Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg – författare

GIS Research Methods: Incorporating Spatial Perspectives shows researchers how to incorporate spatial thinking and geographic information system (GIS) technology into research design and analysis. Topics include research design, digital data sources, volunteered geographic information, analysis using GIS, and how to link research results to policy and action. The concepts presented in GIS Research Methods can be applied to projects in a range of social and physical sciences by researchers using GIS for the first time and experienced practitioners looking for new and innovative research techniques.

What makes a community resilient? How do we ensure its sustainable future?

Resilience—the unique ability to positively adapt to changing physical and social environments—is essential for populations of all sizes and locales in today''s world of unexpected changes and increasing instances of environmental change. Communities around the globe possess unique combinations of culture, skills, and abilities in context of unique built and natural environments. Identifying and mapping community strengths and resources facilitates effective planning for where and how to focus and manage their unique cultures and characteristics.

Resilient Communities across Geographies is a collection of case studies examining the application of geographic information systems (GIS) to environmental and socioeconomic challenges for analysis, planning, and, ultimately, more resilient communities. Each chapter discusses a spatially driven approach to challenges in geography, social sciences, landscape architecture, urban planning, environmental studies, sociology, economics, migration, community development, meteorology, oceanography, and other fields.

Examples explore both the natural and cultural contexts of climate adaptation in built environments and cultural impacts in a diversity of communities. These include the Martu people of Australia, First Nation youth in Canada, and cultural diversity of indigenous Los Angeles to California farmworkers facing exposure to agricultural chemicals in their communities. Each example applies powerful GIS tools and analysis to document, support, and assess resilience across these unique geographies while recognizing the value and strength which lies in the diversity of the people who live there.

The stories shared within Resilient Communities across Geographies help readers develop an expanded sense of the power of spatial thinking, local knowledge, and engagement to address the difficult problems we collectively face in various locales.

Edited by the authors of GIS Research Methods with a foreword by Esri Chief Medical Officer Este Geraghty.

This contributed volume explores the intersection between climate change, vulnerable communities, and health. It includes a variety of case studies that highlight how changing physical and social environments impact the health of communities across geographies. The COVID-19 Pandemic and climate change together highlighted how social disparities and environmental inequalities in our society affect the health and well-being of people and places impacted by modern crises. This new volume, which appears in the book series Extreme Weather and Society, addresses the plight of socially vulnerable people and communities dealing with extreme weather and other latent and emerging risks.

This book is meant for people who have an interest in climate change, extreme weather, and their impact on people and places around the world. Special focus is placed on the knowledge of local populations and the imperative to engage with people within the context their local culture, ethnicity, and geographies. The book is interdisciplinary and crosses the fields of geography, environmental studies, environmental science, climate science, environmental health, emergency management, environmental sociology, social work and public health among others.  The book will appeal to anyone who studies, makes, or carries out social and environmental policy—especially to community leaders who must respond to health and environmental challenges within the context of social disparities.