PAPER
SESSION ABSTRACTS
ILLINOIS GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY MEETING
RIVER GROVE, ILLINOIS
25 APRIL 2004
(Abstracts appear in alphabetical order, by last name of first author.)
Eric S. Anderson (Western Illinois University) Feasibility of Wind Energy Projects as a Form of Rural Economic Development. This paper is a look at some of the hurdles and beginning stages of wind energy projects in rural Illinois. Issues to be addressed are effects of site location, financing, permitting, management, existing regulations, and current legislation—including the potential effects of two specific pieces of legislation (one state and one federal) on the viability of new wind energy projects in Illinois. Special attention will be paid to the perspectives of farmers and rural investors.
Genis Bullock (Augustana College) What’s All the Dam Fuss? Distribution of Dams on the Fox River, Illinois, and Their Effects on the River and Surrounding Communities. The Fox River in Illinois contains fifteen dams. I describe location, historical significance, surrounding structures, and environmental implications of these dams. The Upper Batavia Dam is highlighted because of the controversy of removing or replacing the dam. The report describes many positive and negative implications of dams—the importance of their historical contributions, the significance of their location within the community, and their impacts on the environment. These results show that each dam needs to be considered separately to decide whether it is better to remove or replace the dam.
Maria Contreras (Illinois State University) Instructional Technological Competencies for Pre-Service Teachers. To prepare students for the real world, teachers must themselves understand how to use a wide variety of instructional technologies. In-service teachers must master technology while on the job, but what about pre-service teachers? With a grant from the Illinois Professional Learners Partnership, a task force of instructors at Illinois State University developed the Instructional Technology Passport System. The purpose of this new system is to ensure that all of the university’s 2,500 teacher candidates graduate with the ability to use instructional technology effectively and ethically.
Roger Darrigrand (College of DuPage) Arrigo Park: The Projects and Progress of Downtown Chicago. The Jane Addams Homes of downtown Chicago are among the longest standing projects of the city. Over the fifty plus years that they have been in existence they have housed thousands of Chicago residents and have become the home to multiple generations. In 2001, a grant was issued to the Chicago Housing Authority for the demolition of a majority of these family housing units. In this paper, we will look at the results of the years of neglect by the property owners as the Jane Addams Homes will join the many other disappearing Chicago Projects. We will see the community living here dismantled and removed while the surrounding University of Illinois at Chicago and redeveloping Little Italy look on with great interest.
Kyle T. Evered (Illinois State University) Issues of Pluralism in Iraq: Questions Concerning Iraq’s Turkmen Minority. Amid ongoing efforts to create and legitimate an effective Iraqi government, the status of previously marginalized peoples has been a major concern. While the Western media focuses varyingly on Shiite, Kurdish, and Marsh Arab populations, a number of numerically lesser or otherwise less represented groups have been largely overlooked. Based on archival sources and interviews with leaders in Turkey, this study examines the Iraqi Turkmen and the ongoing challenges associated with establishing a sovereign and pluralistic republic in the aftermath of the recent U. S.-led invasion.
Stephanie Gaspers (Augustana College) Fox Riverfront Access: Public and Private Distributions Within McHenry County. Riverfront, a fundamental natural resource, is most beneficial when it can provide for multiple uses. Although public riverfront can accommodate a variety of needs, it unfortunately is underprovided throughout the country. This study examines riverfront access available to public users in comparison to private users along the Fox River in McHenry County by using GPS, GIS, and intense field work. Land use patterns show over 90 percent of McHenry County riverfront consumed by access along the Fox while simultaneously enhancing recreational opportunities, sense of place, and environmental health.
Scott Gass (Illinois State University) Are There Elevated Risks to People Who Live near Nuclear Power Plants? Is there a higher risk of leukemia and other cancers to people who live near and around nuclear power plants? In a GIS environment, using data on observed cancer cases collected by the Illinois Cancer Registry and baseline data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, End Results (SEER) of the Centers for Disease Control, this paper investigates the relationship between leukemia rates and nuclear power plants.
Surendra Gautam (Western Illinois University) Poverty, Migration, and Development Policy in Nepal. This paper analyzes the relationships of poverty and migration, and their impacts on development activities in Nepal. Migration may be both a cause and consequence of poverty. Reduction of the existing poverty level is the major challenge to achievement of socio-economic growth since there is a lack of effective policies and planning documents in poverty and migration studies. The poverty strategy of Nepal is likely to succeed if it takes into account various components of migration dynamics. There is a high incidence of poverty in the regions experiencing net negative migration, and regions of net in-migration are relatively better off in development indicators.
Jayson Hagen (Illinois State University) Neighborhood Diversity in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. The purpose of this presentation is to identify racial and ethnic diversity and segregation by census tract. Relatively new to urban studies, the Shannon-Weaver Index has long been used in ecology and communications. It provides a richer and more nuanced view of urban residential segregation and diversity than traditional measures. I modify the index to compare substantially different metropolitan areas, Bloomington-Normal and St. Louis, and discuss the differences in diversity and the importance of metropolitan context. Specifically, I will compare racially diverse and segregated neighborhoods in both metropolitan areas and discuss their similarities and dissimilarities.
Mark L. Hildebrandt and Luke M. Snell (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) The Influence of Building Materials on the Urban Heat Island. In recent years, undergraduates in Geography and Engineering at SIUE have investigated how building materials used affect the environment. They have discovered that concrete, asphalt, steel, and brick contribute in various ways towards urban heat island formation. The research suggests that concrete reflects greater amounts of solar radiation when compared to other building materials, such as asphalt, steel, and brick. Field experiments conducted at SIUE showed that the average temperature of concrete in summer was 5–10 Fo cooler than the other materials tested. Our results suggest that concrete can reduce the inner-city temperature, help cut high-energy costs, and lower the number of heat related deaths.
Thomas M. Laue (Illinois State University) Spatial Distribution of Midwest League Baseball Teams: 1956-2003. Minor league baseball teams have traditionally played in small towns, often within a short drive of each other; but recent relocations, such as from Rockford to Dayton, have proven that teams can survive in larger markets, too. Throughout the Midwest League’s half century of existence, 31 cities have hosted league teams, in six different states. This examination of the spatial distribution of Midwest League team locations is an effort to answer the question: Have teams been spreading farther apart since inception of the league in 1956?
Samanta Lax (Illinois State University) Gift to the Street: Mapping Historical Bloomington and Normal on the Web. Old and new come together when we make and display historic districts and old houses on the Web. Public availability of historical information enhances preservation efforts. The main features of this project are: (1) an historical map of the Twin Cities locating historic districts and structures awarded the Gift to the Street Award and (2) digital photographs of the winners. The Old House Society of McLean County gives this award to structures whose owners have maintained the structures’ original characteristics. This presentation covers data collection, map enhancement, and the creation of web pages to display the map and photographs.
Lisa Schmidt (Illinois State University) Simple Mapping Techniques for the Woodsman. I chose to fulfill the internship requirement for my bachelor’s degree in Geography at the North Cascades National Park in Washington. Part of my job at the park was to make large-scale, hand-drawn topographic maps showing the location and size of each campsite and the human impacts at each campground around Ross Lake. Other than a pencil and paper, my tool supply consisted of a compass, clinometer, a published topographic map, and various enlargements of that map showing the site to be mapped. I will give a PowerPoint presentation on my job at the park and the techniques I used to make accurate maps of campgrounds with minimal tools.
Wendy Shaw (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) Spatial Changes in U. S. Poverty, 1980 to 2000. The changing spatial distribution of U. S. poverty over the last 20 years is explored. At the county level the spatial distribution of poverty was mapped and analyzed in an earlier study by the author. The recent release of the 2000 Census data now makes it possible to investigate changes in the basic geography of U. S. poverty since 1980.
Chris Sutton (Western Illinois University) Changes in the Woodworking Craft Industry of Eight Villages in the Purepeche Region of Michoacan, Mexico. The Purepeche region of Michoacan has a strong tradition of craft production. As connectivity to the rest of Michoacan increased, locally produced crafts were replaced by cheaper and/or higher quality products manufactured elsewhere. Transportation improvements over the last few decades have, in part, led to a concentration in the number of different types and an increase in the volume of the crafts produced. Market restrictions have led to the proliferation of craft storefronts along the main routes in an effort to augment these restricted markets.
Brock W. Terry (Western Illinois University) GIS Site Analysis of New Landfill in McDonough County, Illinois. Waste and where to put it has become an increasingly demanding issue for planners, especially rural planners. The expression “not in my backyard” has become an extremely delicate issue in today’s rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to develop a Geographic Information Systems framework to aid in finding a suitable location for a new landfill in McDonough County, Illinois.
Samuel Thompson (Western Illinois University) Is There Hope for Small Towns and Rural Areas in America? Many small towns and rural areas are experiencing economic difficulties, for a variety of reasons, particularly with the transformation of the global economy. As a result many communities are experiencing a decline in population, deteriorating infrastructure, shrinking revenues, and out-migration. This paper argues that small towns and rural areas can reverse their economic stagnation by engaging in regional planning and applying strategies from the quaternary sector.
Michael R. Treve (Augustana College) Elements of Legibility: Using Geography to Identify Neighborhood and Its Sense of Place. Much attention is being paid to “sense of place.” For city governments, projecting a positive identity bolsters the economy via attracting residents, employers, businesses, and tourists. But to the community, “sense of place” means more than just revenue; it also translates the “livability” of a place. This characteristic can be described through place legibility. In other words, how easily a place can be mentally mapped augments its desirability. This study explores two divergent neighborhoods of Chicago in a attempt to discover each community’s livability through the five elements of place legibility interpreted by urban designer and author Kevin Lynch.
Fred Willman (Independent Scholar) Do Mascots Have Tales? The Geography of Illinois High School Mascots. This talk is about a soon-to-be-published book about Illinois and school mascots, school colors, and environments. The stories behind 143 unusual mascots and many statistical and geographical facts and comparisons about school colors and environments are included.
Keith Yearman (College of DuPage) Murders in the Desert: Ciudad Juarez and the Legacy of Structural Adjustment. Over the past decade, 400 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Another 400 women have disappeared and are presumed murdered. Despite the ongoing murders and disappearances, 50,000 people flood to Juarez each year. The Mexican authorities have done little to protect the women of Juarez. The reasons for the murders and the Mexican authorities’ inaction are puzzling enough—yet a critical question must be asked. Why are the women of Juarez put into a situation to be murdered? The answer often lies in institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the NAFTA disputes panel, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Bin Zhou (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) The Story of the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown. This paper explores the origin, operation, and end of the first bank in present-day Illinois, the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown. The study focuses on the geographical factors and historical background that contributed to the origin and operation of the bank, and the events that led to its demise.