Plaza Fiesta: A Re-Imagined Homeland Contributing to Latino Identity and Community

This study analyzes the relationship between Plaza Fiesta, a Latino shopping center located in Atlanta, Georgia, and concepts of Latino identity and community formation among immigrants in a U.S. city. It is focused specifically on the complexities of identification for Latin American immigrants, who relate in various ways to Plaza Fiesta. One chapter explores the relationships between product consumption, marketing, spaces, and memory in the production of hybrid identity formations. Another chapter considers the relationship between pan-ethnic Latino identity construction and notions of belonging and not belonging for these Latin American immigrants. The final chapter adds to knowledge about identity by analyzing the complexities and contradictions based on interviews, questionnaires, and observations at Plaza Fiesta. Moreover, this paper examines the importance these topics have with immigration issues and U.S. society. Overall, this paper suggests that Plaza Fiesta plays a role in establishing a sense of Latino community in Atlanta

Paper2GIS: Going postal in the midst of a pandemic

It is widely agreed that using local knowledge and opinions can prove beneficial in the decision-making process, with various forms of Participatory Mapping being used to capture responses to spatial questions. However, remote participatory research is increasingly carried out using digital methods which can limit the involvement of those affected by digital divides. This research uses a novel, automatic self-digitising paper-based Participatory Mapping method to explore whether the accessibility needs of participants can be met whilst maintaining the potential for effective spatial analysis on the part of the researcher. As a paper-based, geographically specific approach this research could be conducted during the pandemic by post, with residents of the Outer Hebrides, UK

Estimating multiple greenspace exposure types and their associations with neighbourhood premature mortality: A socioecological study.

BACKGROUND: Greenspace exposures are often measured using single exposure metrics, which can lead to conflicting results. Existing methodologies are limited in their ability to estimate greenspace exposure comprehensively. We demonstrate new methods for estimating single and combined greenspace exposure metrics, representing multiple exposure types that combine impacts at various scales. We also investigate the association between those greenspace exposure types and premature mortality. METHODS: We used geospatial data and spatial analytics to model and map greenspace availability, accessibility and eye-level visibility exposure metrics. These were harmonised and standardised to create a novel composite greenspace exposure index (CGEI). Using these metrics, we investigated associations between greenspace exposures and years of potential life lost (YPLL) for 1673 neighbourhoods applying spatial autoregressive models. We also investigated the variations in these associations in conjunction with levels of socioeconomic deprivation based on the index of multiple deprivations. RESULTS: Our new CGEI metric provides the opportunity to estimate spatially explicit total greenspace exposure. We found that a 1-unit increase in neighbourhood CGEI was associated with approximately a 10-year reduction in YPLL. Meaning a 0.1 increment or 10% increase in the CGEI is associated with an approximately one year lower premature mortality value. A single 1-unit increase in greenspace availability was associated with a YPLL reduction of 9.8 years, whereas greenness visibility related to a reduction of 6.14 years. We found no significant association between greenspace accessibility and YPLL. Our results further identified divergent trends in the relations between greenspace exposure types (e.g. availability vs. accessibility) and levels of socioeconomic deprivation (e.g. least vs. most). CONCLUSION: Our methods and metrics provide a novel approach to the assessment of multiple greenspace exposure types, and can be linked to the broader exposome framework. Our results showed that a higher composite greenspace exposure is associated with lower premature mortality