The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century

UNIT 1. INTRODUCTION: GLOBALIZATION AND WORLD REGIONS

Program 1. One Earth, Many Scales

Lost in Space? Geography Training for Astronauts
Preparation for a NASA Shuttle mission provides context for introducing key issues in physical geography and human-environmental interaction.

Globalization and Revolt
Why do the forces of globalization seem to draw some places closer together and cause others to pull farther apart?

Program 2. Boundaries and Borderlands

Twin Cities, Divided Lives
A single Mexican mother's daily struggle for survival introduces us to concepts of relative location and geographic regions.

Operation Hold the Line
The U.S.-Mexico borderlands form a unified cultural and economic region with qualities of both nations.

UNIT 2. EUROPE

Program 3. Supranationalism and Devolution

Strasbourg: Symbol of a United Europe
The city of Strasbourg is one locus of power in an increasingly supranationalist Europe.

Slovakia: New Sovereignty
Since Czechoslovakia separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, how have the Slovaks fared?

Program 4. East Looks West

Berlin: United We Stand
Berlin is now capital of a reunified Germany and a symbol of a more unified Europe. But the integration of East Berlin requires urban reorganization and economic expansion.

Poland: Diffusion of Democracy
Strategies for spreading democracy through Poland required a decidedly spatial approach.

Program 5. The Transforming Industrial Heartland

Liverpool: A Tale of Two Cities
Can European Union investment and the growth of service industries turn the tide of economic decline?

Randstad: Preserving the Green Heart
Small, crowded Netherlands strives to maintain its transportation connections while preserving dwindling green space.

Program 6. Challenges in the Hinterlands

Andalucia: Developments in the Hinterlands
Spanish Andalucia struggles to move beyond tourism and agriculture to integrate with the Europe's heartland.

Iceland: Edge of the Habitable World
At the borders of the habitable world, Iceland must balance sustainable fish harvests with social costs.

UNIT 3. RUSSIA AND NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

Program 7. Northwest Contrast

St. Petersburg: Russia's Window on the West
What challenges continue to face this Russian port in post-Soviet society?

Vologda: Russian Farming in Flux
How have previously state-owned collective farms changed with privatization?

Program 8. Holding the Hinterlands

Dagestan: Caucuses Disconnect?
The ethnically diverse, Islamic republic of Dagestan contrasts with neighboring Chechnya where rebels fight for independence.

Bratsk: The Legacy of Central Planning
Communist ambitions create the world's largest hydroelectric project followed by a Russian city in the middle of Siberia.

UNIT 4. EAST ASIA

Program 9. Changes on the Chang Jiang

Shanghai: Head of the Dragon
Shanghai enters the 21st Century on a wave of development, ready to reclaim its legacy as China's commercial center.

Sijia: Small Town, Big Change
The steady growth of a township enterprise illustrates three great contrasts in modern China: rural vs. urban; agricultural vs. industrial; coastal vs. interior.

Program 10. The Booming Maritime Edge

Guangdong: Globalization in the Pearl River Delta
This program explores globalization and the effects of modernization on Chinese society.

Taiwan: High-Tech Tiger
What factors contributed to Taiwan's emergence as a high-tech powerhouse?

Program 11. A Challenge for Two Old Cities

Lanzhou: Confluence of Cultures
We travel to the frontiers of Han and Muslim China in the city of Lanzhou.

Shenyang: Hope for China's Rust Belt?
A previously dynamic industrial city continues to struggle with modernizing its manufacturing infrastructure.

Program 12. Small Farms, Big Cities

Northern Japan: Protecting the Harvest
Japanese rice farmers battle destructive weather in order to save their crops.

Tokyo: Anatomy of a Mega-City
The continuing expansion of the Tokyo megalopolis leads to ever longer commutes and demand for suburban housing.

UNIT 5. SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH PACIFIC

Program 13. The Mainland

Laos: Isolated Heart
Laos is emerging from isolation to join the global economy as an exporter of hydroelectric power.

Vietnam: Fertile Dreams
As the world's second largest rice exporter, Vietnam's booming economy is evident in the explosive growth of Ho Chi Minh City.

Program 14. The Maritime Connection

Indonesia: Tourist Invasion
Why was Bali a target for terrorists? We explore the underlying tourist industry on this once peaceful island.

Multi-Cultural Malaysia
Amidst growing pressures from Islamic militants, social and economic programs seek to build tolerance among Malaysia's diverse cultures.

Program 15. Global Interaction

Singapore: Gateway to Southeast Asia
High-tech infrastructure, a well-educated workforce and strict government repression have all helped Singapore become a pre-eminent port and one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Australia: New Links to Asia
Australia shifts its trade from Europe to the Asian "economic tigers."

UNIT 6. SOUTH ASIA

Program 16. Urban and Rural Contrasts

Delhi: Bursting at the Seams
The ever-expanding capital of India continues to act as a magnet, pulling millions of Indians away from the hardships of the rural countryside.

Dikhatpura: Help through Irrigation
In rural India, creating sustainable agricultural development proves a challenging proposition.

UNIT 7. NORTHERN AFRICA AND SOUTHWESTERN ASIA

Program 17. Sacred Space, Secular States?

Jerusalem: Capital of Two States?
Can the historical and political geography of this holy city provide clues to a peaceful resolution between Jews and Palestinians?

Turkey: Fundamental Change
At the edge of Europe, Turkey hopes to take economic advantage of its proximity to the western world.

Program 18. Oil and Water

Egypt: Gift of the Nile
This program investigates Egypt's limited natural resources, focusing on that nation's dependence on the Nile River.

Oman: Looking Beyond Oil
Having benefited greatly from its relatively modest oil reserves, Oman looks to diversify its economy for future growth.

UNIT 8. AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA

Program 19. Strength to Overcome

South Africa: This Land Is My Land
South Africa continues to face many challenges in redressing the land inequities under apartheid.

Kenya: Medical Geography
AIDS has become one of the biggest killers in Kenya. How can geography help understand disease?

Program 20. Developing Countries

Cote d'Ivoire: Cocoa and Change
Cote d'Ivoire has long been the world's largest producer of cocoa, but has recently faced economic downturns and loss of its historically stable government.

Gabon: Sustainable Resources?
In one of Africa's wealthiest countries, oil revenues have declined, putting new pressure on the country's timber resources.

UNIT 9. LATIN AMERICA

Program 21. Population Geography

Mexico: Motive to Migrate
A geographer's research reveals a major source of Mexican migration: the North-Central 'Hollow Core.'

Guatemala: Population and Conquest
Every year a greater number of Maya Indian victims of "continuing conquest" must share inadequate agricultural resources.

Program 22. The Dynamic Pacific Rim

Ecuador: Orange Alert
When scientists monitoring the Tungurahua Volcano see dangerous signs, they have to advise the government: evacuate or remain?

Chile: Pacific Rim Player
Bordered to the east by the towering Andes Mountains, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean, Chile enjoys continued economic growth.

Program 23. Brazil: The Sleeping Giant

Sao Paulo: The Outer Ring
The sprawling mega-city of Sao Paulo is evidence that Latin America is among the most rapidly urbanizing regions.

A Second Chance for Amazonia?
An American scientist discovers new possibilities for sustainable development in the Amazon basin.

UNIT 10. NORTH AMERICA

Program 24. Cityscapes, Suburban Sprawl

Boston: Ethnic Mosaic
How has federal empowerment zone funding helped Boston's diverse but poor neighborhoods?

Chicago: Farming on the Edge
As in many areas of the US, suburban Chicago just keeps expanding into the surrounding countryside.

Program 25. Ethnic Fragmentation in Canada

Vancouver: Hong Kong East
Prior to the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, thousands of wealthy businessmen moved their families to Vancouver causing a collision of cultures. What has happened since 1997?

Montreal: An Island of French
Trying to preserve their culture, Quebec welcomes immigrants and pays to teach them French.

Program 26. Regions and Economies

Oregon: A Fight for Water
Native Americans and farmers compete for a scarce resource: water.

U.S. Midwest: Spatial Innovations
In the U.S. Midwest, an influx of Japanese automakers has brought more than just new factories to this once declining manufacturing region.