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Internet sites about geographical locations attempt to articulate and convey “sense of place”, a concept that relates to the unique identity and meaning attached to place. This paper aims to review the variety of resource types, metadata sources, and navigation features that are used by “sense of place” web sites to communicate with and involve the user. Assessment of place‐based digital collection sites is discussed.

Current place‐based sites were reviewed to show the diversity and range of content as well as metadata options, applications for users, and web features that make the most of location‐specific foci.

Place‐based sites present many types of resources and use geospatial, interactive, customization, and other tools to enhance the content, assist the user in finding resources, and develop “sense of place”. Assessment of such digital collections is being done but could be used more extensively to improve the sites.

Identifying and discussing place‐based digital collections will serve to highlight a specialized type of site and collection. Attention to the enhancement of “sense of place” internet sites could further geographical and geospatial interests, education, and web applications.

“Sense of place” sites provide information about places that have unique history, environmental sensitivity, or special meaning. Digital content is readily available for educational purposes and can be a contribution point for shared history and experience.

This paper will be of value to those interested in digital collections primarily focused on a geographical location and how web applications can build on the content to convey “sense of place” to users of the site.

This paper aims to reflect on approaches through which open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) students can use their local environments for assessments and explores how this shapes their conceptualisations of “university” and “campus”. Key issues and lessons learnt are covered, thus providing pointers for implementation of the type of assessment approaches that are presented.

Using three undergraduate sustainability-related modules in the Department of Geography, University of South Africa (Unisa), the lecturers’ reflections on the real-world sustainability learning experiences of students in these modules (2015-2018) have been cross-correlated and compared to present an integrated picture of emerging best practice.

The use of real-world, place-based applications, which form a central theme in the assessment strategy for all three modules, allows students to deal hands-on with sustainability issues, establishes a connection between ODeL students and the university and presents an opportunity to engage these students in real-world sustainability learning despite not being on campus.

The case study format and qualitative, reflective methodology present limitations, while specifically focusing on ODeL and the final phase of undergraduate studies. Despite these limitations, the lessons learnt can be of value to universities currently transferring to online offerings, with possible impacts for sustainability learning.

This paper addresses misconceptions on the role of ODeL in transforming to sustainability. The criticism that ODeL is suitable for primarily theoretical training is countered by evidence that appropriately structured assessments requiring ODeL students to engage with real-world issues in their local environments, can provide valuable sustainability learning experiences.

We examined how high school students demonstrated historical empathy through conducting local history place-based research to create an exhibit and companion book about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their community. The majority of existing historical empathy scholarship focuses on classroom-based inquiry of historical events, people and time periods. We contend that broader examination of how historical empathy can be promoted beyond school-based instruction can contribute to the field by examining how student analyses of historical contexts and perspectives, and making affective connections to historical topics of study are needed when engaging in placed-based local history projects.

Qualitative case study methodology was implemented for this study. A Likert-scale survey with a questionnaire was distributed to 30 high school study participants. Thirteen students gave follow-up interviews. Students’ responses on the surveys, interviews and questionnaires were organized into three categories that aligned to the theoretical framework – identification of historical contexts of the sources that students collected, analysis of how contexts shaped the perspectives expressed in the collected sources and expression of reasoned connections between the students’ emotions and experiences during the pandemic. A rubric was used to examine how students’ writing samples and reflections reflected demonstration of historical empathy.

Students responded that their local history research about the pandemic contributed to their displays of historical empathy. Students displayed weaker evidence of historical empathy while examining archival resources to explain the historical contexts of the pandemic. Student demonstration of historical empathy was stronger when analyzing community-sourced documents for perspectives and making reasoned affective connections to what they learned about the historical significance of the pandemic. The place-based aspects of this project were strongly connected to the students’ engagement in historical empathy because the sources they analyzed were relevant to their experiences and identities as citizens in their community.

Documenting the diverse human experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to preserving the history of this extraordinary time. Every person around the globe experienced the pandemic differently, hence riding out the same storm in different boats. At some point, the pandemic will appear in historical narratives of the social studies curriculum. Therefore, now is an opportune time to ascertain whether place-based local history research about the contexts, perspectives and experiences of community members and children themselves, during the pandemic can foster historical empathy.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an ethnographic analysis of the infrastructure intervention process in rural, non-industrialized countries, providing justification for a new approach to technical design. The new approach, Contextual Engineering, merges engineering with sociology to identify place-based conditions that may influence adoption of technological interventions.

A survey of international engineering practitioners, combined with the author's personal journals from 18 international project experiences are qualitatively analyzed using nVivo software to develop a stronger understanding of what motivates stakeholders to undertake humanitarian engineering work, how they incorporate place-based conditions and how their decision-making affects intervention outcomes.

Critical findings include the need for practitioner self-reflection to recognize motivations and beliefs; recognition that industrialized-world technology may not function effectively if it doesn’t acknowledge the client’s societal standards; identification of local context to determine practices, knowledge and beliefs that reside uniquely within the client community; resistance to application of practitioner standards that may not correspond with client conditions, understandings and needs; analysis of power dynamics within the client community, between client and neighboring communities, and among project stakeholders; and incorporation of innovative self-sufficiency in technical infrastructure design.

This paper follows upon previous published research by the author regarding the origin and application of her new approach to rural international infrastructure design, Contextual Engineering, and uses ethnographic qualitative analysis to identify key conditions that justify the Contextual Engineering discipline to more effectively serve rural clients from alternately developed societies.

A comprehensive understanding of the determining factors and implications of the frameworks for appreciating the relationships between climate risks and cultural heritage remains deficient. To address the gap, the review analysed literature on the management of climate risk in cultural heritage. The review examines the strengths and weaknesses of climate risk management (CRM) frameworks and attendant implications for the conservation of cultural heritage.

The study adopted a two-phased systematic review procedure. In the first phase, the authors reviewed related publications published between 2017 and 2021 in Scopus and Google Scholar. Key reports published by organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) were identified and included in Phase Two to further understand approaches to CRM in cultural heritage.

Results established the changes in trend and interactions between factors influencing the adoption of CRM frameworks, including methods and tools for CRM. There is also increasing interest in adopting quantitative and qualitative methods using highly technical equipment and software to assess climate risks to cultural heritage assets. However, climate risk information is largely collected at the national and regional levels rather than at the cultural heritage asset.

The review establishes increasing implementation of CRM frameworks across national boundaries at place level using high-level technical skills and knowledge, which are rare amongst local organisations and professionals involved in cultural heritage management.

The review established the need for multi-sectoral, bottom-up and place-based approaches to improve the identification of climate risks and decision-making processes for climate change adaptation.

The concept of vulnerability in climate change literature is underpinned by numerous theoretical contributions across different disciplines leading to disparate understandings of what climate change vulnerability entails, as well as different methodological frameworks for assessment. This multiplicity of contributions helped not only to frame and shape different understandings of vulnerability but also to define the conceptual and analytical elements considered as critical in any climate change vulnerability assessment. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on climate change vulnerability and explore and synthesize those conceptual and analytical aspects considered fundamental in a vulnerability assessment in climate change.

Drawing on existing literature on climate change vulnerability and vulnerability assessment frameworks, the paper provides a review of the conceptual elements regarded as critical in integrated assessments of climate change vulnerability to date.

A review of the existing literature identified nine critical elements in vulnerability assessments: the coupled human-environment system and place-based analysis; key components of vulnerability; multiple perturbations; scales of analysis; causal structures of vulnerability; engaging stakeholders; differential vulnerability; historical and prospective analysis; and dealing with uncertainty. The paper concludes by highlighting some of the remaining challenges and limitations for the development of integrated vulnerability assessment in climate change research.

The paper presents a synthesis that draws on existing literature on climate change vulnerability theory, as well as vulnerability assessment frameworks that attempt to apply those concepts in the assessment of climate change vulnerability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the spatial influence of features of the physical environment on the risk of aggression toward law enforcement.

The spatial analytic technique, risk terrain modeling was performed on felonious battery data provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Out of the 991 batteries against law enforcement officers (LEOs) in Chicago, 11 features of the physical environment were identified as presenting a statistically significant spatial risk of battery to LEOs. Calls for service within three blocks of foreclosures and/or within a dense area of problem buildings pose as much as two times greater risk of battery to police officers than what is presented by other significant spatial factors in the model.

An abundance of existing research on aggression toward law enforcement is situated from the perspective of characteristics of the suspect or officer. The research advances the field of violence studies by illustrating the importance of incorporating physical features of the environment into empirical studies of aggression.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities of geographical child protection assessment methods for adolescents victimised in extra-familial contexts.

Presenting empirical evidence from an action research study within one child protection service in the UK, the study draws upon qualitative data from practice observations, case review, training and five context assessments.

Safety mapping and neighbourhood observations provide options to assess extra-familial contexts. Findings reveal that these methods support practitioners to build local knowledge of areas supporting interventions into community places rooted in principles of child protection.

While geographical methods are already used by the police to map the locations of crimes, these methods provide opportunities to account for young people’s own experiences of harm and support interventions into neighbourhood spaces supporting a contextual safeguarding approach to adolescent harm.

The paper highlights the need for further testing of contextual safeguarding approaches and policy guidance that outlines whose role it is to protect children in communities.

Geographical assessment methods provide a route to engage with young people’s lived experience of place. And develop interventions that target contexts and not just individuals affected by extra-familial harm.

The paper presents original research into the use of geographical assessment methods to be used within a child protection framework.

The OSCE is regarded as the gold standard of competence assessment in many healthcare programs, however, there are numerous internal and external sources of variation contributing to checklist marks. There is concern amongst organisers that candidates may be unfairly disadvantaged if they follow an “excellent” preceding candidate. This study assessed if average checklist scores differed depending on who a candidate follows accounted for different sources of variation.

This study examined assessment data from final year MBChB OSCEs at the University of Aberdeen and categorised candidates into three levels dependent on examiner awarded global scores of preceding candidates for each station. Data were modelled using a linear mixed model incorporating fixed and random effects.

A total of 349 candidates sat the OSCEs. The predicted mean (95% CI) score for students following an “excellent” candidate was 21.6 (20.6, 22.6), followed “others” was 21.5 (20.5, 22.4) and followed an “unsatisfactory” student was 22.2 (21.1, 23.3). When accounted for individual, examiner and station levels variabilities, students following an “excellent” candidate did not have different mean scores compared to those who followed “other” (p = 0.829) or “unsatisfactory” candidates (p = 0.162), however, students who followed an “unsatisfactory” student scored slightly higher on average compared to those who followed “other” (p = 0.038).

There was weak evidence that candidate's checklist variations could be attributed to who they followed, particularly those following unsatisfactory students; the difference in predicted mean scores may be of little practical relevance. Further studies with multiple centres may be warranted assuring perceived fairness of the OSCE to candidates and educators.

This study explores the spatial and temporal relationship between tourism activities and transportation-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the United States (US) from 2003 to 2022 using advanced geospatial modeling techniques.

The research integrated geographic information systems (GIS) to map tourist attractions against high-resolution annual emissions data. The analysis covered 3,108 US counties, focusing on county-level attraction densities and annual on-road CO₂ emission patterns. Advanced spatial analysis techniques, including bivariate mapping and local bivariate relationship testing, were employed to assess potential correlations.

The findings reveal limited evidence of significant associations between tourism activities and transportation-based CO₂ emissions around major urban centers, with decreases observed in Eastern states and the Midwest, particularly in non-coastal areas, from 2003 to 2022. Most counties (86.03%) show no statistically significant relationship between changes in tourism density and on-road CO₂ emissions. However, 1.90% of counties show a positive linear relationship, 2.64% a negative linear relationship, 0.29% a concave relationship, 1.61% a convex relationship and 7.63% a complex, undefined relationship. Despite this, the 110% national growth in tourism output and resource consumption from 2003–2022 raises potential sustainability concerns.

To tackle sustainability issues in tourism, policymakers and stakeholders can integrate emissions accounting, climate modeling and sustainability governance. Effective interventions are vital for balancing tourism demands with climate resilience efforts promoting social equity and environmental justice.

This study’s innovative application of geospatial modeling and comprehensive spatial analysis provides new insights into the complex relationship between tourism activities and CO₂ emissions. The research highlights the challenges in isolating tourism’s specific impacts on emissions and underscores the need for more granular geographic assessments or comprehensive emission inventories to fully understand tourism’s environmental footprint.