 2018) and research into coastlines that are susceptible to coastal erosion (Sharples et al., 2013).
Our Environment
Published in Karlheinz Spitz, John Trudinger, Mining and the Environment, 2019
Karlheinz Spitz, John Trudinger
Natural sciences and physical geography (the ‘hard’ sciences) differentiate four environmental spheres, namely atmosphere (‘air’), hydrosphere (‘water’), lithosphere (‘land’), and biosphere (‘fauna and flora’), in an intricately interlocked natural system. On this natural system we have erected our own human environment, modifying, altering, or destroying natural conditions that existed before human impact was expressed (sometimes coined ‘built environment’ as compared to natural environment). The influence of human activities on nature became very apparent in the middle of the last century, and has since been studied by many researchers. Some of the dominant study themes include environmental degradation and natural resource use, natural hazards and impact assessment, and the effects of urbanization and land use.
The interaction of city and basin: research on the transformation of historical cities in JinZhong Basin, ShanXi province, China
Published in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 2022
The traffic system in different periods of Jinzhong Basin is the main factor affecting the urban distribution. Cities are mainly located at road intersections. The early stage of road formation, it is determined by physical geography. The roads in the basin are divided into East and west along the mountains, running through the north and south of the basin (Figure 9). From the pre Qin period (Paleolithic period-221 B.C.) to the Qin Han period (221 B.C.-220 A.D.), the basic network of traffic roads was formed, and cities were distributed along the main roads. And during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 A.D.-589 A.D.), the development of economy promotes the development of road. Jinzhong Basin is the eastern end of the grassland Silk Road, so the economy is prosperous. From Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties (581 A.D.-960 A.D.) to Yuan Dynasty (1271 A.D.-1368 A.D.), post stations gradually rose, which promoted the prosperity of the roads and cities. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 A.D.-1840 A.D.), Shanxi Merchants developed rapidly. Transportation system promotes the development of cities along the way. It also determines the distribution of cities in different periods.
The Law of Scale Independence
Published in Annals of GIS, 2022
Closely related is the third basic issue, scale contingency. If the principles governing process-response and spatial relationships were constant across scales, then scale linkage would chiefly be a technical issue. These problems, though quite challenging, are well known in the context of problems, such as multiple-resolution models, upscaling, and downscaling. In physical geography and geosciences, however, the rules are typically not constant across scales. Problems of interpreting Earth surface systems associated with scale contingency of the critical controls have been discussed for example, for coastal dunes (Sherman 1995; Kim and Zheng 2011), salt marshes (Kim 2018), coastal landscapes (Walker et al. 2017), prairie ecosystems (Zirbel et al. 2019), soil and hillslope hydrology (Ma et al. 2017; Glaser et al. 2019), soil-plant-water interactions (Manzoni et al. 2013), rock weathering (Viles 2001; Inkpen 2011), disturbance of soil landscapes (Sauchyn 2001), river bank erosion (Couper 2004), and drainage basin sediment budgets (Slaymaker 2006).
Exploring the barriers to freshwater policy implementation in New Zealand
Published in Australasian Journal of Water Resources, 2020
Nicholas Kirk, Melissa Robson-Williams, Andrew Fenemor, Nathan Heath
Other interviewees noted that trade-offs were affected by physical geography. Freshwater policy implementation on the Canterbury plains will differ from that for the Hawke’s Bay hill country and for the urban environments of Wellington and Auckland. For some local governments, their physical geography makes the task of policy implementation more expensive than in other parts of New Zealand: If you want to fence a stream on the flats – a river – it costs pretty much 1 USD a metre to put a fence up. But if you want to do that in the hill country, somewhere close to [a township], you’re paying 14–18 USD a metre. If you want to do it up the Coast, where there aren’t many fencing contractors and it’s in the middle of nowhere, you’re going to be paying somewhere around 26 USD a metre. So, the costs are really high because of the environment – we’ve got to address water quality issues because it’s all hill country. And then there’s the question if the fence will be there next year because all the hills are falling down. (UA2)