Iron Age farmers in southwestern Zambia: some aspects of spatial organization

Examination of the spatial organization of prehistoric farming hamlets in southwestern Zambia permits certain suggestions about the structure of prehistoric economic and social practice. Slash-and-burn agriculture facilitated the movement of farmers into favoured microenvironments. Its extensive land requirements regulated population growth and encouraged territorial expansion. After the ninth century AD, a cyclical use of agricultural opportunities was instituted. Through this time, social constraints concentrated the dispersed population within single microenvironments. Subsequent adaptation to the simultaneous use of diverse microenvironments was supported by the expansion of herding activities and the role of cattle in maintaining socio-political prestige.

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Résumé L'étude de l'organisation spatiale des hameaux agricoles préhistoriques du Sud-Ouest de la Zambie nous permet d'avancer certaines suggestions au sujet de la structure des pratiques économiques et sociales pendant la préhistoire. La culture sur brûlis de forêt a facilité la déplacement des agriculteurs vers des microenvironnements Préférés—et comme ces défrichements utilisaient beaucoup de terrain, ils ont réglé la croissance démographique, et ont encouragé l'expansion territoriale. Après le neuvième siècle après J.C., une utilisation cyclique des possibilités agricoles s'est établie. Pendant cette période des contraintes sociales ont concentré la population dispersée dans des microenvironnements particuliers. L'adaptation plus tard à l'utilisation simultanée de microenvironnements divers était soutenue par l'expansion de l'élevage et par le rôle du bétail dans le maintien du prestige socio-politique.

     

City size distributions and urban density functions: some interrelationships

This paper is concerned with "relating the apparent regularities of the population distribution within individual cities to the regularities with which the urban population of a nation is distributed among cities....An attempt is first made to draw the two distributions together in mathematical terms. The discussion then turns to a theoretical consideration of possible interrelations between the two distributions, after which the temporal variation of the parameters of each distribution is examined. This leads to the outlining of an evolutionary model of urban-system development, based on the passage through a number of stages." The analysis focuses on urban systems in Europe and North America.     

The changing structure of a city: temporal changes in cubic spline urban density patterns

"Using the basic summary of urban structure given by the population density function, this paper estimates changes which have occurred in the structure of the Detroit [Michigan] metropolitan area during the past two decades. Both overall density changes and direction-specific changes are estimated using census data and the method of cubic spline regression. The results give more revealing insight into the structural changes which have occurred in the city than has been possible with traditional models of urban population density."     

An analysis of spatial patterns of toponyms in Guangdong,China

The unique geographical environment and the historical waves of immigration of the northern Han Chinese to the Lingnan region have contributed to the development of a complex and unique culture in Guangdong Province. Four ancient ethnic groups, the Zhuang, Cantonese, Hoklo and Hakka, have resided in this area for centuries. As an important part of local culture, toponyms often survive changes in history and can reveal the temporal differences between the past and present in landforms and the spatial differences in the distribution of different ethnic group populations. In this study, two goals were sought: (1) the adoption of spatial smoothing and interpolation methods to reveal the spatial patterns of the Zhuang, Cantonese, Hoklo and Hakka toponyms based on comparisons among the proportions of those who speak various languages and (2) the investigation of the differences among toponymic layers under regional environmental conditions and the influences of geographic factors using an independent samples t-test and a binary logistic regression.     

Capturing spatial patterns of rural landscapes with point cloud

Over the past few decades, rural landscapes have been the subject of increasing international cultural heritage research, and one of the most important issues under investigation at both theoretical and pragmatic levels concerns how to identify the spatial character of rural landscapes for conservation purposes. This article establishes an innovative approach adopting a cultural landscape perspective with the support of point cloud technologies to capture spatial patterns of rural landscapes. This approach was explored by reference to Tunpu villages in Guizhou, China—these being a specific kind of military fortress settlement. Cultural landscape values and landscape characters of Tunpu villages were identified using historical research and document analysis. Aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry and laser scanning systems were combined to collect and process spatial information at environmental, village, and architectural scales. Point cloud models can quantitatively represent villages' spatial patterns and inform the interpretation of their heritage significance. We conclude that the strengths of point cloud technologies could meet the requirements of rural landscape heritage documentation from a cultural landscape perspective. This mixed‐technology approach could also greatly improve the efficiency and precision of traditional rural landscape documentation, which has the potential to change methodologies applied to rural landscape research and management.     

Population and productivity in the teotihuacan valley: Changing patterns of spatial association in prehispanic central Mexico

Since its emergence earlier this century, cultural ecology has played a key role in attempts to understand the complex interrelations between cultural and environmental systems. Although rarely examined, a crucial aspect of cultural adaptation is the explicit spatial relationship between the distribution of human populations and the various resources available to them. In the following essay, we examine this particular question in terms of regional subsistence potential with settlement system remains from the Middle Horizon (Classic) and Late Horizon (Aztec) periods in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico. As a first step, traditional measures of association (Pearson's, Spearman's, and Kendall's) are employed to assess the point-to-point relationships between population and productivity potential. Then, recently developed randomization procedures are introduced and applied to evaluate the spatial association of these two variables. The results of these complementary avenues of analysis help to increase our understanding of the role of space in the cultural ecology of the prehispanic Teotihuacan Valley. In addition, they reaffirm the potentially powerful impact of cultural mechanisms on strategies of regional adaptation.     

Prefiguring a future city: urban growth,spatial planning and the economic local context in Catalonia

This study undertook a quantitative analysis of town master plans to define future urban growth. Spatial direction and intensity of urban expansion were analysed in relation to local contexts using land zoning and a comprehensive database of socio-economic indicators at the municipal scale in Catalonia, Spain. Our results illustrate a progressive shift towards discontinuous settlements consolidating urban centres in most accessible rural areas. Contrary to what was hypothesized (and partly observed) in recent decades, settlement expansion will modestly contribute to a balanced urban spatial structure. Future urban development in Catalonia will not follow a polycentric model, fuelling instead the growth of medium and small urban centres. This process may consolidate the incipient divide in rural areas with high accessibility and a dynamic economic base with remote inland areas experiencing land abandonment and depopulation. The use of indicators derived from town master plans in the assessment of (scattered or polycentric) future urbanization in Europe is finally discussed.     

Economic processes and urban change: an analysis of contemporary patterns of residential restructuring

This article examines questions of explanation in urban geography through consideration of the gentrification process. Particular attention is given to the problems of ‘structural’ analyses and the need to develop alternative political economy perspectives.     

Markers of activity patterns in some populations of the Iberian Peninsula

A study was undertaken of musculoskeletal stress markers in the human remains of several ancient populations of the Iberian Peninsula. Frequencies by age group, sex, and side were recorded and compared among the different populations. Results of the study coincide with the available historical and archeological data. The differences observed among these populations are probably due to ecological and socio‐cultural factors. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The recognition of multiple spatial patterns: a case study from the French upper paleolithic

A pattern recognition approach to spatial analysis is applied to artifact distributions from the Magdalenian site of Pincevent, Section 36. Patterning is investigated using a κ-means cluster analysis that permits iterative mapping of artifact distributions at several scales of spatial complexity. Multiple scales of patterning are recognized in the Pincevent distributions. These patterns are assessed in terms of those discovered by the excavators through intensive visual inspection of the materials. Basic concordance is seen between these two approaches. Finally, the analysis detects more detailed patterning. A relationship between artifact abundance and location seems to hold constant throughout the site.     

The spatial dimension of agency: the everyday urban practices of Filipina domestic workers in Amman,Jordan

This article examines the strategies that Filipina migrant domestic workers in Jordan have developed to create new opportunities within the restrictive Kafala migration system. Based on short-term live-in contracts, the Kafala system tends to confine migrant women to employers’ homes, thus restricting their access to urban amenities and limiting their interactions with co-ethnics. However, Filipina migrant domestic workers transform temporary migration into a longer-term experience by increasing their knowledge of the city and going from live-in workers to live-out or freelance workers. This article contributes to understandings of migrant women’s agency by considering the spatial construction of agency in urban spaces. I argue that space and agency are entwined. In order to highlight the spatial dimension of agency, I use the concept of ‘regime of visibility’ to show how migrant women make their agency visible to others by accessing public spaces. Connecting agency with regimes of visibility allows me to question the place and role of migrant women in urban public spaces. Especially, I analyze that tensions in public spaces are not merely a reaction to the presence of women, but are also intended to prevent the visibility of individual agency.     

Obsidian sources and patterns of source utilization in Kenya and northern Tanzania: some initial findings

A pilot study of Kenyan and northern Tanzanian obsidian sources and artifacts has been undertaken to characterize sources and artifacts in order to examine prehistoric patterns of source utilization and to investigate the long distance movement of obsidian in the region. A survey for source localities has revealed 54 localities to date. XRF analyses for 12 elements have been undertaken on samples from each locality and a number of chemically distinct source areas have been recognized. Some 1400 artifacts from 32 sites were chemically characterized and assigned to sources based on the analysis of three elements by an electron microprobe. The study documents long distant movement of central Rift obsidians from MSA times onward, and demonstrates that with the advent of the Pastoral Neolithic there is wider use of obsidian and more specialized reliance on individual sources.

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Résumé Une étude pilote a été enterprise afin de caractériser des sources et des outils en obsidienne trouvés au Kenya et en Tanzanie du nord. Cette étude est dans le but d'approfondir nos connaissances des modèles préhistoriques de l'utilisation des sources et du transport à longue distance de l'obsidienne. Jusqu'à maintenant la reconnaissance nous a permis de localiser 54 sources. Les analyses par la méthode de fluorescence des rayons X de douze éléments ont été menées sur des échantillons provenant de chaque source et un certain nombre d'entre elles ont été reconnues comme étant chimiquement distinctes. Quelques 1400 outils provenant de 32 gisements ont été caractérisés en utilisant la microsonde électronique et attribués à certaines sources grâce à trois éléments. De plus cette étude documente le transport à longue distance des obsidiennes du Rift central depuis de Middle Stone Age. Enfin avec la venue du Néolithique pastoral nous retrouvons une plus grande utilisation de l'obsidienne et une dépendance spécialisée sur des sources particulières.

     

Numerical modelling of 3D fluid flow and oxygen isotope exchange in fractured media: spatial distribution of isotope patterns

An understanding of fluid flow, mass transport and isotopic exchange in fractured rock is required to understand the origin of several geological processes including hydrothermal mineral deposits. The numerical model HydroGeoSphere simulates 3D advection, molecular diffusion, mechanical dispersion and isotopic exchange in a discretely fractured porous media, and can be used to better understand the processes of mass transport and isotopic exchange in fractured rocks. Study of ¹⁸O isopleth patterns for different types of fractures and fracture networks with a range of structural complexity and hydraulic properties shows that fracture properties and geometry control mass transport and isotopic exchange. The hydraulic properties, as well as the density, spacing, and connectivity of fractures determine the isotopic patterns. Asymmetries in the geometry of oxygen isotope patterns could be used to determine the direction of hydrothermal fluid flow.     

Interacting agents, spatial externalities and the evolution of residential land use patterns

We develop a model of land use conversion that incorporateslocal spillover effects among spatially distributed agents.The model is used to test the hypothesis that fragmented patternsof development in rural-urban fringe areas could be due to negativeexternalities that create a ‘repelling’ effect amongresidential land parcels. Identification of the hypothesizedinteraction effect is complicated by unobserved, spatially correlatedheterogeneity. Using an identification strategy that boundsthe interaction effect from above, we find empirical evidencethat is consistent with a theory of negative interactions amongrecently developed residential subdivisions in exurban Maryland.The result offers an alternative explanation for low densitysprawl to that which is frequently posited in the economicsliterature and one with potentially quite different efficiencyimplications.     

Mapping the spatial pattern of the uncertain data in urban areas: The disadvantaged predict global nonresponse rate in the National Household Survey

High levels of survey nonresponse potentially produce unreliable data due to the often indeterminable possibility of such data being subject to nonresponse bias. In this paper, spatial patterns of global nonresponse rate are analyzed in order to identify whether systemic bias exists across urban spaces with regard to survey nonresponse. Forward stepwise regression is used in combination with spatial regression analysis to build models enabling the prediction of global nonresponse rates in the voluntary 2011 National Household Survey based on explanatory employment, housing, income, and other variables within 11 Canadian cities. The modelling process underscores the inequity of global nonresponse rates; places with high unemployment, high rates of rental properties, a higher proportion of Aboriginal residents, and lower educational attainment have lower compliance with the voluntary survey. Such a pattern has the potential to dramatically influence the ability of government, non-governmental organizations, and other service providers to address the needs of residents of such urban areas.