Cartographies of Danger: Mapping Hazards in America - Couverture rigide

Monmonier, Mark

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0226534189 ISBN 13 : 9780226534183

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 1997

Synopsis

Explains how maps can tell us a lot about where we can anticipate certain hazards, but also how maps can be dangerously misleading. The text considers that although it is important to predict and prepare for catastrophic natural hazards, more subtle and persistent phenomena such as pollution and crime also pose serious dangers that we have to cope with on a daily basis. Hazard-zone maps, the text explains, highlight these more insidious hazards and raise awareness about them among planners, local officials and the public. With the help of many maps illustrating examples from all corners of the United States, the text demonstrates how hazard mapping reflects not just scientific understanding of hazards but also perceptions of risk and how risk can be reduced.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

No place is perfectly safe, but some places are more dangerous than others. Whether we live on a floodplain or in "Tornado Alley" near a nuclear facility or in a neighborhood poorly lit at night, we all co-exist uneasily with natural and man-made hazards. As Mark Monmonier shows in this entertaining and immensely informative book, maps can tell us a lot about where we can anticipate certain hazards, but they can also be dangerously misleading. California, for example, takes earthquakes seriously, with a comprehensive program of seismic mapping, whereas Washington has been comparatively lax about earthquakes in Puget Sound. But as the Northridge earthquake in January 1994 demonstrated all too clearly to Californians, even reliable seismic-hazard maps can deceive anyone who misinterprets "known fault-lines" as the only places vulnerable to earthquakes. Important as it is to predict and prepare for catastrophic natural hazards, more subtle and persistent phenomena such as pollution and crime also pose serious dangers that we have to cope with on a daily basis. Hazard-zone maps highlight these more insidious hazards and raise awareness about them among planners, local officials, and the public. With the help of many maps illustrating examples from all corners of the United States, Monmonier demonstrates how hazard mapping reflects not just scientific understanding of hazards but also perceptions of risk and how risk can be reduced. Whether you live on a faultline or a coastline, near a toxic waste dump or an EMF-generating power line, you ignore this book's plain-language advice on geographic hazards and how to avoid them at your own peril. "No one should buy a home, rent an apartment, or even drink the local water without having read this fascinating cartographic alert on the dangers that lurk in our everyday lives. . . . Who has not asked where it is safe to live? Cartographies of Danger provides the answer"

Biographie de l'auteur

Mark Monmonier is distinguished professor of geography at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 1997
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0226534189
• ISBN 13: 9780226534183
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 378
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Wiley-VCH GmbH; product_safety@wiley.com; ; Boschstrasse 12; Weinheim; 69469; Allemagne