Sally Watson

Just objects? - Catherine Max Consulting Earlier this year, Dezeen reported on research from MIT’s Senseable City Lab which suggests that pedestrians are walking 15 per cent faster and stopping to linger 14 per cent less than they used to. C...

I blogged about “Just Objects?”, the event I ran with @drhick.bsky.social
about inclusion and belonging in public space, at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle. Photo courtesy of panellist @draflint.bsky.social

www.catherinemax.co.uk/just-objects/

Happy publication day to @uobrishistory.bsky.social’s Professor Sumita Mukherjee!

Nothing recent other than the DfT trip chaining report and that only scratches at the surface.

I’m not sure that stands up to close scrutiny. If you live and work in a city it can be much quicker and more reliable to cycle than to drive. Ebikes also help with this. I for one couldn’t have juggled work, shopping, visiting parents, school run and after school activities as easily by car.

Salford's first caught on camera School Street will see parents fined Warning letters rather than fines will be issued during the scheme's trial period

Meanwhile Manchester starting to enforce theirs www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

The research funding landscape has changed hugely in the last decade, and it merits reflection. The AHRC Landscape & Environment programme basically kickstarted a generation of Env hums scholarship in UK.

Three illustrations featuring bicycles from the Metropolitan Museum of Arts' archives. Styles include Art Nouveau, a pencil sketch of death on a bicycle, and a 19th Century advert for a book about students cycling across Asia.

👀 The Met has put 490,000 high res images online - including many of bikes - and made them free for everyone to use: www.openculture.com/2024/11/the-... @openculture.bsky.social

Work begins to find replacement for closed Gateshead skatepark Shred the North is now looking at potential sites to replace Gateshead's Five Bridges skatepark.

Pleased to this moving forward and Shred the North’s expertise being drawn in to find a new space.

"It wasn't simply a skatepark; it was a unique, weather-protected space that supported a thriving, multi-disciplined community all year round”

Very true. Even got the youngest on her bike today!

I second this - it was a total pleasure and an amazing feat given we are all juggling so many other things. Not least some new babies and young children (not mine!)

What oral histories can teach us about effective environmental research - LSE Impact What can oral histories tell us about the tacit knowledge required for successful collaborative environmental and sustainability research.

💥New | What oral histories can teach us about effective environmental research

✍️ Paul Merchant & @angecass.bsky.social

#OralHistory #ResearchImpact #CoProduction

Black and white photo of children playing on swings in concrete playing area with stepped terrace of white-rendered flats to rear, 1979.

🚨 New on Substack: my final post on Camden's Highgate New Town looks at the new trends that marked its later development - Defensible Space, Right to Buy, and the new demand for sustainable development. (Photo credit: Martin Charles / RIBA Collections
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/highgate-n...

I am so honoured to be on @oldweirdalbion.bsky.social 's beguiling podcast series Uncanny Landscapes
uncannylandscapes.podbean.com
as part of an (unintentional?) trio of north-western English women discussing trespass, commoning and protest

Inside Horden, the County Durham town failed by politics In Horden, County Durham, Westminster slogans have long been left unmet as the population has plummeted.

This is fine as a snapshot of how things are in the place, but...what do we do?

Whatever it is will almost certainly need spending not tax cuts.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Out today @intellectbooks.bsky.social: 'Reconstructing the American Dream: Life Inside the Tiny House Nation' w/Ella Harris, Mel Nowicki & Cian Oba-Smith. Through photographic and ethnographic accounts of life in Texas tiny home communities, we examine the politics of 'going tiny' in the US today.

And how universities are looking at what they can sell to pay the bills

Shattered dreams: Why the battle for Sunderland’s glass centre has turned into a political flashpoint Custodian University of Sunderland says renovation costs of £45m are too high and building must be pulled down. Not without a fight, say locals, who believe they’re being taken for fools

Indicative of a) how communities can come to rely on universities as provisioning community services b) how a prestige project can become a liability c) how positive heritage narratives don’t pay the bills d) abt what constitutes legit use of student fee income

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

On the pioneering post-war survey of teenagers and young adults in Birmingham, funded by the Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust in 1950 archive.org/details/b327... Hope the new wave of strategic plans for England will commission similar. @oneplacestudies.bsky.social @historyandpolicy.bsky.social

Last night there was a vigil for the first cycling fatality of the year on London's streets. I was there. Here are some thoughts (no paywall).

If this strikes a chord with you, please comment on the post and share.

open.substack.com/pub/nedboult...

This two-day workshop will explore several questions. How can environmental history complement or offer alternatives to existing historiographical narratives and periodisations in British history? What new actors, events, or phenomena might come to the fore? How should it foster engagements with places beyond its national borders or with other disciplines? Is environmental history different from longstanding traditions of ‘landscape’ or ‘urban’ histories of Britain? What contributions can historians make to environmental advocacy and policymaking? And how might a focus on the environment reshape teaching in British history? To take part, participants should submit a 300 word proposal for a short ‘position paper’ (approx. 2500 words) that will be pre-circulated at the workshop. These position papers will address the place of environmental approaches and themes within modern British history (1800 to the present) from the perspective of the participant’s own research. Participants will orally summarise their papers at the workshop. The event is free to attend and includes lunch and refreshments. Submissions are welcomed across a range of perspectives and topics, including but not limited to: energy, extraction, non-human actors, pollution, toxicity, rural and urban landscapes, everyday environmental histories (including how they are shaped by class, gender, and race), imperialism and decolonisation, ‘green’ policy, activism, and the political economy of the natural world. Please send proposals and a one-paragraph biography in a single PDF to andrew.seaton@manchester.ac.uk by 15 May 2026. Please also direct enquiries to this address. This event is organised by Dr. Max Long (Oxford) and Dr. Andrew Seaton (Manchester).

CALL FOR PAPERS - Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'.

A two-day workshop organised by @maxlong.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May.

Details in poster below, please share.

Interested in the relationship between social movements and the politics of mobility?

Movements & Mobility is looking for short essay, video, and multimedia guest posts from activists, artists, and academics, and students. Get in touch!

Thank you to everyone who shared their research with us yesterday! We enjoyed a brilliant first day of papers and a fantastic keynote from @sarahcrook.bsky.social. Looking forward to starting Day 2 shortly - look at this wonderful line up: 😊 voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/20...

New Labour, new Britain? What did Tony Blair really do for housing? Tony Blair has a complicated legacy. Almost 30 years after his election we can see more clearly the effect his policies had on UK housing.

Pleased and proud to have written for the @bigissue.com today, talking about New Labour and housing. You can read all about it here:
www.bigissue.com/opinion/new-...

Workshop: Researching the History of your House A hands-on workshop led by Northumberland Archives staff which will introduce the type of documents used in researching house history.

Advance notice on this #OnePlaceWednesday of a Northumberland Archives #HouseHistory Workshop, Researching the History of your House. This will take place on Wednesday March 18th from 9.30am to 11.30am GMT, at County Hall, Morpeth. Follow the link for more info and to book a free place.

This looks brilliant -

A call for children’s folklore!!

👇👇👇

“What do those who were kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s remember about the things they believed or told each other?

… OR things a child you know has told you in the last five years?”

Just over two weeks left to submit your abstracts! Had quite a few already. Please share with your networks. Welcoming colleagues across time periods and disciplines!

New Chair announced for Living Streets John Dales has been appointed Chair of Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.

"The mission of Living Streets has always been close to my heart. I am hugely excited at having the privilege of leading the charity as it expands its vital work.”

Meet @johnstreetdales.bsky.social, our Chair-elect
https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/press-media/new-chair-announced-for-living-streets/

The New World asked me to speak to some British trans women about what life has been like for them over the past few years - here's what they had to say, in their own words: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...

We’re thrilled to share this AHRC-funded PhD opportunity from Swansea University @swanseauni

“Serious about Play: Childhood, Play and Policymaking in Wales, 1945 to present” explores how Wales developed its own distinct stance of child’s play through the examination of postwar Welsh childhoods.

102 - Authoritarian Practices in Urban Government

🔊🔊 Episode 2 of our mini-series on authoritarian urbanism is out with @urbanpolitical.bsky.social. I discuss emergent and intensifying authoritarian practices w/ @nitin-bathla.bsky.social @alkejenss.bsky.social @sdwolfe.bsky.social @ebrukurtozman.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/show/5PaTdRP...