Winter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA: IAMC's headquarters 

        Vintage postcard of the Post Office (1893) in Port Townsend,                            Washington,  USA: location of IAMC's U.S. Pacific Northwest office

      At IAMC we

• identify, design and undertake research on change and development occuring from people migrating to places of higher environmental quality and cultural differentiation in order to improve their quality of life, and the sustainability of these places
  

• provide advice on related policy and management, especially for transitioning rural communities and regions

• maintain a global network and information bank on the above subjects

• collaborate with other organizations and institutions (public, private and NGO) in finding solutions to issues and harnessing opportunities created by amenity-led change and development

• design and undertake related workshops, seminars, conferences and university level courses
  

• disseminate knowledge about the above subjects 

Our Principal Researchers

Romella S. Glorioso

Romella has a B.Sc. from Adamson University (geology), M.Sc. from the Asian Institute of Technology  (interdisciplinary environmental resources planning & management), and Ph.D. from the Czech National Academy of Sciences (landscape ecology). She undertook additional graduate studies in urban planning, transportation planning and GIS. She specializes in strategic analysis & planning for communities and organizations in socio-culturally, economic & biophysical transitioning rural areas. Romella has two decades of academic and professional experience in protecting, sustaining and restoring communities’ quality of life under pressure from global change and uncertainty (including amenity migration) in a number of countries. She has been a Research Associate at the Asian Institute of Technology, Research Fellow with the Czech National Academy of Sciences, and Visiting Professor at University of Economics (Prague).

Her current research focuses on land use & landscape change, multi-local residence, and natural hazard and risk to mountain communities and their bioregional amenities, particularly from climate change. Romella is also focusing on the lives of seniors in high amenity places.  She is a Special Projects Administrator for the City of Santa Fe, NM and a Senior Researcher at IAMC.

                                                     Laurence A.G. Moss     

Laurence has lived and worked principally in western North America, Pacific Asia, and Europe. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia (political-economy, art history & Asian studies) he undertook graduate studies at Keio University, Stanford University and University of California-Berkeley (interdisciplinary social & environmental sciences M.A., Master of City Planning, Ph.D. in economic & cultural change, ecology and urban & regional planning).

His research focuses on socio-cultural, economic and environmental sustainability, particularly the effects of in-migration, tourism and technological change in bioregions where mountains and water bodies are the principal amenities. He is an expert in multiple-scenario analysis and planning methods, particularly to inform public policy. He has been a Research City Planner (University of California-Berkeley), Sr. Policy Analyst & Sr. Development Planner (Stanford Research Institute); Sr. Research Fellow (Czech National Academy of Sciences), as well as  a Visiting Professor (Charles University-Prague), Adjunct Professor (University of New Mexico), Visiting Scholar (Centre for Arid Mountain Studies-Grenoble) and is now a Distinguished Adjunct Faculty (Asian Institute of Technology-Bangkok). He is often invited to lecture at universities and research institutions. 

Laurence edited the first book on amenity migration: The Amenity Migrants: Seeking and Sustaining Mountains & their Cultures (2006), and more recently Global Amenity Migration: Transforming Culture, Economy and Landscape. He is President and Managing Director of IAMC.

Michael Bartos

Michael was born and raised in Prague. He obtained a Master's Degree (1978) and Ph.D. (1987) from the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague, where he also undertook special studies in Landscape Protection and Management. Subsequently, he studied Environmental Technologies at the Technical University in Dresden, Germany. For 30 years, he was member of a research team in the Institute of Landscape Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and then for six years, a professor at the University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Agriculture. Since 2010 he has taught at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Humanities. Michael was one of the first in Europe to undertake research on amenity migration, and today continues this focus with his students. His research includes landscape ecology, tourism and amenity migration in socio-geographic marginal areas, especially in the Czech Republic. Michael has authored or co-authored more than 100 published papers, and the first monograph on amenity migration in the Czech Republic. He is a board member of the International Amenity Migration Centre.  Michael resides with his family in the southern Czech town of Ceske Budejovice. In addition to teaching and research, he enjoys working in his three orchards and spending time with his five grandchildren.

Gundars Rudzitis

Gundars  earned his  PhD  at University of Chicago (geography). He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Idaho, and has also taught at Boston University  and the University of Texas (Austin) as well as being a Visiting Professor at Clark University, Harvard University, University of New Mexico and Waikato University in New Zealand. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Latvia.

Gundars’ theoretical and empirical research focuses on environmental and resource conflicts, and migration and regional development issues in the American West and elsewhere. He is concentrating on creating alternative culturally place-specific development approaches with the intent of  moving beyond the simplistic development models in use today. These issues are addressed in his forthcoming book, The Ongoing Transformation of the American West (University of Chicago Press, 2014) as well as another, Native American Perspectives on Environment and Development,  co-authored with Nicolas Barbier. He is also undertaking research and writing with Prof. George S. Tolley, Department of Economics, University of Chicago about the need to replace traditional micro-economic utility theory with one rooted in a quality-of-life approach. He also writes Op-eds about issues in the American West for Writers of the Range, which are syndicated to 50+ newspapers. Gundars is a member of IAMC's board of directors.