Regional and Urban Change and Geographical Information Systems and Science

An Analysis of Northern Canada
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-19210-3
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 184 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 499 g

Reihe: Advances in Geographic Information Science

This volume offers an interdisciplinary, spatially grounded analysis of Northern Canada—centring the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and the broader geography of Inuit Nunangat—to show how climate change, infrastructure, governance, and cultural continuity co-produce northern development outcomes. Rather than treating the North as a uniform periphery, the book foregrounds spatial heterogeneity in exposure, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity, demonstrating how “wicked problems” emerge through interconnected systems of mobility, services, food procurement, and ecological transformation. It combines GIScience, regional science, and spatial analysis to translate complex realities into decision-relevant insight, including approaches spanning remote sensing, spatial vulnerability assessment, and network-based measures of connectivity.

Across the chapters, the volume examines Arctic urbanization and institutional “anchoring,” vegetation regime shifts such as shrubification, food scarcity and Inuit food sovereignty in Nunavut, health and service accessibility under digital constraints, environmental monitoring and decision support, and the structural fragmentation of transportation networks—where many Nunavut communities remain effectively road-isolated beyond the immediate settlement footprint. It also positions heritage preservation, Indigenous knowledge systems, and Indigenous data sovereignty as central, rather than ancillary, to resilience planning. The concluding synthesis advances “spatial intelligence” beyond mapping: an integrative framework for equity, resilience, and sovereignty in Northern Canada.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vaz, Eric

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Geodäsie, Kartographie, GIS, Fernerkundung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Kommunal-, Regional-, und Landespolitik
• Geowissenschaften Geologie GIS, Geoinformatik
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Regionalgeographie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Nachhaltigkeit

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1. Nordicity and Resilience: Northern Canada in a Changing World.- Chapter 2. Arctic Urbanism and the Logic of Anchoring.- Chapter 3. Shrubification in Northern Canada: Patterns, Processes, and Prospects.- Chapter 4. Food Scarcity in Nunavut: Socioeconomic, Cultural, and Environmental Dimensions.- Chapter 5. Lagging Regions: Rural Connectivity of Health Systems in the Canadian North.- Chapter 6. GIScience as a Tool for Environmental Response in Northern Canada.- Chapter 7. Structural Connectivity and Transportation Networks in Northern Canada.- Chapter 8. Inuit Communities in the North.- Chapter 9. Resilience and Adaptability Under Climate Change in Northern Canada.- Chapter 10. Spatial Intelligence as Foundation for Northern Futures.

Über Autor(innen)

Eric Vaz is a Full Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies whose research focuses on complex systems, GeoAI, regional and economic development, sustainability, and spatial analysis. His work bridges geography, planning, regional science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as data-driven approaches to understanding environmental and socio-territorial change. He has authored three scholarly monographs, edited four international volumes, and is actively engaged in interdisciplinary research on resilience and innovation. He is based in Canada.