Javier Arce-Nazario
Associate Professor of Geography
Carolina Hall 205
(919) 962-5066
jarce@live.unc.edu
Dr. Javier Arce-Nazario is an Associate Professor for The Department of Geography teaching Landscape history, GIS-remote sensing, translational geoscience, critical physical geography, water and sustainability. Dr. Javier A. Arce-Nazario and the Environmental Cartography Collective of the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey created geo/visual/island to explain how the natural and constructed spaces in Puerto Rico have changed over the past century. Their innovative exhibition uses a mixture of maps, aerial images and environmental information from Puerto Rico to present landscape change in an engaging and artistic format. The exhibition opened on June 10 at Casa Blanca, a former residence of Juan Ponce de Leon located in the heart of old San Juan. “Geo/visual/island presents new ways to visualize and understand the environmental changes that have occurred in Puerto Rico. Through the appreciation of the patterns in the landscape, visitors will develop their ability to interpret geovisualizations and thus have a better understanding of the environmental changes that have occurred,” explains Dr. Arce-Nazario, an associate professor of geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and adjunct researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of UPR-Cayey. The exhibit, created in collaboration with undergraduate students from many disciplines, captures the dynamics of the Puerto Rican landscape through sequences of aerial photographs and maps. The theme connects with Arce-Nazario’s research into how past events affect biophysical and social dynamics in tropical landscapes, and his interest in new ways of translating scientific information into artistic and educational experiences.
