Table Of ContentGilbert Ahamer
Mapping
Global
Dynamics
Geographic Perspectives from
Local Pollution to Global Evolution
Mapping Global Dynamics
Gilbert Ahamer
Mapping Global Dynamics
Geographic Perspectives from
Local Pollution to Global Evolution
Gilbert Ahamer
Institute for Geographic Information Science
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Salzburg, Austria
ISBN 978-3-319-51702-5 ISBN 978-3-319-51704-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51704-9
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To see space, start with the void.
Fig. 0.0 Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands in the Pacific, at the centre of this frontispiece. This historic map (Krusenstein, 1826) shows
“wonderland” as a “space of miracles” for many Europeans: the Pacific. I dedicate this book to Alice, my space of miracles
viii
Mapping
Global
Dynamics
Poiesis
Foreword by Anne Buttimer
Poiesis (lit. invitation to discovery) lies at the heart of this volume. “Autopoietic ensembles”
occupy the “methodological landscape” presented here. Maps emerge in a far more imaginative
form than those of conventional cartography; beyond patterns in space one finds processes of
transition, with telling symbols of time, space and functional relationships. But the map retains
what remains perhaps its most basic power, i.e. that of graphic language – one that transcends the
impasses of vernacular tongue and disciplinary jargon. The map, as deployed here, serves as cata-
lyst for intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue on global issues. The author, Gilbert Ahamer,
a leading expert in global environmental science and a passionate advocate of ecological concern,
offers a challenge to readers and educational institutions in countries all around the world.
In eight carefully chosen case studies, the expanded notion of “mapping” is applied at various
scales – local, regional and global – to issues of environmental concern. In some cases, in-depth
analyses framed within a particular country, e.g. in the Slovak Republic for air quality measure-
ment and in Slovenia for water quality assessment, offer guidelines for other countries in their
potential responses to EU Framework Directives. On energy supply and demand, the author has
collaborated with the International Institute for Applied System Analysis on global emission pat-
terns. His own Combined Energy and Biosphere Model demonstrates the strengths and limita-
tions of biomass combustion and the constraints involved in transport. Global agriculture also
gets attention: scenarios on food potential, with specific reference to cereal production, outline
“saturation states” of supply and demand reached at different times and mapped as “functional
state space”. Deforestation and climate change is another major issue addressed here: by plotting
various timelines of developments in various regions of the world, it is possible to discern devel-
opment phases in the spatio-temporal dynamics of global deforestation. A highly imaginative
case study addresses issues of environmental education. “Social mapping” is deployed to exam-
ine the effectiveness of processes representing four steps of learning in four “voices”: soprano
(information), alto (team), tenor (dialogue) and bass (integration). Quite an orchestral poiesis!
Geographers will welcome this volume.
With its energetic use of data and dynamic perspectives on mapping, it helps to restore the
discipline’s fundamental concern about culturally diverse modes of interaction between humanity
and the bio-physical environment. While elaborately illustrating the importance of information
technology, it moves geographical imagination beyond the unfortunately blinkered twentieth-cen-
tury logical positivist focus on “spatial analysis” – which led to a separation of physical and human
branches of the field – and thus a loss of historical and environmental concern.
Mapping Global Dynamics reminds geographers of their potentially vital role in Century
21: a “Latin American” voice evoking a conscientização (critical consciousness) in the schol-
arly world on issues of global concern. As the author suggests, this could be the evocative
“Latin American” voice restored to life in the scientific world.
Prof. Dr. Anne Buttimer
Professor Emeritus of Geography, University College Dublin
President of the International Geographical Union, 2000–2004
Vice President of Academia Europaea and Class Chair for Social and Related Sciences
since 2012
Lifetime Achievement Honours, American Association of Geographers, 2014
Vautrin Lud Prize in 2014, informally called the “Nobel Prize for Geography”
ix
Map Dynamics in Functional Space-Time
Foreword by Waldo Tobler
Wikipedia defines a map as
a symbolic depiction emphasising relationships between elements of some space, such as objects,
regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are
dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any
space, as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being
mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the earth, three dimensional, such as the interior
of the earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modelling phenomena hav-
ing many independent variables.
Given these possible dimensions of mapping, the book author, Gilbert Ahamer, conceives
mappings of space and time, or space-time, as the projecting of light onto a geographic under-
standing of contemporary problems. He considers maps as dynamic enlightenments and then
moves on to extend this to functional spaces. His emphasis is on change to include history and
evolution. This is formulated as coordinate transformations, but not as frame-free tensor ver-
sions. The entire work leads to the concept of transitions which in turn leads to what are called
meta-structures and trends. This is an ambitious story aimed at providing an overall frame for
understanding and comprehending the contemporary world, a profound and wonderful example
exploring world history and geography that broadens the scope from mappings to art.
Prof. Dr. Waldo Tobler
Professor Emeritus at the Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara
Founder of Analytical Geography
Author of the “First Law of Geography”
Seminal Contributions to Map Projections and to the Development of Geographic
Information Science
xi
