Geography's Profile in Public Debate “Inside the Beltway” and the National Academies*

*This article was prepared for the plenary session “Raising Geography's Profile in Public Debate,” Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Philadelphia, 17 March 2004. I thank Alexander Murphy for the invitation to participate in this session and Susan Hanson for comments on my thoughts as they were developing. I tip my hat to the reviewers for their comments on content and their editorial contributions.

Abstract

Geographers continue to engage in public debate “inside the Beltway” by participation within and through federal agencies and through the National Research Council. Several examples illustrate the level and kind of this engagement, which has been concentrated on environmental and spatial data and analysis themes. Most professional geographers have the opportunity to engage in this form of public debate through participation in the activities of the National Research Council. The level of this participation has been surprisingly strong, given the small size of the community of professional geographers, and has helped to shape both U.S. and international research agendas relevant to geographic research. Participation, however, is concentrated in a few programs and individuals, raising questions about the sustainability of geography's voice in this public activity.

*This article was prepared for the plenary session “Raising Geography's Profile in Public Debate,” Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Philadelphia, 17 March 2004. I thank Alexander Murphy for the invitation to participate in this session and Susan Hanson for comments on my thoughts as they were developing. I tip my hat to the reviewers for their comments on content and their editorial contributions.

Key Words:

• National Research Council
• U.S. policy
• international research
• environment
• spatial data
• spatial analysis.

Notes

*This article was prepared for the plenary session “Raising Geography's Profile in Public Debate,” Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Philadelphia, 17 March 2004. I thank Alexander Murphy for the invitation to participate in this session and Susan Hanson for comments on my thoughts as they were developing. I tip my hat to the reviewers for their comments on content and their editorial contributions.

*Information compiled by V. Bowen, NRC.

*Information compiled by V. Bowen, NRC.

¹The pathway through international organizations is less pursued by American geographers, although various members of the AAG have been highly active and influential in them. Examples include the various contributions of Anthony Bebbington (recently moved to the University of Manchester), Ben Wisner, and Dianne Rocheleau to such organizations as the UNDP, Nature Conservancy, and Inter-American Foundation (Murphy et al. 2005).

²Wilbanks also notes correctly that, moving to the local and state level of public policy, the range of such examples enlarges dramatically (see Borchert 1985). Exemplary is the recent work by geographers at the University of Southern California that has affected metropolitan planning in the Los Angeles area (Miller 2000; Fulton et al. 2003).

³The National Academies (National Academy of Sciences [NAS], National Academy of Engineering, and Institutes of Health) is not a federal program; each unit is a private, nonprofit organization established to advise the federal government on all matters related to science. The NRC was created in 1916 to serve as the review and research arm of the NAS and later the National Academies (above). Activities of the NRC are undertaken by research experts who serve on a voluntary basis on boards, panels, and committees.

⁴These figures are based on a search undertaken by Verna Bowen through the various data banks of the NRC. The NRC does not keep information on the disciplinary degrees and specific department or program positions held by its many participants. As a result, I believe the figures in Tables 1 and Table 2 may slightly undercount the number of AAG members and geography programs meeting the criteria in question. At least two challenges to my original count in Table 2 resulted in checks of the records, revealing a missing individual in the record and another individual not credited by me to a certain program.

⁵AAG members working on the most recent reports of the IPPC include: A. Anyamba, R. Balling, R. G. Barry, R. Bradley, I. Burton, G. Carbone, S. Cohen, T. Downing, W. Easterling, R. Kates, L. Mearns, R. Pulwarty, J. Robinson, D. Skole, B. Smit, and T. Wilbanks. Apologies to anyone overlooked.