AAG 2010 - CALL FOR PAPERS
SPECIAL SESSION(S): Modeling Geographic Complexity
LOCATION AND DATES
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
April 14-18, 2010, Washington, DC, USA
SPONSORS
Spatial Analysis and Modeling, Geographic Information Systems and Science Health and Medical Geography Specialty Groups of the AAG and the Geographical Information Science Group of the Royal Geographical Society.
DESCRIPTION
Understanding geographical systems represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. Complexity has emerged as a useful paradigm to effectively study linked human, socioeconomic, health and biophysical systems at a variety of different spatial and temporal scales. As a result, descriptive and predictive models of various levels of sophistication and using mostly agents, genetic algorithms, cellular automata and neural networks are now beginning to regularly appear in the geographic literature. However, there still remains many unresolved conceptual, technical and application challenges associated with these complexity based models. The goal of this session is to focus on the following themes:
Conceptual: shared and unique complexity signatures in geographic systems; existing and emerging geographical and complexity theories; epistemological and ontological influences; complexity based model designs; networks and hybrid models; linking classical and spatial statistics in complexity studies.
Technical: space-time patterns and dynamics; standardizing the development and representation of complex systems; rule selection and implementation; multiple-scale interactions and structure, system evolution and self-organization; learning and adaptation; calibration, validation and verification; path-dependence; non-linearity.
Applications: effectiveness of complexity models when embedded in political, institutional and socio-economic systems; human-environment interactions; earth systems science; land use science; landscape ecology; sustainability analysis; infectious and chronic disease; and neighborhood effects on health.
In order to widely disseminate the ideas emerging from this session, the organizers of the session are exploring the possibility for a special issue of a journal and /or an edited book so that authors will have the opportunity to suitably revise their presentations for publication. Priority will be given for work that has not been published, in review or in press.
Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Andrew Crooks by October 19th, 2009. Please make sure that your abstract conforms to the AAG guidelines in relation to title, word limit and key words and as specified at < http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2010/papers.htm#instructions >. An abstract should be no more than 250 words that describes the presentation’s purpose, methods, and conclusions as well as to include keywords. Full submissions will be given priority over submissions with just a paper title.
ORGANIZERS
Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, Michigan State University < [email protected] >
Andrew Crooks, George Mason University
Alison Heppenstall, University of Leeds < [email protected]>
Moira Zellner, University of Illinois at Chicago
Suzana Dragicevic, Simon Fraser University,
Seth Spielman, Brown University
Debarchana Ghosh, Kent State University < [email protected] >