People, Place, and Region
Courses in the People, Place, and Region Area of Geography encompass political, cultural, social, and economic aspects of social science. “People, Place, and Region” is a field of geography concerned with the relationships between space and society. Encompassing many foci under the heading of human geography, this field analyzes human processes vis-à-vis the physical environment and, in particular, the ways in which people assume, require, refer to, or seek particular geographical relationships.
As a broad area of emphasis, People, Place, and Region draws from other disciplines such as sociology, cultural studies, philosophy, history, urban planning, and the humanities, to name a few. Given this diversity, this area of emphasis utilizes a range of methodological approaches, using qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methods; theoretical and empirical investigations; GIS and other forms of spatial analysis.
Subfields of People, Place, and Region at UC Davis with particularly strength include cultural and historical geography, international development, political and economic geography, planning and urban design, and social geography. These subfields and the interests of associated faculty members, many of whom work in multiple subfields, are described below.
Faculty for this Area of Depth
| Fullname | Summary Academic Interest | Department |
|---|---|---|
| Chris C. Benner |
Urban and economic geography. Social implications of information technology, labor markets and restructuring of work, social movements and innovative labor/community organizing, regional development and social equity. |
Human & Community Development |
| Monique Borgerhoff Mulder |
Anthropology; Behavioral Ecology; Conservation and Development |
Anthropology |
| Stephen Boucher |
Rural development, Migration, Risk and insurance, Micro-finance, Latin America. |
Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Dave Campbell |
Public policy and community governance; citizenship and civic engagement; non-profit and faith-related organizations; program evaluation |
Human & Community Development |
| Diana K. Davis |
Environmental history, political ecology, colonialism, political economy, Middle East and North Africa, indigenous veterinary knowledge, pastoral societies and arid lands |
History |
| Adela de la Torre |
Adela de la Torre, an agricultural economist, is the director and Professor of Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Davis. Dr. de la Torre's publications and research primarily focus on health care access and finance issues that affect the Latino community as well as Border health issues. In addition, she has completed studies on the impact of education on occupational location of Hispanics |
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| Luis Guarnizo |
Economic Sociology, transnational migration, immigrant entrepreneurs, comparative international development, citizenship |
Human & Community Development |
| Joyce Gutstein |
Environmental geography, biodiversity, education |
Public Service Research Program (PSRP) |
| Erin Hamilton |
Sociology, social demographics |
Sociology |
| Susan Handy |
Relationships between transportation and land use, including the impact of land use on travel behavior and the impact of transportation investments on land development patterns |
Environmental Science and Policy |
| Frank Hirtz |
Law & Development, Development Planning, Social Policy & Welfare: Southern Africa, Southeast Asia |
Human & Community Development |
| Lovell (Tu) Jarvis |
Food and economic systems; South America |
Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Suad Joseph |
Women in development; Middle East |
Anthropology |
| Martin Kenney |
Silicon Valley & regional development; Japanese & Korean overseas investments; Electronics industry; Biotechnology |
Human & Community Development |
| David Kyle |
International migration, development and globalization |
Sociology |
| Jonathan London |
Environmental justice, rural community development, participatory action research, political ecology, Central Valley |
|
| Jeff Loux |
Environmental policy, community planning, land use planning, North America |
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design |
| Mark Lubell |
Environmental policy; community-based management; social networks, human cooperation; quantitative analysis |
Environmental Science and Policy |
| Jay R. Lund |
Resource management and planning, water resources, urban geography |
Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Luz Mena |
Latin America, Gender, Music |
Women and Gender Studies |
| Beth Middleton |
North America and Caribbean. Native American community/economic development; political ecology; Federal Indian law; Native American natural resource policy; qualitative GIS; indigenous geography and cartography; Afro-indigeneity; intergenerational trauma and healing; participatory research methods; rural environmental justice; multi cultural dimensions of conservation, land use, and planning |
Federal Indian law |
| Patricia Mokhtarian |
Travel behavior and attitudes: particularly the impacts of information & communications technology on travel behavior; residential location and travel behavior; and attitudes toward travel itself. |
Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Bettina Ng'weno |
States and property in Latin America and Africa. The construction and mobilization of space with a focus on governance, categorization, citizenship, territory and movement. Social production of space and the stories and histories told about emplacement and the movement of ideas, people and things between Africa and Asia. |
|
| Patsy Eubanks Owens |
Environments of children and adolescents, community participation |
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design |
| Michael Rios |
human geography, architecture, urban planning |
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design |
| Lynn Roller |
Classical landscapes and the biophysical environment; eastern Mediterranean |
Art History |
| Scott Rozelle |
Agricultural Development, Transitional Economics, China |
Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Heath Schenker |
Landscape history: Europe and North America |
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design |
| Janet Shibamoto Smith |
Language and gender, linguistic ideology and speaking practice, particularly as they relate to emotional expressivity and narratives of self, and Japanese writing practices |
Anthropology |
| Aaron Smith |
Agriculture and resource economics, econometrics, finance |
Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Daniel Sumner |
National and International agricultural policy |
Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Thomas P. Tomich |
Agricultural sustainability, sustainable food systems, sustainability metrics and indicators, sustainability science; Geography emphasis includes land use and land cover change |
Human & Community Development |
| Charles Walker |
Human Geography, natural disasters (earthquakes) |
History |
| Karen Watson-Gegeo |
Anthropology, applied linguistics; qualitative and ethnographic methods; critical discourse analysis; rural development; ethnic identity; feminist research; Hawai'i, Solomon Islands, Pacific islands, South and Southeast Asia, US Native and immigrant populations |
|
| Stephen M. Wheeler |
Sustainable development; urban design; city and regional planning; land use; climate change |
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design |
