Articles by brankin
us megalopolises
Posted June 03, 2006 at 11:13 PM
When the term "Megalopolis" was first introduced by Jean Gottmann in 1961, the Eastern seabord of the US was already seen as a new urban form: what he called "BosWash." Gottmann predicted that two other regions -- "SanSan" and "ChiPitts" -- would also form megalopolises as they continued to build shared transportation and communication [...]
north american rail
Posted June 03, 2006 at 11:05 PM
The rail network of North America continues to consolidate, but it is beginning to become transnational as well. Since NAFTA, Canadian National has acquired several US regional railways, and Kansas City Southern has purchased Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana -- both part of a drive towards a "NAFTA Rail" alliance. Together the eight Class I [...]
food
Posted June 03, 2006 at 10:58 PM
Where does our food come from? (And where should we expect to find the "meat lobby"?) But notice the marked discontinuity in soybean production between the Dakotas and Minnesota or Iowa -- different reporting methodology, or subsidies? And why is chicken production so clustered? Questions too sophisticated to be answered by these simple maps, [...]
us suicides
Posted June 03, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Suicide Rate for (white) men and women, showing the huge differences between regions and gender. The suicide rate for white men in the Rockies is typically greater than 30 deaths per 100,000, whereas even the highest suicide rate among women is only 19 per 100,000 (in Wilson, Kansas). Overall, the HSA-weighted mean rate for men (23.3) is roughly [...]
native american reservations
Posted June 03, 2006 at 10:46 PM
American Indian reservations are sovereign areas with a state-to-state relationship to the US Congress, but congressional authority overrides tribal law. Reservations are generally not subject to state jurisdiction. What mapping convention corresponds to this political arrangement? One could make a case that reservations should be drawn as part of [...]
