Geographical Journal最新文献

This commentary seeks to unpack the politics of community engagement and collaboration, which is an increasingly common practice in neoliberal universities. By centring feminist participatory action research, we examine the disjunction between extractive forms of collaboration for education and feminist pedagogy's aims to work against oppressive structures. Drawing from our teaching experiences at the National University of Singapore, we discuss how feminist educators navigate the risks associated with conducting community engagement courses and the sacrifices and refusals this entails. We reveal the challenges of enacting meaningful feminist participatory community research at the nexus of three intersecting spaces – community, classroom, and university. We support our arguments by drawing from our experiences of partnering with two non-governmental organisations in Singapore, Sayoni (an LGBTQ+ group) and the Young Sikh Association. We argue that the path ahead calls for more feminist pedagogical tactics that reinstate the radical potential for collaborating with community groups.

Urban flooding significantly affects the health and well-being of populations, yet its health impacts remain underexplored in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper investigates the health effects of recurring floods on households in Greater Kumasi through a qualitative study involving 55 purposively selected household heads. The findings reveal substantial negative health consequences, including immediate and medium-term issues such as injuries, bodily pain, fatigue, skin infections, upper respiratory diseases, diarrhoea, typhoid fever, and fatalities from drowning. Additionally, the study highlights a high prevalence of long-term psychological distress among affected households. The findings highlight the under-researched nexus between flooding and health in SSA and underscore the need for more vigorous institutional enforcement of land-use regulations, public education and collaborative health interventions involving the Ministry of Health and other key stakeholders. These measures are critical for reducing the health risks of floods and building resilience in vulnerable communities.

The provision of digital services is crucial for libraries to promote broader and more equitable access to information. Prior research has demonstrated that digital services including those provided by libraries are significantly shaped by socioeconomic influences, resulting in geo-graphic disparities analogous to those observed in the real world. However, current research has not fully addressed which regions rely most heavily on digital libraries. This study aims to address this gap by analysing city-level data on library services in China to delineate the spatial patterns that characterise the significance of digital library services. Furthermore, the research integrates both internal and external factors to explore the determinants influencing the perceived importance of library services across diverse regions. The findings indicate that the significance of digital library services is affected by enhancements in internal service quality, as well as external variables, such as users' digital literacy and their readiness to engage with these services. This suggests that, although digital library spaces reflect the socioeconomic dynamics present in the real world, their non-spatial nature enables them to cater to a wider audience. By elucidating the key factors that shape the importance of digital library services, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between digital and physical environments.

Functional roles of neighbourhoods change throughout the day, as both a cause and consequence of human mobility fluctuations. Here we review how neighbourhoods can be characterised by origin–destination flows derived from individual level GPS-enabled in-app data. These are used to track individual trajectories from start to end points prior to aggregation. We leverage securely held individual level in-app mobile phone location data that preserve spatial and temporal flexibility in representing place-to-place interactions. The data are available at the individual level and are aggregated for reporting of origin–destination analysis at the Middle layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level to accommodate disclosure control and positional uncertainty. We show how in-app mobile phone location data for Greater London enhance our understanding of the relationships between places, and demonstrate how these relationships may change over the course of the day. Finally, we discuss how such analysis can inform transport policy and the contribution of our approach to extending geodemographic research.

Space–time constraints caused by employment and family responsibilities may lead to greater gender differences in behavioural possibilities. However, only a few studies have directly investigated the effect of household structure on gender differences. This study uses a dataset of activity diaries collected in Beijing to investigate how family structure affects space–time constraints across genders. As a follow-up study, it also investigates the consequences of space–time constraints across genders. The results show gender differences in both individual time use and space–time fixity. In extended households, help from other family members, such as co-residing grandparents, reduces the space–time fixity of the head of the household. This effect was primarily observed in the time fixity of housework and discretionary activities. However, there is still a gender difference in the impact of extended families, which has been shown to affect men more than women. In addition, the degree of fixity is also influenced by personal and household attributes, such as income, children and car ownership.

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the 2025 celebrations, which occurred at the Society on 2 June 2025, with contributions from Dariusz Wójcik, Murray Gray, Gillian Rose, Børge Ousland and Susan J Smith.

In her first address as President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Jane Francis spoke about the work of the organisation over the last year. She emphasised the importance of fieldwork in understanding environmental change, drawing on her own experiences in the UK, Australia and Antarctica. She outlined the work the RGS-IBG carries out to support fieldwork and its importance for research and for student learning.

Urban rivers play a pivotal role in fostering human–nature interaction in cities. This study investigates the evolving relationship between humans and rivers by examining public perceptions of rivers' multifaceted roles—an aspect not yet explored through social science methods—within the context of China's river restoration trends. We conducted a public survey in three riverine cities in China—Chongqing, Wuhan and Hangzhou, and generated 114 photographs of respondents' ‘favourite river sites’, as well as detailed written explanations of why they liked those places. By combining visual content analysis and textual thematic analysis to their answers, we identified five specific perceived values of urban rivers: ecological, recreational, scenic, economic and sentimental. The findings reveal a widespread preference for the ecological and recreational benefits of urban rivers, particularly through direct, sensory interactions with water. Urban rivers are also found to evoke enduring emotional bonds with people—for example, being referred to as the ‘mother river’—which is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Water quality emerges as the most valued attribute, reflecting an urgent need to address the widespread pollution of rivers in Chinese cities. Biodiversity, however, remains underrepresented in public perception. People overwhelmingly prioritise water quality, often lacking awareness of the biological quality of rivers. The study also highlights potential conflicts between the high demand for recreational use of rivers and the need to conserve their ecosystems, suggesting future strategic mitigation plans to address this challenge. Rivers' cooling effects and mental health benefits can further contribute to the city's climate adaptation efforts. Given the substantial investments in river restoration in China, the study emphasises integrating social needs and involving public participation in urban river management. Ultimately, the results contribute to China's sustainable transformation by aligning ecological restoration with cultural and societal goals, and promoting coexistence between humans and nature within urban river corridors.

This paper extends discourse on environmental stewardship and coastal management by examining the intersecting and overlapping relationships between notions of care and encounter in generating and maintaining forms of environmental empathy among young people at various socio-spatial scales. Exploring ‘care-ful encounters’ matters in terms of developing new ways of understanding how the choreographies of care and self-care shape, and are shaped by, encounters with human and non-human others, and prompts critical engagement and reflection with care as felt and experienced, that could otherwise be considered as distanced and ‘over there‘. Two key contributions emerge—first, that the combined role of care and encounter shapes young people's care-giving practices in active, relational and socially interconnected ways, and second, in acknowledging how visceral practices of emotional and affective encounters problematise the intersections between responsibility and risk in terms of young people's practices of self-care. Taken collectively, this critical investigation of empathetic and care-ful encounters reveals the intense ethical and moral significance of caring praxis that are performed up close and through tactile and tangible experiences with the material, emotional and symbolic characteristics of coastal environments, and the ways in which care-ful encounters can shape senses of citizenship, well-being and community for those experiencing them.

Addressing climate change, the defining crisis of the twenty-first century, necessitates both robust political leadership and effective public engagement, the latter often proving to be a substantial challenge. Through the introduction of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the National Assembly for Wales (now Welsh Government) took a proactive stance on climate change. Over the last ten years, they have made considerable progress in making climate action a part of everyday life for people in Wales. This paper explores the successes and ongoing challenges of implementing climate initiatives throughout Wales and considers whether its approach offers a valuable blueprint for broader adoption. The framework developed by Welsh Government places a central emphasis on the alignment of climate action. Therefore, building a better future in Wales, and potentially beyond, necessitates meaningful community engagement and a commitment to learning from the experiences of implementing climate initiatives.