Graduate Papers
Mark Adams, Humboldt State University
This thesis research examines recent successful efforts by the Wiyot Tribe and local allies in Humboldt County, California to resist and reverse forms of settler-colonial oppression with tangible and unprecedented results. They have overcome settler socio-political resistance in three contentious, public disputes to preserve and restore tribal sovereignty over ancestral land and culture. While much has been written about the history of the United States as a settler-colonial project, more research is necessary to understand the processes of grassroots decolonization efforts to alter cultural landscapes. Using a combination of feminist and critical geographic theoretical methodologies, this thesis informs gaps in the academic discourse on decolonization, focusing on potential strategies that can be replicated elsewhere. The results of this research recognize important historical, legal, and moral justifications for decolonization and an emphasis on reading cultural landscapes as an effective decolonization tool, while illuminating tactical strengths for use in future decolonization efforts.
A Uniquely Southern California Experience: Understanding How Individuals Experience Outdoor Spaces Through Sense of Place and Nature Connection*
Aspen Coty, CSU Northridge
Sense of Place and Nature Connection are contested terms from geography and environmental psychology. Although they vary, the ultimate goal is similar, both are striving to understand human-nature relationships to improve them and environmental sustainability. This paper utilized both terms broadly to explore the nuances of individuals’ nature relationships by using a mixed method online survey. A Sense of Place score was calculated from a Southern California college student sample to explore what factors led to higher a sense of place or nature connection. Outdoor spaces are perceived in many ways depending on factors like culture, geographic location, demographics, and outdoor experiences, but those factors influence on one person cannot be standardized to a one-size-fits all explanation. Although it is not feasible to put individuals into standardized boxes, this paper showed that outdoor experiences strengthen sense of place more than any other factor explored.
Transit-oriented Development and Gentrification in Los Angeles’ Koreatown*
Ryan Koyanagi, CSU Fullerton
Adopted in 2017, Los Angeles’ Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) program incentivizes the construction of affordable housing in transit-rich areas, reversing trends of sprawl and suburbanization. The intensification of land-use comes with risks - increased land value in these transit-rich areas creates the conditions for gentrification and displacement. Koreatown is an ideal case study of the early impacts of the TOC program. The community consists of a large working-class population of Korean, Central American and South Asian migrants and is the most densely populated neighborhood in Los Angeles, as well as one of the most well-provisioned in terms of transit options. By examining public records and interviewing key informants in community groups, municipal government and development, I aim to present a multifaceted exploration of the efficacy and equity of the TOC program.
Unmapped Geographies: Genealogy and Historical Space of the Antelope Valley’s Landscapes
David Lawrence, CSU Northridge
This study raises the question of the uneven geographies of historical mapping in the Antelope Valley and researches why areas that share the same geographic space do not have the same rate of cartographic coverage. In like manner, this study applied a genealogical lens to the different landscapes of the valley in order to obtain a holistic perspective of the overall historical geography of the different communities. Through the integration of archival research, fieldwork, georeferencing, discourse analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observations this study highlighted the possible influences that have shaped the valley’s physical and socio-cultural landscapes. By synthesizing the various methods mention, the cultural representation of the landscapes of the Antelope Valley can be seen as dependent on scale and as an expression of an area’s culture. This study also sheds light on the historical geography of the unmapped landscapes of the Antelope Valley.
Food Waste Geographies: A GIS-based Spatial Analysis of Food Waste Production in Los Angeles County
Lauren Mabe, UC Davis
California Senate Bill 1383 calls for diverting 75 percent of organic waste from landfills by 2025 as part of a larger mandate to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Food waste (FW), the largest portion of the organics waste stream, is an ideal target for diversion to anaerobic digestion (AD), which can be built as self-contained, scalable units deployed throughout urban areas. Within this context, this research presents a novel method of estimating FW generation that considers the geographies of commercial FW produced in Los Angeles County, California to create a simulated “FW Geography” dataset that can be used within GIS. The results of this study highlight specific industries that are well suited to target for FW capture and treatment. Considerations for using this dataset, which consists of spatially-clustered points representing FW generators, within GIS to develop infrastructure that maximizes FW capture while minimizing GHG emissions are also discussed.
Sustainable Transportation for HSU Stakeholders: Looking into Access and Behavior*
Aneika Perez, Humboldt State University
Safe and affordable transportation to and from campus are not available to many members of the Humboldt State University (HSU) community. This research seeks to understand how members of the campus community can access forms of transportation without relying on private automobiles. This research draws primarily on Icek Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior framework, to determine that choice of travel mode is based on decisions that are affected by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. I addressed the questions: What are the main geographic, economic, and sociocultural factors that limit transportation choice for students at HSU? What factors motivate individuals to use alternative modes of transportation when accessing campus facilities? What is HSU’s role in advocating for safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure for students within broader sustainable transportation frameworks? This research will help inform new transportation planning to overcome barriers to safe and sustainable access for the campus.
San Diego’s Hybrid Urban Borderlands – An Urban Landscape- and Border-Theoretical Perspective on the Redevelopment of America’s Finest Downtown*
Albert Rossmeier, University of Tuebingen, Germany
In recent years, downtown San Diego and its surrounding neighborhoods have been subject to far-reaching densification processes. These have been accompanied by social changes that still await in-depth analysis. In my talk, I will address individual interpretations of San Diego’s downtown redevelopment from a social-constructivist urban landscape perspective. Within the aim of creating a wider understanding of the current upheavals, I am expanding my perspectival framework by exploring the potential of border-theoretical thinking for the research of individual experiences of neighborhood change, gentrification, and concomitant processes of social ‘b/ordering’ and ‘othering’. Surprisingly, border theories have only recently been applied on the level of neighborhoods, although these are particularly characterized by aspects of differentiation and belonging. In response to this, I will illuminate the interdisciplinary benefits of this triangulation and illustrate how ambiguous interpretations of San Diego’s changing central neighborhoods are creating fuzzy transition zones which I call hybrid urban borderlands.
Change Detection in Carpinteria Salt Marsh Following the Montecito Debris Flow
Germán Silva, UC Santa Barbara
The Montecito debris flows of January 9, 2018 deposited sediment along many portions of the Santa Barbara coast, including Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve. Since disturbances can have various impacts on wetlands, an understanding of how the ecosystem at Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve responded to this disturbance is important to its ongoing management. To address this, Sentinel-2 imagery from four dates was used to calculate landcover fractions, normalized difference index, and modified anthocyanin reflectance index and used in tandem with random forest classification to produce maps of landcover before, during, and after the debris flow. These maps were then used to do post-classification change detection to track changes in landcover through time. Results include the most important variables in classifying landcover, error matrices, and quantifiable changes in land cover. This method provides a way to track landcover change after disturbances in the absence of field-based data.
Jared Whear, Syracuse University
In March 2020, over thirty years since it was first proposed and after countless legal battles and grassroots efforts by ranchers, environmentalists, and American Indian Tribes—coalesced under the Great Basin Water Network (GBWN)—Southern Nevada Water Authority's (SNWA) Groundwater Development Project was defeated. The death knell came when a federal judge ruled SNWA did not hold the senior water rights necessary for the project: an inter-basin water transfer that would pump groundwater from eastern Nevada over 250 miles to the Las Vegas metro area. Many have cited GBWN’s victory as an example of the power of unlikely alliances. In this paper, however, I aim to complicate this narrative. Drawing from political ecology and legal geography, I investigate how inter-basin water transfers in the western United States are contested—and prevented in some cases—through prior appropriation water law, based on senior water rights connected to private property and settler colonialism.
* Research or Activism in Social or Environmental Justice