Affordable housing, finance and the state: Towards a global urban comparison
New @urbanstudiesjournal.com article with a great team of authors
We draw on research in six cities to discuss the changing relationship between housing, finance and the state
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Bright orange circular sign on a brick wall reading 'Welcome' with Royal Geographical Society branding partially obscured by green foliage.
Welcome to our research and higher education Bluesky! ๐
Follow us to stay up to date with our work in geographical research, including events, funding opportunities, new publications and more.
Learn more about how we promote geography in higher education and beyond: https://ow.ly/CMgN50YI795
Looking to enhance your geography teaching?
Explore our Higher Education resources for innovative teaching approaches, practical guidance, and best practice ๐๐
www.rgs.org/research/higher-educatio...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Geo: Geography and Environment by Paul Schweizer, Bibiana Pereira da Silva, Boris Michel & Cristina Thorstenberg Ribas (2026) entitled: 'Hydrocartography in Times of Menacing Waters: Xokleng Mapping and the Politics of Floods in Southern Brazil' with an orange banner at the top. Maps have long been used to deal with menacing waters, to make them comprehensible and governable. Cartography and governing water are both deeply entangled in modernist rationalities and modes of control. This paper takes as its starting point the floods that have affected southern Brazil in recent years and the scientific and journalistic maps that have emerged around them. Following hydrofeminist and political ecology debates, it argues for a hydrocartographic approach in relation to the examination of social water relations that affect both the way we understand cartography and the mapping of waters. It aims to rethink relationships with the more-than-human water bodies we inhabit, precisely in the light of the threats they pose. The paper draws on years of collaborative research with the indigenous communities in the southern Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and their relations to water. While colonial water politics continue to threaten the Ibirama-Laklรฃnรต indigenous land, the affected Xokleng communities have endorsed a movement for territorial reappropriation that also connects to ancestral relationships to the territory's waters. Building on our mapping experience with this movement, we propose hydrocartography as a dual shift: watering cartography and mapping bodies of water.
๐บ๏ธNew in Geo๐บ๏ธ
'Hydrocartography in times of menacing waters: Xokleng mapping and the politics of floods in Southern Brazil' by Paul Schweizer et al.
This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section: 'Mapping Climate Change Perceptions'.
doi.org/10.1002/geo2... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Olivia Mason (2026) entitled: 'Doing geography amidst precarity' with a black banner at the top. Neoliberal agendas are increasingly shaping both what it means to do geography but also who can do geography. This is especially true for early career academics. In this intervention I suggest the question of why we do geography is increasingly being buried as we simply survive in the neoliberal academy. What I argue is that the experiences of what it means to enter, get a job in, and then stay in the neoliberal academy are defining mine and others' experiences of being an academic. The number of job interviews undertaken, grants applied for or stories of precarity now dominate discussions rather than our research itself. These challenges in turn alter the ability to do geography research, especially research that involves long-term ethnography and/or else overseas fieldwork. Yet, I also argue that there are ways we can create more caring and careful research environments. Drawing on examples and experiences, this paper will end by exploring the acts of collective care, solidarity and resistance that can speak to the questions of what geography is for and why we do geography.
New in Area:
'Doing geography amidst precarity' by @oliviamason.bsky.social
This short piece is part of the ongoing Special Section: 'Dialogues in Radical Geography'.
doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky
๐ New paper in Progress in Environmental Geography ๐
'Geography and Environmental Governance I: Governing with Environmental Data' by Marc Tadaki
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
We are hiring! The Department of Inequality, Transformation and Conflictย is looking for Postdoc & Doc Researchers (m/f/d). Find out more & apply via www.ips.mpg.de #MaxPlanck #Postdoc #PhD #Sociology #SocialScience #PoliticalScience #Inequality #Conflict www.ips.mpg.de/13135/stelle...
๐ฃ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐
A new paper by Dr Robin Finlay, Dr Matt Benwell and Professor Peter Hopkins (@peterhopkins.bsky.social) has been published in ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐
๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ก. Check it out!
๐ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ โ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ
๐ rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Just a few days left to apply for our workshop on arts-based methods! ๐
Join the Society's Food Geographies Research Group for its next online coffee morning on Thursday 5 March โ๐ป
These coffee mornings offer a space for postgraduate and early career researchers working in Food Geographies to share and discuss their research.
Register here ๐https://ow.ly/tplZ50Y7H2H
A promotional graphic featuring a wide view of a terraced openโpit mine set against a backdrop of green hills and a cloudy sky. Overlaid text reads: โLaunch Event โ Justice in Critical Minerals Governance and Energy Transitions Project. 03 March, 18:00โ21:00. Strand, London, WC2R 2LS.โ At the bottom, there is branding for Africa Week 2026 and Kingโs College London.
๐ LAUNCH EVENT - Justice in Critical Minerals Governance
๐๏ธ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/launc...
Hear from an expert panel on how justice is understood and experienced in communities affected by the extraction of critical minerals essential for clean energy technologies.
๐ฃ๏ธTODAY is the deadline for applications for DevGRG session sponsorship at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2026! Find out more info here: developmentgeographiesrg.org/devgrg-sessi... ๐
Our deadline for applications for session sponsorship at the RGS conference is tomorrowโ Follow the link below for details. ๐
Invitation to a workshop on Art-Based Methodologies in Geography: Conflict, Violence, Inequality and Justice. Deadline: Monday 2 March 4pm For further information , please contact Dr Ivana Bevilacqua at ib23@soas.ac.uk. See link for info developmentgeographiesrg.org/art-based-me...
โThatโs a frontier problem weโre working on nowโ = forecasting in a world of imaginative people. Thoโ more sophisticated than neoclassical IAMs, the problem with the promise of calculation and control is that social purpose is causative. We should choose to act.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Interesting in arts-based methods? DevGRG is organising a participative workshop for PhDs and ECRs exploring these tools to understand conflict, violence, inequality, and justice. The application deadline is 2 March 2026 - see here for further details: developmentgeographiesrg.org/news
The call for sessions, papers and posters for AC2026 is still open!
Those looking to present can submit abstracts to our open call for papers to take part in sessions convened by the conference planning committee.
Find out more in our submission guidance ๐
https://ow.ly/zEns50Y3Iij
DevGRG is looking to sponsor sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2026! Find out more info here: developmentgeographiesrg.org/devgrg-sessi... ๐
๐
DevGRG is looking to sponsor sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2026! Find out more info here: developmentgeographiesrg.org/devgrg-sessi... ๐
Looking to present at this year's Annual International Conference?
One route is to submit a proposal to an advertised session, with submissions welcome from all prospective delegates.
View the list of advertised calls for papers ๐
https://ow.ly/TOov50XVsJi
The RGS Explore Grants offer ยฃ500-ยฃ5,000 to support the next generation of explorers and fieldworkers on original overseas expeditions that aim to advance geographical knowledge ๐ฅพ๐
Applications close 15 February ๐๏ธ
Find out more and apply ๐
https://bit.ly/49sTQB7
๐ท: Ruizhe Liu
How did ESG go from BlackRock's mainstream opportunity to a political battlefield?
Christiansen et al's new commentary maps the anti-ESG backlash: 418 legislative proposals, $12B in divested funds, and the rise of explicitly anti-ESG investment products.
A graphic publicising a new Special Section in Area called 'Participatory Historical Geographies'. There are eight tiles with the names of papers and authors as follows: 1) Participatory historical geographies: Introduction Ruth Slatter, Edward Brookes 2) The Victoria County History and participatory historical geography Ruth Slatter 3) Mapping entangled mobilities: Using participatory historical geography to explore the migration of objects and people across (neo)colonial spatialities Sarah Linn, Jina Lee, Mariam Zorba, Caitlin Nunn, Jennifer Cromwell 4) Dancing in the archive: Bodily encounters, memory, and more-than-representational participatory historical geographies Lucy Thompson 5) Youth-led theatre for climate resilience and action at COP26 Kate Smith, Briony McDonagh, Sukhmandeep Dhillon 6) Participatory collaborations between geographers and performance artists: Taking urban renewal histories to the street Aled Singleton, Edward Brookes, Ruth Slatter 7) Watery archives: Reflections on doing participatory archival research for climate action and audience engagement Hannah Worthen, Claire Weatherall 8) โA series of abject failuresโ: Navigating the pitfalls of place-based participatory histories Juliette Desportes
A black tile publicising the new 'Participatory Historical Geographies' Special Section in Area. There is a quote from Ruth Slatter & Ed Brookes' (2025) introduction. It reads: "The production of participatory historical knowledge is contingent on a wide variety of skills and labour, including communities themselves that often go unacknowledged. The challenge of navigating these pitfalls and barriers serve to highlight the many reasons why researchers, practitioners or members of the public may be reluctant to engage in participatory historical research".
'Participatory Historical Geographies' Special Section - out now in Area!
This collection, guest edited by @ruthslatter.bsky.social & @ed-brookes.bsky.social, reflects on the increasing use of participatory methods in historical geography.
Read hereโฌ๏ธ
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
๐ New paper published in Progress in Environmental Geography ๐
'Geographies of Environmental Data 1' by Max Ritts
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... @
Small blue house perched precariously on the edge of a concrete structure against a cloudy sky.
๐ฃJoin the States of Precarity team for the launch of the States of Precarity in UK Higher Education Geography report.
๐
Wednesday 14 January
๐ฆ Online
๐ Sign up to attend: https://bit.ly/4rvQgP2
Check out the report before the launch: https://bit.ly/44HTUvg
A dense urban area with tightly packed houses and narrow streets under a hazy sky.
Why doesnโt resettling people away from polluted urban rivers reduce risk for marginalised communities?
In a new Geography Directions blog post, Christos Tsampoulatidis discusses the answer ๐
Check it out here ๐
https://ow.ly/6xyT50XAzcF
Save Geography at the University of Leicester - Sign the Petition! c.org/8DPVj5j8hj via
@ukchange.bsky.social
New Special Section in Area:
'Gentle Geographies' edited by @mattmattfinn.bsky.social & @drjeffers.bsky.social
This collection features five papers and an editorial introduction which reflect on ideas of 'gentleness' in research and practice.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...