Area

Featuring: @jeremyjschmidt.bsky.social @jonnydarling.bsky.social @envidynxlab.bsky.social
@mattmattfinn.bsky.social @drjeffers.bsky.social
@joncinnamon.bsky.social
@laurajpottinger.bsky.social
@kathrynlcassidy.bsky.social
@thelrm.bsky.social
@marinakorzenevica.bsky.social
@mutablematter.bsky.social

A graphic showing the title page of Area on a black background with a large 'A' on the right hand page. On the left hand page are seven tiles with the names of papers in a Special Section titled 'Gentle Geographies', and an editorial. The papers are: 1) Areas of opportunity Jeremy J. Schmidt, Mary Lawhon, Jonathan Darling, Eli D. Lazarus 2) Editorial: Towards more gentle geographies: Narrating a virtue turn, and possibilities for multi-tonal politics of activism and academic labour Matt Finn, Jayne M. Jeffries 3) The quiet politics and gentle literary activism behind the battle for Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument Laura Smith 4) Power in numbers/Power and numbers: Gentle data activism as strategic collaboration Jonathan Cinnamon 5) For diffident geographies and modest activisms: Questioning the ANYTHING-BUT-GENTLE academy John Horton 6) Treading carefully through tomatoes: Embodying a gentle methodological approach Laura Pottinger 7) CoPSE: A methodological intervention towards gentle more-than-human relations Suzanne Hocknell

A graphic showing the title page of Area on a black background with a large 'A' on the right hand page. On the left hand page are eight tiles with the names of papers in the issue. The papers are: 1) ‘What is visible… and what isn't’: A public art intervention for re-imagining the food system Ekaterina Gladkova, Naho Matsuda 2) Reimagining the streetscapes of Varanasi city: Public art, urban regeneration and smart city practices Iman Banerjee, Amrita Bajaj, Apala Saha 3) It takes a team to participate – Refining working participant observations through multiple researchers Maria Thulemark, Susanna Heldt-Cassel, Tara Duncan 4) Right-sizing the smart city in Southeast Asia Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong 5) The role of virtual field trips in Geography higher education: A perspective paper Elizabeth R. Hurrell, Simon M. Hutchinson, Lynda Yorke, Lesley C. Batty, M. Jane Bunting, Dan Swanton, Derek A. McDougall, Daniel R. Parsons 6) Is the spatial persistence of deprivation dependent on neighbouring areas? Stephen D. Clark, Fran Pontin, Paul Norman 7) ‘Backward geographies’: Contested lives and livelihoods in the tea plantation enclaves of South Asia Suranjan Majumder 8) On the forms of borderwork in public institutions: Bordering social security through conditions and tests Kathryn Cassidy, Gill Davidson 9) Navigating inequalities and shaping aspirations: The role of supplementary education in low-income immigrant youth's transition to selective secondary school Lara Landolt

A graphic showing the title page of Area on a black background with a large 'A' on the right hand page. On the left hand page are nine tiles with the names of papers in a Special Section titled 'Open Access Book Publishing: A Forum for Debate' and three 'Ethics in/of Geographical Research' papers. The papers are: 1) ‘The city is not for us’: Ethics, everyday sexism, and negotiating unwanted encounters during fieldwork Morag Rose 2) Participation, inclusion and reflexivity in multi-step (focus) group discussions Marina Korzenevica, Engdasew Feleke Lemma, Catherine Fallon Grasham, Khonker Taskin Anmol, Daniel Ekai Esukuku, Fahreen Hossain, Mercy Mbithe Musyoka, Saskia Nowicki, Dalmas Ochieng Omia, Salome A. Bukachi 3) The ‘creative thesis’ in the academic ‘anxiety machine’ Angela Last 4) Against book enclosures: Moving towards more diverse, humane and accessible book publishing Simon P. J. Batterbury, Andrea E. Pia, Gerda Wielander, Nicholas Loubere 5) Uneven geographies of power in UK higher education's conjunctural crisis: A response to Gandy Julie Cupples 6) Beyond open access: Book publishing in a metric culture Clancy Wilmott 7) Gandy & 'Books under threat': A response Frank Houghton 8) Challenges and opportunities for open access book publishing: A perspective from a society publisher in the geosciences Jenny Lunn, Kate Lajtha 9) Ex Libris: Books, creativity and academic freedom Matthew Gandy

📢September Issue of Area📢

Our latest issue features an editorial from our new team, a Special Section on 'Gentle Geographies', and a discussion forum on #OpenAccess book publishing.

Available to read here ⬇️
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14754762...

Graphical abstract of this paper in Area: a photograph of two wind turbines against a cloudy sky.

New in Area:

'Grabbing the wind? Assetisation of land & enclosure of wind rights in the Outer Hebrides' by David Rudolph & Laura Tolnov Clausen

This paper examines conflicts between rival wind farm projects on the Isle of Lewis to understand processes of 'wind grabbing'.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Helen Underhill & Cat Button (2025) entitled: 'Confluences of art and research: Reflections on curating an art exhibition as interdisciplinary method' with a black banner at the top. The exhibition ‘Confluences: Water and People’ drew together creative, participatory, community-focused research by partners in Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Malaysia, and the UK, as well as artists whose work connects with the River Tyne, its tributaries, people, and landscapes. This paper addresses this exhibition as a piece of research in its own right, aiming to answer two core research questions: (1) How do people connect with water? and (2) How can we develop new insights into the intangible values of water through exploring these relationships at both local (the specific) and global (the universal) scales? We explore the challenges of interdisciplinary work in relation to our curatorial-research process. The paper does not present or discuss the exhibition itself (we encourage readers to explore the online exhibition at: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/events/water-and-people/), but rather the curatorial process that underpinned it, and what it meant as a piece of research. In doing so, we offer learnings for the development of curation-as-method within interdisciplinary research projects, particularly those with a physical sciences focus such as water security.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Confluences of art and research: Reflections on curating an art exhibition as interdisciplinary method' by Helen Underhill & Cat Button

This paper reflects on 'curation-as-method' in relation to the 2024 'Confluences: Water and People' exhibition.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Kali Abel (2025) entitled: 'Theorising invisibility: Migrants in shifting institutional landscapes' with a black banner at the top.

New in Area:

'Theorising invisibility: Migrants in shifting institutional landscapes' by Kali Abel

This paper presents a theoretical framework for invisibility, using the lens of irregular migration to illustrate how invisibility is produced.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Amy Barron (2025) entitled: 'Photo go-alongs for researching the relations between people and place' with a black banner at the top. This paper demonstrates the value of photo go-alongs as a qualitative method for researching the complex relationships between people and place. By integrating two traditional research methods, photo elicitation and go-alongs, the paper considers the utility of photo go-alongs in providing rich insights into how participants make sense of themselves and the world in the present moment. Photo go-alongs were used as part of a research study in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, UK, which worked with older people to better understand places of significance across the life-course. This was against a policy back-drop of the city-region becoming more ‘age-friendly’. Within this context, photo go-alongs were used to showcase participants' lived experiences. Through vignettes and using a more-than-representational epistemology which prioritises movement and the present moment, the paper highlights three key advantages of using photo go-alongs to research the relations between people and place. First, photo go-alongs show how pasts and futures shape the unfolding present. Second, they highlight how biographical and social memories intertwine. Third, they reveal place-making practices and routines. The conclusions highlight the utility of photo go-alongs in illuminating the interplay between people and place, as well as how method itself can be a space of potential. The benefits of photo go-alongs are stronger when they are approached with a flexible, adaptive, and responsive ethos.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Photo go-alongs for researching the relations between people and place' by @amycbarron.bsky.social

This paper discusses the advantages of photo go-alongs as a qualitative method for researching the complex relationships between people and place.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Arief Rahman, Vely Brian Rosandi, Galuh Syahbana Indraprahasta, Abdurrakhman Prasetyadi, Andi Yoga Saputra & Andrea Emma Pravitasari (2025) entitled: 'Rural transformation research: Current state, dynamics, and future directions' with a black banner at the top. While the term rural transformation was first coined in the late 1960s, it is only recently that there has been a significant increase in interest in research employing this label. This particular corpus of research has evolved into a diverse body of literature. However, there is a lack of understanding of the academic landscape of this literature. The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the key characteristics, research topics, and evolution of this body of literature over the past six decades. To this end, the paper employed a science mapping tool, namely CiteSpace, to retrieve data from the Scopus database, combined with an exploratory review. A total of 580 academic articles published up to 2023 were identified and analysed. As the notion of rural transformation has evolved, the extant literature has expanded beyond its initial focus on economic and demographic changes to encompass a broader range of topics, including sustainability, young population, and spatiotemporal analysis, as well as to capture diverse experiences from around the globe. This diversity indicates the need to situate rural transformation within different geographical contexts. In addition to the recent trend, potential areas of research that may shape the future direction of rural transformation literature include environmental sustainability, contemporary globalisation, technological progress, and population dynamics.

New in Area:

'Rural transformation research: Current state, dynamics, and future directions' by Arief Rahman et al.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

Hey students 👀 We have three awards recognizing those who are studying quantitative/computational geography and spatial studies. Whether you’re an undergraduate, a master’s student, or a PhD candidate, there’s at least one award given to these students annually. Learn more and apply by October 15! 👇

My latest article for Area looks at questions around friendship, solidarity and calls for a radical geography. I consider how the university space is paradoxical: it offers us hope as seen through the recent encampments but is also a space where securitisation forces are strong.

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Shereen Fernandez (2025) entitled: 'Networks of securitisation in the academy: The role of friendship, solidarity and radical geographies' with a black banner at the top. This intervention has three aims: (1) to consider how solidarities are being policed in the academy; (2) how friendships and solidarities emerge in practices of resistance; and (3) what a radical geography which embraces a decolonial pedagogy can offer us in these unsettling times. While solidarity with the Palestinian cause is transnational, it is also heavily policed and disciplined by our academic institutions. Although universities are heavily influenced by neoliberalism that prioritises profit over people, I examine how these activist spaces allow for the organic development of solidarity and friendship, which is fundamental to these movements, both in the USA and the UK. As universities increasingly embrace national security discourses and policies, such as the deployment of counter-extremism measures in UK universities, activism is being pushed outside of our institutions. Through a call for the recognition of radical geography which embraces a decolonial framework, this intervention highlights the need for the discipline to re-imagine how knowledge can be produced outside the narrow parameters of the institution, while centring and nurturing dynamics of friendship and care.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Networks of securitisation in the academy: The role of friendship, solidarity and radical geographies' by @shereenfdz.bsky.social

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section: 'Dialogues in Radical Geography'.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

Five years ago today, my first ever (and only) peer-reviewed paper was accepted for publication in @areajournal.bsky.social ♥️♥️

I had just finished my undergraduate degree at LSE that summer, and the news came in the evening before I moved to Oxford for my MSc.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

A graphic advertising a collection of commentaries in Area on the topic of 'Open Access Book Publishing: A Forum for Debate' with contributions from Andrea E. Pia, Clancy Wilmott, Frank Houghton, Gerda Wielander, Jenny Lunn, Julie Cupples, Kate Lajtha, Matthew Gandy, Nicholas Loubere & Simon P.J. Batterbury. These names appear as a list on the pages of an open book with a black background and the Area and Royal Geographical Society logos at the top.

Discussion forum in Area:

'Open access book publishing: A forum for debate'

Read 5 responses to Matthew Gandy's 2023 commentary on OA book publishing and the neoliberal academy, with a further reflection by Gandy on the issue two years on ⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

Some interesting responses in this discussion of open access book publishing... I decided not to go for an OA version of my book, but have worried about that decision ever since. Either way it's clear that academic publishing (of books *and* journals) is in a pretty unhealthy state in the UK

@gerdawielander.bsky.social
@profjulianleyland.bsky.social
@ndloubere.bsky.social
@juliecupples79.bsky.social

A graphic advertising a collection of commentaries in Area on the topic of 'Open Access Book Publishing: A Forum for Debate' with contributions from Andrea E. Pia, Clancy Wilmott, Frank Houghton, Gerda Wielander, Jenny Lunn, Julie Cupples, Kate Lajtha, Matthew Gandy, Nicholas Loubere & Simon P.J. Batterbury. These names appear as a list on the pages of an open book with a black background and the Area and Royal Geographical Society logos at the top.

Discussion forum in Area:

'Open access book publishing: A forum for debate'

Read 5 responses to Matthew Gandy's 2023 commentary on OA book publishing and the neoliberal academy, with a further reflection by Gandy on the issue two years on ⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

This image is the graphical abstract for a paper in Area on collaborations between geographers and performance artists. It is a photograph of a filming process taking place, with a person holding a boom and a second person holding a camera on the lefthand side of the shot recording two men on a street pavement, one man in jeans, sunglasses and a black jacket with his arm around a second man dressed in rainbow striped trousers with sunglasses and a clown's red nose, pointing at the sky.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Participatory collaborations between geographers and performance artists: Taking urban renewal histories to the street' by @aledsingleton.bsky.social et al.

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section on 'Participatory Historical Geography'.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Congratulations to one of our recent authors, @arnerieber.bsky.social on his PhD defence - you can read his work on Kenya's Masinga Dam published in Area here ⬇️
doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Anita Simha & Banu Subramaniam (2025) entitled: 'Boundary violations and extinction phobias: Trans studies meets invasion science' with a black banner at the top. From its inception, trans studies has approached rigid categories critically, questioning both the stability of concepts like gender and the fixedness of boundaries like male/female and cis/trans. Thinking about geography through a trans lens, we explore the connection between the spatial, temporal, and moral as they appear in US discourses of plant invasions. We show that the concept of the ‘native’ rests on shaky grounds. Stories of good stationary bodies (both vegetal and human) and bad transplants reveal how transphobia and xenophobia intersect and undergird projects of biological control. We further explore the effects of this framework. Invasion science limits the horizon of just ecological futures by misdirecting blame from colonial land acquisition and ongoing resource extraction to a focus on organisms themselves as intrusive and aggressive. White settlers, meanwhile, are remodelled into guardians of the landscape in the process of protecting national purity. Finally, we use theoretical insights from trans studies about the paranoia of trans-exclusionary feminisms to consider the affective dimension of invasion scientists' urgent calls.

New in Area:

'Boundary violations and extinction phobias: Trans studies meets invasion science' by Anita Simha & Banu Subramaniam

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section on 'Trans Ecologies'.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

A graphic showing a network of adjectives e.g. 'helpless', 'happy', 'united', connected to different case studies e.g. 'Syrian refugees in Lebanon', 'Smallholders in Zambia' with some connective lines overlapping.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Adjective-based qualitative comparative analysis: Relating immobility situations across contexts' by Josef Novotný et al.

This paper introduces an adjective-based qualitative comparative method for analysing lived experiences across diverse contexts.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Yachuan Zhao (2025) entitled: 'Temple under the national flag: History, legitimacy, and everyday politics in a religious landscape of rural northwest China' with a black banner at the top. While rural agrarian village temples are central to studies on the revival of Chinese folk religion, they are often treated as stagnant backdrops or material evidence, rather than vibrant practices that contribute to the meaning-making of Chinese folk religion, overlooking their dynamic nature as landscapes. Drawing on human geography and anthropology of landscapes in conceptualising landscapes as ongoing historical and cultural processes, this paper explores the reconstruction of a village temple in rural northwestern China. It reveals how such temples become critical spaces where local actors engage in historical narration, legitimacy construction, and everyday political negotiation. The study demonstrates that village temples function not merely as spaces of faith or cultural heritage, but also constitute a dynamic material-symbolic complex. They embody historical memory of communities and localised religious practices while simultaneously manifesting the intricate interplay among local elites, state regulation, and community traditions. Rooted in rural communities, these temple landscapes form generative networks of meaning, serving as vital media through which different actors forge cultural identities and negotiate power relations within the framework of the Chinese state's rural governance practices.

New in Area:

'Temple under the national flag: History, legitimacy, and everyday politics in a religious landscape of rural northwest China' by Yachuan Zhao

This paper reconceptualises rural Chinese village temples as dynamic landscapes and vital spaces for everyday life.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library The use of the term ‘wall-to-wall’ to describe geographically extensive data without any singular definition in the remote sensing and geographically related analysis. This work presents an assessmen...

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Two orders of wall-to-wall geographic data' by Pete Bettinger et al.

This paper presents an assessment of the use of the term 'wall-to-wall' in scientific literature to describe geographically extensive data.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library This study examines how spatial media, particularly Instagram, affect urban land value patterns beyond traditional explanations based on urban form. By comparing spatial capital models with and witho...

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Measuring capital with spatial media: How online popularity on Instagram shapes land value patterns in Seoul' by Dasom Hong et al.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky

Have a read of this latest blogpost from one of our authors, Suranjan Majumder, based on his recent Area paper ⬇️
doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Yingfei Wang & Weijie Hu (2025) entitled: 'Identity formation through cultural expression: Exploring Chinese spaces of ethnic consumption in Sydney, Australia' with a black banner at the top. Globalisation has driven the emergence of suburban ethnic enclaves, where immigrant identity is actively shaped by both cultural tradition and contemporary market demands. This paper explores Hurstville, Sydney's largest Chinese ethnoburb, to illustrate how commercial spaces function as vital arenas for identity formation among Chinese immigrants. Drawing on a mixed-methods design that integrates urban spatial analysis, field observations, and semi-structured interviews with 40 business owners and 15 consumers, the study reveals the multifaceted ways in which bilingual signage, symbolic décor, and digital practices like WeChat Pay and Taobao transactions reflect and reinforce cultural ties. Entrepreneurial strategies—ranging from place-specific naming to the use of neon façades—demonstrate how material expressions of identity coexist with intangible, transnational links that connect Australia to China. While these practices foster a sense of belonging and nostalgic resonance, they also provoke debates over cultural authenticity and potential stereotyping. By situating Hurstville within broader discussions on ethnoburbs and ethnic consumption, the paper demonstrates how local businesses negotiate tradition and modernity, economic aspirations, and social integration. The findings highlight the role of suburban commercial spaces in shaping immigrant identity, offering insights for policy-makers, urban planners, and scholars interested in the evolving dynamics of multicultural urban life.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Identity formation through cultural expression: Exploring Chinese spaces of ethnic consumption in Sydney, Australia' by Yingfei Wang & Weijie Hu

Wang & Hu examine how Chinese-run commercial spaces function as platforms for immigrant identity formation

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library This paper explores the ethical and creative value of composite fiction as a method for engaging with vulnerable participants in health geography research. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Port T...

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Narrating health and well-being with vulnerable participants: The ethics of composite fiction as a creative method in health geographies' by Rosie Knowles

This paper draws on fieldwork relating to embodied health experiences in Port Talbot, South Wales
doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Yi Fan Liu, Maryam Altaf & Sieun Lee (2025) entitled: 'No easy exit: Negotiating affects and researcher self-care in care ride-alongs' with a black banner at the top. This paper explores the affective realities of car ride-alongs by examining the ways in which researchers might be affected in the process of doing such methods. While there is an ethic of care for research participants, which often emerges from the assumption that participants are vulnerable or can be made vulnerable by participating in research, we consider the implications where researchers might similarly experience situational risks. Drawing from two vignettes of ride-alongs in Lahore, Pakistan and Singapore, this paper highlights the tenuous atmospheres that can emerge for researchers and the complex directionalities of affect. We therefore advocate for an ethos of self-care alongside care for participants, and put forth recommendations for managing researcher well-being in the field, particularly inside the car, during the ride-along, as well as after the ride-along. We urge future research avenues to reflect on various researcher vulnerabilities in other contexts and/or mobile methods.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'No easy exit: Negotiating affects and researcher self-care in car ride-alongs' by @yifan-liu.bsky.social et al.

This paper considers the potential risks involved in car ride-alongs & offers practical recommendations for managing researcher wellbeing.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

A very fruitful and meaningful piece with @sieunlee.bsky.social and Maryam Altaf! :) We also reflect on the importance of researcher self-care and offer some practical recommendations. 🫂

Screenshot of a commentary abstract in Area by Rhianna Garrett (2025) entitled 'The architecture of whiteness' with a black banner at the top. On 27 January 2025, I submitted my doctoral thesis titled ‘The architecture of whiteness: How institutional whiteness shapes academic careers in the UK’, and shared this milestone on X (formally Twitter). However, given the far-right political landscape of the platform, the post became a representative for the very thing I was hoping to challenge—the normalcy of whiteness. In this paper, I define the architecture of whiteness as the metaphorical notion that whiteness is a structure feature of the UK university space—both physically and metaphorically—and focuses institutional investigations on ‘race’ and racism on spatial features that have been built into the walls of the academy. I argue that now more than ever, whiteness must be articulated as more than a phenotype, more than an imagination, more than a system, but as an architecture, particularly in the context of university organisations built by bricks of whiteness.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'The architecture of whiteness' by Rhianna Garrett

In this commentary, the author discusses the experience of using the word 'whiteness' in a viral X social media post celebrating their thesis submission.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

A satellite image taken from Seoul, South Korea, in October 2022 showing swirling weather systems above land.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Sensing the sky's edge: Atmospheric insights into the Korean demilitarised zone' by Madelaine A. Joyce

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section on 'Atmospheric Borders'.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area (2025) by Febe De Geest, Carolina Contreras, Todd Denham, Patrick Bonney, Ashleigh Stokes, Blanche Verlie, Oluwadunsin Ajulo & Lauren Rickards entitled 'Climate change sensing across work and home: A research diary experiment' with a black banner at the top. As we contend with climate change, understanding its impacts on our everyday lives and work becomes increasingly crucial. In this paper, we applied research diaries as an innovative qualitative method to better understand how we, a team of climate change researchers in Melbourne (Australia), experience, sense, and make sense of and adapt to climate change. Our approach documents how we sense climate change in the individual and collective spaces of our work as researchers, addressing a significant gap in climate change adaptation studies, which have largely overlooked hybrid work environments. The paper offers two main conclusions. First, the research diaries provide insight into the personal, embodied, and affective character of how we sense climate change in hybrid work environments. Second, while research diaries have limitations, they show promise as part of a suite of collective autoethnographic approaches for deepening our understanding of the personal, and often invisible, work experiences of climate change adaptation.

#OpenAccess in Area:

'Climate change sensing across work and home: A research diary experiment' by Febe De Geest et al.

This paper uses collective research diaries to explore how researchers in Melbourne perceive and adapt to extreme weather in their work environments.

doi.org/10.1111/area...