The Association of American Geographers (AAG) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently initiated a research project entitled, "The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism: A Research Agenda for the Discipline." The project was undertaken as part of NSF's urgent call for research associated with the recent terrorist attacks on the US.

The project undertook a twofold research effort that 1) addressed the immediate disaster situation in a pilot study of the role and utility of geographic information and technologies in emergency management and response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; and 2) initiated a process to help develop a focused national research agenda on the geographical dimensions of terrorism.

The resulting research agenda and recommendations will be widely disseminated to national and international governmental agencies, the geographic research community, and to related disciplines. Other proposed outcomes of this on-going process include the publication of one or more books elaborating on the initial research agenda, establishment of multi-institutional research collaboration focused on implementation of the study's recommendations, and the long-term enhancement of the nation's research infrastructure to address important public policy needs and issues.

This is an on-going process and we invite the participation of the international geographic research community as we collectively continue to evolve this agenda in the months ahead. Below is a summary of the draft research agenda and related recommended action items that have resulted from this process to date. The summary below will be edited down to a few key items for public policy needs, and will be expanded to book form to assist the research community in the coming months.

Key Research Themes

In our discussions with national policy officials and geographic researchers, three themes or broad areas of critical national research priority have repeatedly emerged. These key areas were (1) Geospatial Data and Technologies Infrastructure Research; (2) Regional and International Research related to the Root Causes of Terrorism; and (3) Vulnerability Science and Hazards Research. We address each of these research areas and related questions in turn below, along with a set of proposed Action Items that were recommended in the workshop, meetings and discussions we have held to date.

1. Geospatial Data and Technologies Research

The use of geospatial data and technologies was critical during the rescue, relief, and longer-term recovery from the September 11th events. Their prominence now in planning for homeland security and in international efforts to address terrorism suggest many pressing research needs, both short term and longer term, in the area of geographic information science and technology.

Priority Action Items:

1. Establish a distributed national geospatial infrastructure as a foundation for homeland security. This infrastructure should be designed to serve multiple other needs, such as local government, planning, environmental protection, and economic development, as well.

2. Establish a Geography Division in the Office for Homeland Security to advise on
issues such as geospatial data sharing, integration of geospatial data, data security, back up systems and operations, and overall needs assessment for homeland security.

3. Develop a national research center designed to better understand and anticipate the geographically variable regional economic impacts of terrorist acts.

Priority Research Issues

1. What are the underlying research, technical and policy challenges in the development of functionally integrated national (or international) geospatial infrastructures for homeland security? What are the specific constraints and requirements in established GIScience research areas such as information fusion and visualization, spatial information conflation, mobile feature modeling, feature-attribute level security, spatial scaling, feature representation and categorization, distributed spatial data interoperability, etc.? What data are necessary, and in what format?

2. How do we develop better understanding of spatial-temporal models in three-dimensional space and time, and can we make these models work in real-time applications such as evacuations, or emergency response?

3. What are the critical lifelines and infrastructure vulnerabilities, and how do we identify their spatial linkages and interdependencies?

4. What were the variable geographic and economic impacts of the September 11th events and how can these be more effectively modeled using geospatial technologies? How can we develop better spatial/economic models to predict variable short and long-term geographic impacts of other potential terrorist threats or hazards?

5. How can we more effectively link GIScience to regional studies to improve data collection and understanding of our world and its regional complexity?

Additional Related Research Questions

6. How do we model mobility and flows both statically and dynamically?

7. Can we develop remote geomonitoring systems for immediate data collection, particularly ones that put machines in harm's way rather than people?

8. What are the research challenges for continued integration of transformational geographic technologies (e.g., GIS, GPS, remote sensing, lidar, wireless mobile computing, etc.) to enhance disaster response, national security, and infrastructure vulnerability assessment? What is the potential for using these integrated Geographic Management Systems to address complex processes related to terrorism, such as disaster response, meaningful reduction of world poverty, sustainable development, and a host of other needs?

9. In an era of heightened security and precautions, how can individual human rights and privacy be protected, when the powerful capabilities of advanced geographic technologies, as with so many other advances in technology, have inherent within them a risk for potential abuse? What social responsibilities will those employing spatial technologies in the future have for human rights and privacy, and how have the events of September 11 changed the terms of that discussion and debate?

10. How can we link scale and resolution more effectively in public policy decisions regarding preparedness and readiness activities (small scale maps with limited detail) and real-time response (building floor plans)?

2. Regional/International Research and the Root Causes of Terrorism

One of geography's great strengths is its ability to synthesize information about places in order to understand the linkages between regions and the manifestation of global processes at very local levels. There is rich set of contexts advanced by regional specialists that can assist in understanding the root causes of terrorism. These should be pursued in a systematic and analytically robust manner.

Priority Action Items:

1. Develop and implement a major multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research program on the root causes of terrorism.

2. Develop systematic efforts to foster stronger linkages within the international community of geographic scholars to enhance regionally specific research and training.

3. Conduct a regional studies needs assessment to determine the status of training and teaching in area studies, international studies, and global studies, as a basis for identifying priorities for strengthening these programs in our universities and schools.

Priority Research Issues

1. How has the political control of space (or lack thereof) fostered terrorism? In stateless regions, what spaces (functional, policy, administrative) facilitate terrorism? What is the relevant regional space of terrorism and how do territorial ideologies change it? How do stateless zones shift their patterns through time, through changing environmental conditions, and population migrations?

2. What are the spatial networks and flows of information and capital that support terrorism and terrorist acts? Can we understand and ultimately model these nodes and networks?

3. Can we improve our understanding of how borders function, especially flows of
goods and people, and how borders constrain or enhance trans-jurisdictional responses to issues such as immigration, disaster response, refugee movements, weapons proliferation, narco-terrorism, or environmental degradation?

4. What are the differential impacts of globalization and how are these manifested
spatially?

5. How might a greater emphasis on geography education in the schools and
increased understanding of the world and its diversity foster better cooperation among peoples and societies? How might improved knowledge of geographical differences in culture, ideology, religion, gender status, and social and physical conditions increase our understanding of the needs and perspectives of others, and they of us?

Additional Related Research Questions

6. What is the geography of inclusion and exclusion and how might these spheres be influential in reducing or heightening spaces of reaction and/or conflict?

7. How do we re-invigorate regional studies and foster foreign area experience among our students and other practitioners of geography?

8. What are the underlying circumstances that facilitate state-sponsored terrorism? Can we identify similarities in circumstances that can lead to early identification of potential source areas for terrorist activities?

9. What is the geographic variation, internationally, of perception of the United States and its role in the world? How do these perceptions affect, positively or negatively, the vulnerability of the US to terrorism?

10. How might the patterns of urbanization change domestically and internationally in response to terrorist acts? If businesses and workers potentially become more at risk in major cities, how will this affect locational decisions and the processes of urban development and suburban sprawl?

3. Vulnerability Science and Hazards Research

The meaning of vulnerability has taken on new interpretations since September 11th . We need to broaden our understanding of vulnerability beyond an exposure-response framework to a more holistic view that includes exposure, susceptibility, resistance, resilience, and adaptation. We need a major effort to develop the basic data, models, and methods for conducting vulnerability assessments at all spatial scales.

Priority Action Items:

1. Establish a national center devoted to vulnerability science (improvements in data, models, methods) and the implementation of longer-term monitoring and modeling of disaster response and recovery efforts.

2. Compile a national tool box for local communities consisting of a set of information, data and procedures that are required for conducting pre-impact vulnerability assessments, immediate disaster response actions, and post-event activities, to insure continuity of operations in times of crisis across all jurisdictions.

3. Establish a Quick Response program (funded by NSF or some other agency and administered by the AAG) that enables researchers to get into the field quickly after a major world event in order to secure critical geographical data and information that would otherwise be lost.

Priority Research Issues

1. How do we incorporate concepts such as susceptibility, resistance, resilience, and adaptation into our understanding of vulnerability to environmental threats including terrorism?

2. How do we incorporate the notion of surprise and uncertainty in our explanations of vulnerability and how do we prepare for surprise events?

3. Can we spatially delineate the vulnerability of people and places and develop a comparative indicator to assess where vulnerabilities are greatest and why? In other words, what makes people and places vulnerable to environmental threats?

4. Vulnerability includes not only tangible items such as infrastructure, but many intangible ones such as quality of life. How do we identify non-structural things of value and how should these be incorporated into our analyses of vulnerability? How do we determine our vulnerability to the unknown?

5. How do we insure the continuity of operations during an emergency and thus prepare for mutual support in terms of surprise? What types of data and information are required to insure an adequate response?

Additional Related Research Questions

6. How do we delineate high probability/low consequence events from low probability/high consequence events? Which should public policies focus on? Is there such as thing as "affordable" risk?

7. How do we link the vulnerability of people and places to terrorism to other sources of environmental threats? With regard to bioterrorism, for example, what are the geographic conditions and factors that affect the diffusion of purposely introduced diseases among populations of humans, animals and plants?

8. What lessons can be learned from the events of September 11th and how might these be useful in improving emergency preparedness and response?

9. How do we include values, symbols, and landscapes of fear in vulnerability assessments? How important is the perception of risk rather than a quantitative estimate of it in determining societal or individual response?

10. Can we construct plausible mega-disasters to aid in our understanding of emergency preparedness and response?

It takes a community….

It is important to bring all of our geographical assets to bear on this important national and international priority. Collaborative efforts between organizations such as the Association of American Geographers, the International Geographical Union, the American Geographical Society, the National Geographic Society, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, and many others, as well as interdisciplinary linkages and partnerships with federal agencies, private firms and international NGO's will be required as we all work toward refining and achieving this ambitious agenda.

Elaboration of this evolving research agenda in book form is underway, and summary publications for public policy audiences will be published in May 2002. For more information, or to provide comments on the draft agenda, please contact the Association of American Geographers, 1710 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20009, or by email at drichard@aag.org.

Copyright, Association of American Geographers, 2002