Re-imagining Yerevan in the post-Soviet era: Urban symbolism and narratives of the nation in the landscape of Armenia's capital

The urban landscape of Yerevan has experienced tremendous changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Armenia’s independence in 1991. Domestic and foreign investments have poured into Yerevan’s building sector, converting many downtown neighborhoods into sleek modern districts that now cater to foreign investors, tourists, and the newly rich Armenian nationals. Large portions of the city’s green parks and other public spaces have been commercialized for private and exclusive use, creating zones that are accessible only to the affluent. In this dissertation I explore the rapidly transforming landscape of Yerevan and its connections to the development of contemporary Armenian national identity. This research was guided by principles of ethnographic inquiry, and I employed diverse methods, including document and archival research, structured and semi-structured interviews and content analysis of news media. I also used geographic information systems (GIS) and satellite images to represent and visualize the stark transformations of spaces in Yerevan. Informed by and contributing to three literatures—on the relationship between landscape and identity formation, on the construction of national identity, and on Soviet and post-Soviet cities—this dissertation investigates how messages about contemporary Armenian national identity are being expressed via the transforming landscape of Armenia’s national capital. In it I describe the ways in which abrupt transformations have resulted in the physical and symbolic eviction of residents, introducing fierce public debates about belonging and exclusion within the changing urban context. I demonstrate that the new additions to Yerevan’s landscape and the symbolic messages that they carry are hotly contested by many long-time residents, who struggle for inclusion of their opinions and interests in the process of re-imagining their national capital. This dissertation illustrates many of the trends that are apparent in post-Soviet and post-Socialist space, while at the same time exposing some unique characteristics of the Armenian case.

Interrogating Place, Space, Power and Identity: An Examination of Florida’s Geography Standards

In this paper, we examine Florida’s sixth-eighth grade geography standards to determine the potential for teaching critical geography, a field that interrogates space, place, power, and identity. While 57% of the standards demonstrated evidence of critical thinking, only six standards foster higher levels of critique consistent with critical geography.

Landscape shaping the economy of small coastal villages

Some years ago visitors and natives had a different way of enjoying the landscape of the coastal villages located in Santa Elena Province, in Ecuador. Nowadays natives of those towns are concerned about the emergent tourist industry, which is not just offering lodging but also it is increasing the construction of vacation homes or second homes. This development is showing notorious social and spatial changes in those coastal towns. Since 80's, the real-estate investments in vacation homes have not stopped. In addition, it has been increasing year in year out, to the north of the Province. Nowadays there are not just homes but also luxury complex of buildings attracting more and more seasonal tourists. This real estate growing has been constantly changing the landscape and shaping the economy of those towns. The authorities in this province are aware of those effects citing in the Province's Master Plan of Development the lack of land use policies. This study aims to describe the socioeconomic activity of coastal villages located in Santa Elena Province, which - during many years - have a resource-based economy: agriculture and fishing economy; but during this last years they have been trying to switch it to tourism. The analysis of spatial changes of the landscape and its effects as a consequence of the land use is another goal of this work. Finally, this study describes the quest of new natural tourist attractions that villagers and stakeholders have taken recently. Key words: Nature and society, sociospatial, rural landscape, coastal landscape, tourism.