UC Research Represented at Annual Geographers Meeting

Newswise — Geographers, geography information systems (GIS) specialists and environmental scientists are converging on Seattle to discuss the latest research and applications in geography, sustainability and GIS science. UC research will presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) April 12-16 in Seattle.

The annual meeting will feature presentations from scholars and researchers representing more than 60 countries. Among these are several by UC faculty and students. These include:

What’s the Fracking Problem? Extraction Industry’s Neglect of the Locals in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Region – 2:40 p.m., April 14

A natural gas drilling boom is taking place within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the "sweet spot" of the Marcellus Shale. This long-known reserve has only recently become accessible due to the combined technologies of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling. Competition over mineral rights and leases is high as drilling companies and investors, both domestic and international, rush to partake of this promising resource. Industrial location decision-making, however, should take place prior to investment. This research hypothesizes that it is in the financial interest of investors to prioritize the social-cultural context of potential drilling sites, and leave other variables such as the question of technology as a secondary role.

Sources of information include media reports of public protests, minutes from public meetings and data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Examples of situations from which "green forces," or environmental public pressure, succeeded in pushing back against fracking activities are analyzed. These cases depict sites in which businesses were negatively affected and either had to modify their business plans, had their work interrupted, or had to pull out completely. Research methods include content analysis and mapping of data obtained during the period of January 2005 through December 2010. Analysis of data suggest that during the decision-making process, it behooves the investor to measure the social-cultural environment before weighing other technical variables to avoid what could have been unnecessary costs.Author and Presenter: Deborah Kittner, PhD student

Exploring Urban Gentrification Dynamics in Cincinnati, Ohio: An Agent-based Modeling Approach – 10 a.m., April 14

Gentrification has been recognized as a major theme in urban geography for at least three decades. Previous research has traced the movement of middle or higher-income groups back to the inner city, as well as the displacement of low-income families, housing market activities and physical environmental renovation.

Geographers and urban planners are tracking concerns over gentrification as financially-challenged families are driven out of their neighborhoods. Research has linked gentrification to lower crime rates, sustainable cities and smart growth. On the other hand, gentrification presents an unpredicted countercurrent to suburbanization. This countercurrent may reveal some characteristics of post-industrial cities which could also lead to a new understanding of post-industrial urban development.

Most of the previous research approached this challenge from either a demand perspective, called consumption theory, or a supply perspective, called the rent gap theory. Consumption theory emphasizes the key role of individual choice and consumer demand, while rent gap theory emphasizes the role of capital (profit) and supply.

This UC research aims to investigate gentrification processes by integrating consumption theory and rent gap theory. The integration of these two theories helps to reveal how economic factors, environmental variables, and personal/group preferences interact, and how those interactions affect the gentrification process.

The research applies the two theories in an agent-based simulation. An agent-based model or simulation removes the agents from the “real-world” context and places them in an artificial world. Typically, an agent-based model may have many kinds of agents or agent groups interacting in the artificial world, representing some real-world location or social institution. Five types of agents are included in this agent-based model: resident candidate, homeowner, developer, parcel and neighborhood community.

Preliminary results show how aggregate patterns of gentrification can emerge and evolve at higher levels by simulating lower-level interactions among the agents. The research indicates that increasing and improving urban amenities attract people moving back to the inner city, and developers pursuing potential profits make gentrification possible. This research also demonstrates that the agent-based modeling is a powerful tool for gentrification and urban simulation.

Authors: Yongming Cai, PhD student, and Lin Liu, professor and head, UC Department of GeographyPresenter: Yongming Cai