Alison Stenning
@alisonstenning.bsky.social
Geographer - Professor - Mum - Playing - #playstreets - Cycling - #kidicalmass - #WarOnCars - Walking - Noticing - Green - North Tyneside - North Shields - UK
Pinned
Hello 👋 I’m here for the chat about (geographies of) (urban) play and everyday mobility, esp children’s, along with neighbourhoods and community; bits on austerity, class & social change; climate & environment; but also the north-east of England (esp Tyneside); and some higher education too.
Missed this when it was published just before Christmas, but this is a good piece in The Conversation, reflecting on Mary Ann Macham's story - her escape from slavery and free life in North Shields - and why it has barely been told before, from Genevieve Johnson (History at Newcastle):
Freedom for Christmas: the extraordinary journey of an enslaved woman to Britain
Mary Ann Macham’s story is an example of a larger phenomenon of Black American refuge in Britain in the 19th century.
theconversation.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Missed this when it was published just before Christmas, but this is a good piece in The Conversation, reflecting on Mary Ann Macham's story - her escape from slavery and free life in North Shields - and why it has barely been told before, from Genevieve Johnson (History at Newcastle):
Reposted by Alison Stenning
To improve road safety, Utrecht will lower the speed limit from 50 to 30 km/h on approximately 240 streets where cyclists and motorists share the road. This will be done overnight later this year, so that the change takes effect simultaneously on all streets. www.duic.nl/algemeen/alg...
Utrecht voert 30 km per uur in op 241 straten in één nacht
Utrecht voert in de nacht van 9 op 10 juli 2026 op 241 straten tegelijk een maximumsnelheid van 30 kilometer per uur in. Afgeplakte verkeersborden worden op voorhand geplaatst waarna medewerkers in éé...
www.duic.nl
January 15, 2026 at 9:32 AM
To improve road safety, Utrecht will lower the speed limit from 50 to 30 km/h on approximately 240 streets where cyclists and motorists share the road. This will be done overnight later this year, so that the change takes effect simultaneously on all streets. www.duic.nl/algemeen/alg...
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Ninety UK universities to have posted accounts so far cut 13,300 jobs last year, spending £303 million on severance pay - sector-wide total clearly going to be well in excess of predicted 10,000. Great reporting by @patrickjack.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pay-spe...
Pay-off spend up by two-thirds as universities shed 13,000 jobs
Analysis of UK sector accounts shows number of job losses well above predictions, with experts warning cuts are not over yet
www.timeshighereducation.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Ninety UK universities to have posted accounts so far cut 13,300 jobs last year, spending £303 million on severance pay - sector-wide total clearly going to be well in excess of predicted 10,000. Great reporting by @patrickjack.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pay-spe...
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Did anyone catch the discussion of gardening at the end of the Today programme on Radio 4? The discussion of community gardens built on top of underground car parks in the Netherlands?
Do you remember any details? The name of the interviewee?
Thanks!
Do you remember any details? The name of the interviewee?
Thanks!
January 15, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Did anyone catch the discussion of gardening at the end of the Today programme on Radio 4? The discussion of community gardens built on top of underground car parks in the Netherlands?
Do you remember any details? The name of the interviewee?
Thanks!
Do you remember any details? The name of the interviewee?
Thanks!
The Amsterdam ferry arriving at the mouth of the Tyne -
January 15, 2026 at 8:50 AM
The Amsterdam ferry arriving at the mouth of the Tyne -
Reposted by Alison Stenning
brb, helping create a toy library for my kid’s school so any children who can’t leave their house because of unaccountable federal goons can get new stuff to play with
January 14, 2026 at 2:42 PM
brb, helping create a toy library for my kid’s school so any children who can’t leave their house because of unaccountable federal goons can get new stuff to play with
Reposted by Alison Stenning
I’m sure you’re all *thrilled* to hear what you can preorder my new book - Postcapitalist Cities - from the MUP website with a whopping 40% off till the end January. So yours for only £12.
Manchester University Press - Postcapitalist cities
Postcapitalist cities - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Postcapitalist cities by Oli Mould
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM
I’m sure you’re all *thrilled* to hear what you can preorder my new book - Postcapitalist Cities - from the MUP website with a whopping 40% off till the end January. So yours for only £12.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Chart admirably demonstrating the climate trend
It's leading to record wildfires, floods, rising seas, extreme storms & typhoons, harvest failures
And whilst the tech is around to curtail the problem, humanity, right now, just isn't doing so
www.ft.com/content/e995...
It's leading to record wildfires, floods, rising seas, extreme storms & typhoons, harvest failures
And whilst the tech is around to curtail the problem, humanity, right now, just isn't doing so
www.ft.com/content/e995...
January 14, 2026 at 6:55 AM
Chart admirably demonstrating the climate trend
It's leading to record wildfires, floods, rising seas, extreme storms & typhoons, harvest failures
And whilst the tech is around to curtail the problem, humanity, right now, just isn't doing so
www.ft.com/content/e995...
It's leading to record wildfires, floods, rising seas, extreme storms & typhoons, harvest failures
And whilst the tech is around to curtail the problem, humanity, right now, just isn't doing so
www.ft.com/content/e995...
Worrying to see this, and the power of the reductive narrative that focuses primarily/only on screens as the cause of the "anxious generation"; it permits an avoidance of bigger debates about the decline of spaces for children & young people, the impacts of austerity & inequality, and so much more:
Wes Streeting asks US expert Jonathan Haidt to address officials on social media ban for under-16s
Exclusive: Health secretary issues invitation in push for UK to consider copying landmark restrictions in Australia
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Worrying to see this, and the power of the reductive narrative that focuses primarily/only on screens as the cause of the "anxious generation"; it permits an avoidance of bigger debates about the decline of spaces for children & young people, the impacts of austerity & inequality, and so much more:
"The survey evidence presented here suggests places require substantial material uplifts across a range of domains (e.g. health, jobs, crime, high streets) that go well beyond Pride in Place in order for them to represent significant improvements in
how people perceive regional and local inequities"
how people perceive regional and local inequities"
What do people in England think about their local area? In this short report I take a look at surveys we conducted with @yougov.co.uk in 2022, 2024 and 2025 to gain some insights...
Some key findings...
Some key findings...
Perspectives on Place: what the English think about their local area
www.southampton.ac.uk
January 14, 2026 at 10:01 AM
"The survey evidence presented here suggests places require substantial material uplifts across a range of domains (e.g. health, jobs, crime, high streets) that go well beyond Pride in Place in order for them to represent significant improvements in
how people perceive regional and local inequities"
how people perceive regional and local inequities"
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals.
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
January 13, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals.
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Let's remind ourselves of what was promised in 2018 for £70bn of new east-west high speed lines across the north, thanks to far superior reporting to what we're seeing today: www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...
January 14, 2026 at 8:01 AM
Let's remind ourselves of what was promised in 2018 for £70bn of new east-west high speed lines across the north, thanks to far superior reporting to what we're seeing today: www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...
Reposted by Alison Stenning
UCU members are on strike today in 25 colleges across the UK.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
January 14, 2026 at 7:52 AM
UCU members are on strike today in 25 colleges across the UK.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
North Shields -
January 14, 2026 at 8:51 AM
North Shields -
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Today’s activities: an all-day meeting to decide how specifically to make our surviving degree courses worse, the general outlines already having been imposed (fewer modules, fewer hours per module, fewer assessments, fewer subject modules, fewer academics).
January 13, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Today’s activities: an all-day meeting to decide how specifically to make our surviving degree courses worse, the general outlines already having been imposed (fewer modules, fewer hours per module, fewer assessments, fewer subject modules, fewer academics).
Reposted by Alison Stenning
January 13, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Alison Stenning
wild wolves in the Veluwe (central Netherlands) a few days ago
Lovely stuff
Lovely stuff
January 12, 2026 at 9:31 PM
wild wolves in the Veluwe (central Netherlands) a few days ago
Lovely stuff
Lovely stuff
January 13, 2026 at 1:32 PM
One resolution for 2026 is to read more but buy fewer books - use the library, read ebooks (but not on Kindle) and buy secondhand books.
Given Abe is Amazon, what are recommendations for decent online second hand bookshops? (assuming local, in person will be first choice)
Thanks!
Given Abe is Amazon, what are recommendations for decent online second hand bookshops? (assuming local, in person will be first choice)
Thanks!
January 13, 2026 at 1:12 PM
One resolution for 2026 is to read more but buy fewer books - use the library, read ebooks (but not on Kindle) and buy secondhand books.
Given Abe is Amazon, what are recommendations for decent online second hand bookshops? (assuming local, in person will be first choice)
Thanks!
Given Abe is Amazon, what are recommendations for decent online second hand bookshops? (assuming local, in person will be first choice)
Thanks!
Reposted by Alison Stenning
THIS WEEK 📅 Active Travel Cafe
Today, 5–6.15pm (Tue 13 Jan). Sign up for the Zoom link: www.activetravelcafe.org.uk
Kay Inckle (Wheels for Wellbeing) presents the 5th edition of The Guide to Inclusive Cycling.
@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
@activetravelcaf.bsky.social
Today, 5–6.15pm (Tue 13 Jan). Sign up for the Zoom link: www.activetravelcafe.org.uk
Kay Inckle (Wheels for Wellbeing) presents the 5th edition of The Guide to Inclusive Cycling.
@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
@activetravelcaf.bsky.social
Campaigning for inclusive cycling, Wheels for Wellbeing
Wheels for Wellbeing is an award-winning charity supporting disabled people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the benefits of cycling.
wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
January 13, 2026 at 9:24 AM
THIS WEEK 📅 Active Travel Cafe
Today, 5–6.15pm (Tue 13 Jan). Sign up for the Zoom link: www.activetravelcafe.org.uk
Kay Inckle (Wheels for Wellbeing) presents the 5th edition of The Guide to Inclusive Cycling.
@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
@activetravelcaf.bsky.social
Today, 5–6.15pm (Tue 13 Jan). Sign up for the Zoom link: www.activetravelcafe.org.uk
Kay Inckle (Wheels for Wellbeing) presents the 5th edition of The Guide to Inclusive Cycling.
@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
@activetravelcaf.bsky.social
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Quellijnstraat, Amsterdam in 1978 and today
January 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Quellijnstraat, Amsterdam in 1978 and today
“There’s a quiet magic in shared spaces where stories drift across cultures and generations”
My local pool feels like a cultural refuge – a small, steamy world where accents mingle and minds reset | Shadi Khan Saif
My local pool feels like a cultural refuge – a small, steamy world where accents mingle and minds reset | Shadi Khan Saif
There’s a quiet magic in shared spaces where stories drift across cultures and generations – and no one checks their phone
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:43 AM
“There’s a quiet magic in shared spaces where stories drift across cultures and generations”
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Students at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis are walking out to protest ICE days after a clash between U.S. Border Patrol agents and protesters at the school.
📸: Jerry Holt
📸: Jerry Holt
January 12, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Students at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis are walking out to protest ICE days after a clash between U.S. Border Patrol agents and protesters at the school.
📸: Jerry Holt
📸: Jerry Holt