Published today: Regions in Evolution: A History of Regional Planning by Daniel Galland, @marktewdwr-jones.bsky.social and @drjwharrison.bsky.social
@routledgebooks.bsky.social @regstud.bsky.social
gawc.lboro.ac.uk/new-book-reg...
Intercity coopetition and regional innovation: The role of urban polycentricity - new paper by Yuting Yang, Jiayi Lu and @bdrudder.bsky.social in @economyandspace.bsky.social gawc.lboro.ac.uk/intercity-co...
We have today released our latest ranking of Global Media Cities. The city positions in 2025 are based on an analysis of the top 100 leading global media firms across 790 cities, the most extensive analysis of global media firms ever undertaken by GaWC researchers.
gawc.lboro.ac.uk/release-gawc...
Flyer with USF logo for the Urban Urgencies Call for Applications on a picture of a COP26 protest via flickr by Midia NINJA and the text "The Urban Studies Foundation is launching a major new grant to support rapid-response collaborative research on the world’s most pressing urban challenges. Up to £35,000 per project Open to researchers globally Requires partnership with at least one non-academic organisation 23 March 2026 at 23:59 UTC +0 Apply online"
Flyer with USF logo for the Urban Urgencies Call for Applications on a picture of a COP26 protest via flickr by Midia NINJA and the text "The Urban Studies Foundation is launching a major new grant to support rapid-response collaborative research on the world’s most pressing urban challenges. Up to £35,000 per project Open to researchers globally Requires partnership with at least one non-academic organisation 23 March 2026 at 23:59 UTC +0 Apply online"
⏰ Urban Urgencies call now open!
🗓️ Deadline: 23 March 2026 (23:59 UTC)
This new grant supports collaborative research on pressing urban challenges worldwide, addressing issues such as the climate crisis, housing, health, governance, conflict, AI, and more.
🔗 Learn more & apply: ow.ly/FUIn50XGtgz
Excellent to see our @gawc.bsky.social research network feature in Guangzhou's Urban Planning Exhibition. ⬇️
GaWC was founded @lborogeog.bsky.social in 1998. Now with major nodes @lborouniversity.bsky.social and KU Leuven, the network continues to advance global urban research.
🏙️ gawc.lboro.ac.uk
Storytelling & Community | Webinar by Gauteng City-Region Observatory and @lborouniversity.bsky.social Town Observatory www.facebook.com/100064858983...
Dr Beki McElvain, Lecturer in Human Geography @lborogeog.bsky.social, has joined the Editorial Board of Urban Geography. 👏
Beki also recently published in the journal, together with @alejandrodecoss.bsky.social, on 'Rethinking the urban South?'. Read open access here: doi.org/10.1080/0272...
GaWC features in Guangzhou's Urban Planning Exhibition gawc.lboro.ac.uk/gawc-feature...
Our home department, @lborogeog.bsky.social @lborouniversity.bsky.social, is both on this platform and on LinkedIn, highly recommended! 🌍
Did you know 12% of the world’s top #researchers cluster in just four #cities? In our brand new paper (with Xiang & @neillee.bsky.social) in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, the “flat world” is a gated archipelago. The #GlobalSouth remains excluded.
doi.org/10.1111/tran...
The failure of the #Netherlands to disperse jobs beyond the #Randstad was more sociological than economic.
Resistance —as @michielvanmeeteren.bsky.social & @martijnjsmit.bsky.social argue in @tesg-journal.bsky.social— came from civil servant’s deep-seated space preferences.
doi.org/10.1111/tesg...
We will be celebrating Jo Bullard's life on Thursday 4th December, from 2.30pm at Loughborough University.
Please register here if you would like to attend: forms.office.com/pages/respon...
The @rgsibg.bsky.social have published an obituary of Jo:
www.rgs.org/about-us/our...
Incredibly sad news from our Geography community at Loughborough www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/geo...
Come and join us at Loughborough! Deadline approaching fast: Sunday 9 November. Alignment with one of the focus areas is critical ⬇️
Geography seminar series, Join us Wednesday 12th November 1:00 PM in EHB205 for Constructing Just Mobility Futures: Mobility is a key determinant of urban wellbeing. It shapes access to services, opportunities, social safety, care, and community. Mobility today is misaligned with needs of society, worsening inequalities in access and increasing reliance on car infrastructure. In a period of increasing inequality and ageing, as service geographies reorganise, care roles evolve, and environmental pollution worsens, future mobility needs will undergo massive changes. The prevailing “predict-and-provide” paradigm in transit planning is based on past demand patterns and is too narrow. Datasets that quantify travel demand (e.g., Origin-Destination (OD) matrices, travel demand survey, travel diaries) have long mirrored the journeys of a stereotypical male commuter, reinforcing only priorities of formal economic work. Treating mobility as aggregate behaviour then erases barriers faced by many others. As a result, people whose needs are poorly reflected, such as lower income women making chained care trips, older adults seeking community services, those with disabilities, children, and night-time workers on off-peak schedules, are systematically underserved and socially excluded. Optimising solely for economic efficiency deepens inequality and car-dependence, which is environmentally unsustainable and fiscally costly, and happening everywhere in the UK. A futures-oriented approach is therefore required – one that begins from lived constraints and explicit social objectives, and tests alternative pathways under physical and environmental limits. In this talk, I will present some recent work from The Netherlands and South Africa exploring the inequalities that people face in movement, the data ecosystems that allow us to understand them, and participatory methods of constructing just mobility futures for all.
📢 Next week: A talk on 'Constructing Just Mobility Futures' by our own @trivikrama.bsky.social! Join us in person next Wednesday, 12th November @1:00 PM for what is sure to be an excellent conversation.
Another useful list of global urban researchers and institutions. Check it out!
We are recruiting at Loughborough University: Join us as Lecturer, SL, Reader or Professor in one of three strategic areas:
⚙️ Digital engineering and transformation
🔋 Renewable energy, hydrogen research, and infrastructure
♻️ Sustainability and circular economy
www.lboro.ac.uk/join-us/acad...
Visualising globalised urbanisation on #worldcitiesday: Explore how cities operate within contemporary globalisation at gawc.lboro.ac.uk/gawc-worlds/...
Our home @lborogeog.bsky.social is now on Bluesky too - and featuring an exciting list of speakers in this autumn's seminar series ⬇️
City networks and labour market integration gawc.lboro.ac.uk/city-network...
✨ I’m pleased to share that I’ve been appointed Professor of Just Urban Futures in the Dept. of Geography and Environment at @lborouniversity.bsky.social
I’m also excited to work with the Climate Compatible Growth #CCG team, who are pretty radical in their impact.
It's been a warm first week :)
📣 New papers on polycentric urban regions!
gawc.lboro.ac.uk/new-papers-o...
The Master's offers global insights from leading scholars and practitioners in sustainable development and humanitarian action, including @lborouniversity.bsky.social's world-leading STEER Centre with its flagship programmes @ccgprogramme.bsky.social (CCG) and Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS).
Learn more about @lborouniversity.bsky.social's new Master's in Climate, Energy and Humanitarian Action, developed and delivered together with @unitar.bsky.social
💻 Register for an open webinar at unitar.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Excited that our #network data sharing recommendations have received a commendation from SIPS!
Read the recommendations 👉 www.zacharyneal.com/datasharing
Endorse the recommendations 👉 forms.gle/sgpjyUnkufJF...
Loughborough now has its own TOWN Observatory gawc.lboro.ac.uk/town-observa... - a great cross-campus initiative!
The Rise of the Platform Music Industries, written by me and @allanwatson1.bsky.social, was formally published yesterday. The physical version is available from all good bookshops (as well as a few bad ones). It’s also available as an an Open Access pdf): www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
