PAPER SESSION ABSTRACTS
ILLINOIS GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY MEETING
ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS
23 APRIL 2005
(Abstracts appear in alphabetical order, by last name of first author.)
Sarah Barr (Independent Scholar) GIS and Positive Youth Development. GIS provides a link among young people, adults in the community, and government, and is a vehicle for positive youth development. Young people using GIS as part of the Chicago Youth Mapping Program fostered a greater awareness and understanding of their neighborhoods, particularly the availability or lack of youth resources. After completing the Youth Mapping Program, the young people had increased their self-esteem and had begun to think seriously about their future. Educators learning GIS had greater understanding of their students’ communities upon completing their training and had more confidence in their ability to teach GIS in the classroom. Government and non-profit agencies considered data the young people collected and the maps the young people created when making funding decisions.
Eric Bohm (Flanagan High School/Illinois State University) Pinpoints on the Prairie: A Self-Guided Tour of the Flanagan and Cornell School Districts and Surrounding Area. This paper is my attempt to educate current students and the public about the geographical features that they take for granted. The self-guided field trip allows individuals to learn about some of the features that are found within the Flanagan and Cornell school districts and surrounding area. My intention is for students and the interested public to go on the self-guided field trip to be able to understand why geographical features are where they are along the field trip, and how throughout history, people have used those geographical features to their advantage.
Carl Caneva (Northeastern Illinois University) Squeeze Play. Chicago calls itself the city of neighborhoods, but what does this mean? This paper discusses the impact that Wrigley Field, home to Major League Baseball's Chicago Cub's, has on the surrounding residential community. Following the historical path of the neighborhood, clear social and spatial changes abound as Wrigleyville has transformed itself from public to private space and has added to the theming of Chicago in Epcot proportions.
Jongnam Choi (Western Illinois University) A New Method for Defining Heat Waves. A new method of defining heat wave is developed using the statistical deviation of daily maximum and minimum apparent temperatures from true means for each calendar date. Intensity and persistence of heat wave are defined as the deviation from the long-term mean and runs of days, respectively. Daily human mortality data were examined in New York, Atlanta, and Miami. Significant increases in human mortality were found at events with long runs of consecutive, high deviation days in summer. This study demonstrates that the proposed method is flexible and permits uniform comparisons of human mortality to heat waves across all regions.
Boyowa Anthony Chokor (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville/University of Benin) An Appraisal of the Crisis of Environmental Degradation and Community Development in the Oil Rich Niger Delta of Nigeria. The Niger Delta region, composed of wetlands and mangrove forests, is a vast low-lying sedimentary basin in southern Nigeria with crude oil production that accounts for 90 percent of the country's foreign earnings. In spite of the immense natural resource endowment, economic prosperity has eluded the over 3000 communities that inhabit the region; rural sustainability is severely threatened by endemic poverty, rural-urban migration, rapid population growth, unemployment, and communal conflicts. This paper, drawing on information from the Niger Delta Environmental Survey, 1995-2000, explores the nature of challenges in the region and the prospects for policies and programs to remedy them.
Maria Contreras (Illinois State University) Culture Clash: Minority Teacher Candidate Encounters Rural Central Illinois. The paper is about me, a Hispanic Geography Education teacher candidate who thought I would be student teaching in Chicago, or at least its suburbs, but actually found myself in Heyworth the epitome of white monoculture. Not only have I educated my students about subject matter, but I have shared with them the realities of cultures beyond Heyworth, in an attempt to counteract their prejudices and preconceptions. To reinforce my personal experiences, I have collected published data regarding teacher ethnicity, student ethnicity, and population characteristics nationwide.
Michael Cornebise (Eastern Illinois University) Belizean Migration Trends: A Focus on Chicago. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, I draw from census and field-derived data to assess the international in- and out-migration trends in the Central American country of Belize. Second, I concentrate on Belizean migration patterns in the United States with a particular focus on the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. In so doing, I will show the connection between changing demographic patters in Belize and the emerging Belizean settlement in the United States.
Christina Davis (Western Illinois University) Two Rivers, One Town: The Past, Present, and Future of Cairo, Illinois. Cairo, Illinois, is largely known as being the place for the last Civil Rights riots in May of 1971. However, upon closer inspection, Cairo is much more than that. It is a town filled with history, most of which revolves around the fact that it is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. This paper attempts to look at how these two rivers contributed to the past accomplishments, present struggles, and future opportunities in Cairo. While remembering the past, and analyzing the present, a critical look is taken on what Cairo can do in the future in terms of economic development, especially in light of its location at the confluence of two important rivers.
Katie Derner (Augustana College) A Digital Atlas of Augustana's Green Wing Ecological Field Station. As the use of the internet and GIS technologies has expanded, so too have the possibilities for disseminating geographic information to the general public. Digital atlas sites serve as databases for maps, photos, tables, graphs, charts, and other information, allowing the user to research the physical and human elements of a particular landscape. This study details the research, creation, and analysis of maps for a digital atlas of the Green Wing Ecological Field Station, owned by Augustana College of Rock Island, Illinois. Analysis includes both the field station property and the surrounding watershed.
Rachel Easley (Augustana College) The Illinois Main Street Program: Revitalizing Main Street and Enhancing Sense of Place in Small Towns. This paper examines the Illinois Main Street Program as a tool for downtown revitalization in small towns. The researcher visited thirty small town Main Street communities in Illinois to assess the appearance of the historic downtowns. An inventory including characteristics that create an effective Main Street was used to critique objectively each town. The purpose was to determine if the Main Street Program successfully aided in the development of a unique identity for the community, thereby attracting customers, businesses, and residents back to the downtown.
Emily Fultz (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) The Role of Women in the Development of Cities. The presentation will focus on the role of women in the development of cities. Rather than focusing on one specific city, this will be an overview of women's contributions, supported by examples from different cities. Not only will this paper explore the politics and economics involved in city development and their implications on women's involvement, but it will also look at the geographical implications of these contributions in city development.
Scott Gass (Illinois State University) LeRoy, Illinois: A Small City Seeing Success. This study will center around these basic questions. First, what were the reasons for the founding of LeRoy, and why has it survived to the 21st Century? I will answer by looking at historical events that helped shape the community. Second, what advantages does LeRoy have that will allow it to remain vital when many other small municipalities can barely survive in today's society? I will look at several of the reasons why LeRoy is a community that is more successful than its peers.
Dennis Grammenos (Northeastern Illinois University) Chicago Makeover: The City of Chicago Streetscape and Urban Design Program. Responding to world city aspirations and to the investment needs of real estate capital, Chicago has pursued a comprehensive program of streetscaping and urban design that has targeted select commercial strips for renovation and improvements. In organizing a network of streetscapes for consumption, the city has deployed a variety of spatial tropes; ethnicity, sexuality, and history have all been commodified in the branding and promotion of certain commercial districts.
Raymond Greene (Western Illinois University) African-Americans and Alabama's 2003 Tax Referendum. I present an examination of the results of Alabama's referendum on a proposal by Governor Riley to increase the state's taxation rate. The proposal failed, with only 32.5 percent of voters supporting it. There is evidence of spatial autocorrelation in the vote when viewed at the county level. Only 13 of 54 counties in the state supported the proposal and in 12 of these supporting counties, at least one-third of the registered voters are African-Americans. On the other hand, 10 counties with at least one-third African-American voters voted against the tax-raising proposal. These counties all exist in the belt-line of the state, in the region sometimes called the Black Belt. There does not appear to be a pattern of urban counties supporting the proposal either.
Chivia R. Horton (Northeastern Illinois University) Accepting Flood Management Strategies: Public Perceptions of Rain Gardens in Chicago. Urban constructs like rooftops, streets, and driveways act as impervious surfaces making it difficult for stormwater to penetrate the soil. As a result, many municipalities are beginning to use bioretention facilities (rain gardens) as a method to reduce flooding caused by uncaptured stormwater runoff. Despite the ecological functionality of rain gardens, it may be said that public acceptance will determine their existence. A survey was conducted in one Chicago neighborhood to gage human perceptions of rain garden aesthetics and awareness of urban stormwater related issues. Survey results show that color variance and high maintenance are important in aesthetic preferences and misconceptions of human effects on water quality.
Seon Mi Kim (Western Illinois University) Sustainable Community Development: Historic Preservation and Tourism Effort in Quincy, Illinois. Tourism has evolved as a method of sustainable community development and has provided positive impacts to the communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a community tries to make travelers attracted to their proud historic town. This paper will focus on Quincy, Illinois, located along the banks of the Mississippi River. Quincy, the county seat of Adams County, has a total population of 40,366, and covers more than 5,000 acres with a river frontage of about three miles in length. Quincy started early, in 1825; and, since then, Quincy has played a significant role in the underground railroad, in the history of the Mormon migration, and most importantly, as a famous river town. Therefore, Quincy has many historic places to be utilized for its tourism efforts.
Elizabeth Lyon (University of Illinois) Exploring the Chicago Region: A Spatial Analysis of Population and Employment Location. This presentation explores the changing spatial distribution of population and employment in the six-county region of the Chicago Metropolitan Area between 1970 and 2000. Exploratory spatial data analysis was used to identify and examine in detail clusters and hot spots of employment and population. The analysis will produce a deeper understanding of the inner dynamics driving the shape of the Chicago Region and the specific relationship between employment and population location at a micro geographic scale. The result at the quarter section level (15,169 units) identifies a dispersing spatial pattern emerging as the population and employment centers move farther away from the central business district of Metropolitan Chicago. In addition, the transportation networks play a significant role in the location of both population and employment clusters and their ensuing spatial patterns.
Ed Miller (Pace/Harper College/University of Illinois at Chicago) Optimizing Transit and Increasing Efficiency Using GIS and GPS. Pace employs an Intelligent Bus System that uses GPS to capture locationally based performance data. These data, including passenger boardings and alightings, by stop, are transferred nightly to a Geodatabase and aggregated by trip, route, and stop. Using ArcObjects, we have developed a number of tools to analyze ridership and on-time performance at a variety of spatial scales. The tool can also be used to select multiple trips on the same route over multiple days to create a composite day. We have also developed a number of tools to meet other specific business needs.
Deanna Montgomery (The Wetlands Initiative) GIS in Wetlands Restoration. The Wetlands Initiative has used GIS in a variety of ways to support the wetland/prairie restoration of a 2,500 acre farmed levee district along the Illinois River. The restoration potential of the site was identified by integrating existing data, such as topography, digital orthophotos, soil maps, and 1890 and 1904 maps of the area. Once restoration began in 2001, the restoration process has been monitored using current satellite images, on-the-ground surveys, and GPS locations of specific plant communities (invited and invasive). A variety of maps have been produced, both for promotion of the project and for analysis during restoration.
Jamie L. Nelson (Augustana College) Building Bridges: The Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive. The Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive seeks to digitize, catalog, store, and display historic scenes of river life from Burlington to Dubuque on the Iowa side, and Nauvoo to Galena on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. All too often in the past, specialized web exhibits have lacked persistence and accessibility. The UMVDIA remedies this by providing both storage and retrieval of digitized images, and allowing for the detailed description and metadata necessary to locate the images in a virtual environment. This grant-funded project is in its third year and has grown from three libraries to include six diverse cultural heritage organizations through a unique mentoring process.
Matthew G. Nelson (Illinois State University) Editorial Apprentice: Learning on the Job for Academic Credit. There is a major difference between in-class assignments and real world projects. While working on the Fall 2004 edition of the Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society under Jill Freund Thomas, I learned what it means to be a cartographer in the real world. After taking two cartography classes, I got used to turning in assignments and having those assignments returned within a few days. This is not how things work outside of academic classes. Being the apprentice to the editor has given me the necessary experience and confidence to work on cartographic projects outside of the academic world.
Francis O. Odemerho (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) Topography, Settlement and Language Diversity in Akok-Edo Uplands, Nigeria. The Akok-Edo Local Government Area of Nigeria is a highland area with numerous rock shelters that have served as homes for early settlers of the region. During periods of social insecurity, residents of the adjoining plains along with autochthonous groups have sought refuge in these rock shelters. Drawing on historical and contemporary information, this paper explores the contextual relationship between landscapes, settlement evolution, and language diversity in the region.
Siyoung Park (Western Illinois University) A Comparative Study of Asian American Residential Patterns in Major U.S. Cities. The present study will analyze the Asian American neighborhoods and their residential assimilation processes in Chicago and Atlanta Metropolitan Areas for the last two decades. For this study, the focus will be on the three most populous groups: Asian Indians, Chinese, and Koreans. GIS mapping and Indices of Dissimilarity will be used to evaluate their spatial assimilation patterns with other Asian groups over time. Although all three Asian groups were gradually suburbanized, their patterns of suburbanization varied depending on the ethnicity and their socioeconomic status. The dynamics of Asian immigrants and their assimilation processes, as well as their spatial relationship with other minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics, will shed light on the urban housing policies in U.S. cities.
Jaclyn Pfeiffer (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Tourism Development in Southeast Asia: Cultural Challenges. For Southeast Asia, a relatively underdeveloped region, the development of the tourism industry includes many challenges, not limited to those of the environmental, economic, political, and cultural realms. Focusing on the cultural realm, this presentation will concentrate on the challenge to integrate historic preservation with tourism to achieve means of economic development in the region. It will be organized around four main obstacles: monoculture development, ethnic conflict, ethnic commodification, and new development. To gain a better perspective on the reality of overcoming these challenges, specific examples of historic conservation and tourism development will be cited from efforts in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Shannon Ruh (Western Illinois University) The Role of the Mississippi River in the Development of Keokuk, Iowa. Keokuk, Iowa, is a town of great history, which has experienced profound developmental changes over the years. Its location, in the southeast corner of Iowa at the convergence of the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers, is a great contributor to its success. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate development in Keokuk, including the successes, struggles, and the potential for future economic development. Particular focus will be given to the roles that the Mississippi River and Keokuk’s rich history have played in the town’s development. From the late 1700s, when Indian tribes inhabited the land now known as Keokuk, to the present time; the Mississippi River has provided easy access to the town and also been the main route for exporting products and receiving farm equipment and mill machinery.
Dale Schultz (Western Illinois University) Development in the Capital City: Planning for the Future of Springfield, Illinois. The purpose of this paper is to examine a few selective elements of planning and development in Springfield, Illinois. One such element is the impact that Abraham Lincoln left on the city, including the various sites commemorating his presence. The opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is one of Springfield’s most important development projects in history. In addition to the various Lincoln sites, Springfield has undergone tremendous amounts of both economic and housing development in recent years. Economic development is mostly concentrated on the edges of the city, while the east side has witnessed housing redevelopment and the west side is witnessing new growth. These are clearly some of the most important developments shaping the future of Springfield and are, thus, the focus of this study.
Samuel A. Smith (University of Chicago) The Nauvoo Plan's Contribution to Mormon Town Planning in the West. The city of Nauvoo, Illinois, founded by Mormon prophet Joseph Smith in 1839, broke significantly with earlier trends in Mormon urbanism. Nauvoo's radically simplified layout, with four 1-acre lots per square block, was reproduced extensively following the Mormon migration to Utah. In contrast to national urban trends, which reflected the dominance of commerce and transportation, many Utah towns perpetuated the Nauvoo plan well into the 20th century. This paper, based on fieldwork in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, will trace the origins, extent, and evolution of this unique urban form.
Michael J. Starr and Andrea L. Knobloch (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) Road-Kill: Assessing the Effect of Traffic in Madison County, Illinois. During the last decade, Madison County has again experienced increased growth due to urban sprawl from the metro St. Louis area, which has led to more subdivisions, more road construction, and more vehicle traffic. It is likely that such increased traffic causes more small animal fatalities, or road-kills, however, due to limited research, the scope of the problem is not well understood. Therefore, we have begun regular surveys along both rural roads and state highways. Our initial results suggest that road-kills are strongly correlated with increased traffic, and that common national estimates vastly underestimate the seriousness of the problem.
Christopher Sutton (Western Illinois University) Cities, Skylines, and Civic Identity. Skyscrapers not only provide a city with its most prominent landmarks, but they also provide a valuable means of civic advertising. Skyscrapers traditionally symbolize the socioeconomic vitality and strength of the city, which is projected locally, regionally, nationally and now, globally. City leaders often view the skyline as an important component of being a "national" or "global" city. As such, immediate recognition of the city via its skyline is an important component of civic identity. In this session, we will examine the effectiveness of the skyline as a means of urban recognition.
Samuel Thompson and Satya Chataut (Western Illinois University) Transportation Service for Senior Citizens of McDonough County. McDonough County is experiencing an overall population decrease. However, the proportion of elderly is on the increase. As these older Americans continue to increase, the county will have to provide additional funding to meet transportation needs of some of the senior citizens. This paper will examine transit service for senior citizens and recommend ways to make the system efficient and effective.
Nick Watson (Illinois State University) Stanford, Illinois: From Railroad to Roads. Small towns across America are facing hard times in preserving their original identities. As larger cities grow, businesses and people have a tendency to leave rural towns, and move to larger cities. The small rural McLean County town of Stanford is no exception to this process. Looking at the town's history, and its present state, I will explain the town's growth, decline, and different influences it has experienced.
Fred Willman (Illinois Geographic Alliance) Why Mascots Have Tales–Stories of High School Mascots. Illinois high school mascots reveal much about Illinois geography, history, its people, and its economy. Three ingredients of school spirit are examined in a new book by Illinois Geographical Society member Fred Willman–school mascot names, school colors, and school enrollments. Books will be available for sale, signed by the author. This is the place to be if you want to know why Hoopeston has the Cornjerkers and Centralia has its Orphans.
Benjamin Wilson (Illinois State University) Arrowsmith, Illinois: A Fading Village on the Grand Prairie. At plus or minus three hundred inhabitants it is impossible for Arrowsmith to be self-sufficient. But how does a village this small survive? To answer that question, I gathered data from published and archival sources and from interviews. In particular I looked at why Arrowsmith still exists, why it is located where it is, what depicts the activity space of its residents, what are the strongest external connections for Arrowsmith, and the migratory patterns of Arrowsmith's residents as they abandon it. By answering these questions, I believe I was able to define the geography of Arrowsmith.
Richard Wolfel (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) Would the Real Appalachia Please Stand Up: The Great Smoky Mountains as a Tourist Destination. The Great Smoky Mountains region has become an important tourist destination and provides several themes of tourism for potential consumers. The goal of this paper is to identify the themes of tourism in the region, focusing on how certain themes are displayed prominently, while others are somewhat hidden from public view. Also themes are romanticized in an effort to sanitize the problems traditionally associated with development in the Appalachian region. This focus on the creation of landscape is an important theme as regions compete to gain tourists, often at the expense of important elements of their local culture.
This paper compares aspects of the Chinese and Japanese cultures, based on information and observations gathered by the authors during their field trip to Tokyo and Beijing in 2004. While the space and resources that support the populations in both countries are scarce, the Japanese and Chinese have developed different ways of using them as a result of their different cultural heritages. Culture, their stage of economic development, ideology, geopolitical aspirations, and other factors have shaped their distinct Japanese and Chinese lifestyles. The ways these two nations interact with outsiders, as well as deal with some of the social problems in their own society, also provide interesting contrasts.