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The Geographical Journal
@thegj.bsky.social
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Geography in the Public Interest: The GJ publishes original research in human and physical geography which engages with public issues and policy-relevant agendas.
Edited by Peter Hopkins, Paul Milbourne, Rebecca Collins & Trivik Verma
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thegj.bsky.social
New in The GJ:

'A reparative paradigm for thinking with disasters' by Gregory L. Simon et al.

This commentary argues for a paradigm shift in disaster research drawing from debates on reparations and reparative thought.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Gregory L. Simon, Nathaniel O'Grady, Kevin Grove, Christine Eriksen, Ksenia Chmutina, Rony Emmenegger, Emmanuel Raju, Deniz Ay, Samuel Lüthi, Timothy Prior, Kathleen Uyttewaal & Filippo Zeffiri (2025) entitled: 'A reparative paradigm for thinking with disasters' with a blue banner at the top.
November 20, 2025 at 2:09 PM
thegj.bsky.social
New in The GJ:

'Universities as spaces of possibility: Towards more creative, caring academic labour' by @geogbmore.bsky.social & Zoe Pearson

This commentary shares insights and provides discussion questions for reading the book 'Higher Expectations' by Hawkins & Kern.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Graphical abstract for a commentary published in The Geographical Journal by Emily Billo & Zoe Pearson. It shows the cover of a book entitled 'Higher Expectations: How to survive academia, make it better for others, and transform the university' by Roberta Hawkins & Leslie Kern.
November 18, 2025 at 9:54 AM
thegj.bsky.social
New in The GJ:

'Migration, circular mobility and food security in Nicaragua: An analytical framework based on food sourcing and farm household multi-localisation' by Sandrine Fréguin-Gresh & Geneviève Cortès

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Sandrine Fréguin-Gresh & Geneviève Cortès entitled: 'Migration, circular mobility and food security in Nicaragua: An analytical framework based on food sourcing and farm household multi-localisation' with a blue banner at the top. This article explores the links between agriculture, circular mobility, migration and food security in the Global South. It focuses on farm households in Nicaragua which, for generations, have engaged in diversified livelihood strategies including mobility and migration. The article proposes an original framework, based on the concept of multi-localised family food systems, to link household socio-spatial practices with food security. Multifactorial and cross-sectional analysis shows that household food security is the result of complex strategies combining agricultural practices, pluri-activity, economic diversification and the circulation of resources linked to migrant remittances and donations from networks and public policies. Although the links between migration, circular mobility and food security are neither linear nor systematic, our findings reveal that not only the maintenance of family farming but also the multi-localisation of households, circular mobility practices and migration play key roles in food supply and security. These findings suggest that public policies and the interventions of development agencies should take a better approach to support the food coping strategies of these multi-localised households, taking greater consideration of off-farm diversification, mobility and migration.
November 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM
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New in The GJ:

'Reimagining rural policy through mission-led governance' by @jayneglass.bsky.social & @markshucksmith.bsky.social

This commentary argues that mission-led policies risk perpetuating inequalities, using rural policy as a case in point.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by Jayne Glass & Mark Shucksmith (2025) entitled: 'Reimagining rural policy through mission-led governance' with a blue banner at the top.
October 29, 2025 at 11:36 AM
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New in The GJ:

'Obstacles to the touristification of historical borders' by Petr Marek.

This paper draws on the boundary between the historical Czech lands of Bohemia & Moravia to investigate how residents conceptualise and engage with the border.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Petr Marek (2025) entitled 'Obstacles to the touristification of historical borders' with a blue banner at the top.
October 27, 2025 at 10:23 AM
thegj.bsky.social
New in The GJ:

'Comparative peripheries and decarbonising the uneven geographies of academia' by Todd Denham et al.

This commentary reflects on international conference travel, drawing on attendee experiences of the hybrid 2023 RGS-IBG Annual Conference.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by Todd Denham, Wangui Kimari, Pia Treichel & Rachel Walters (2025) entitled: 'Comparative peripheries and decarbonising the uneven geographies of academia' with a blue banner at the top. International travel is a key source of academic greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, is a priority for the sector's decarbonisation efforts. However, legacies of colonisation and carbon-intensive development mean that the global geography of knowledge production and exchange is highly concentrated in Europe and North America, notwithstanding increased access through decarbonisation initiatives such as conference hubs. This commentary draws on attendee experiences of two remote conference hubs, held in Nairobi, Kenya and Melbourne, Australia, in parallel with the hybrid 2023 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) conference, for which the in-person event was held in London. The varied experiences of these Nairobi and Melbourne RGS hubs highlight the plurality of peripheries, and how one's location within a continuum of peripheralisation shapes how academics from these sites are engaged in and can respond to academic decarbonisation efforts. We argue that the reproduction of Europe and North America as the centres of knowledge necessitates increased cognisance of the potentially conflicted aims of inclusion and the decarbonisation of academia, especially on academic peripheries. Ultimately, our argument is not against the decarbonisation of academia, which we view as critical against climate breakdown, but, rather, for greater attention to the decentring of knowledge production and its methods of transfer in decarbonisation efforts.
October 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
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New in The GJ:

'What's coming out of those chimneys? Energy-from-waste incineration in Teesside, UK' by Jay Sinclair

This commentary examines how Teesside's role in UK Net Zero Strategy facilitates ongoing industrial pollution through 'green' industrial projects.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by Jay Sinclair (2025) entitled 'What's coming out of those chimneys? Energy-from-waste incineration in Teesside, UK' with a blue banner at the top. Once an industrial powerhouse, Teesside is positioned as a key player in the UK's Net Zero Strategy, with plans to revitalise its deindustrialised industrial clusters through decarbonisation and green energy projects. Using a series of proposed energy-from-waste incinerators in Teesside as a lens, I examine how the UK's green industrial strategy legitimises ongoing pollution under the guise of sustainability, enabled by regulatory frameworks that define harm within narrow, scientifically provable parameters. This limited framing fails to capture the full scope of harm, allowing chemical toxicity to disproportionately impact marginalised communities. In this piece, I advocate for epistemic justice that expands how harm is recognised beyond measurable metrics and takes seriously community knowledges of the lived and embodied experience of industrial pollution in Teesside. This approach supports the development of an affective politics of resistance that draws from a collective awareness of how environmental harm reshapes bodily capacities and subjectivities to catalyse new forms of political action.
October 1, 2025 at 9:23 AM
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New in The GJ:

'Ethnic disparities in overcrowding across England and Wales: Postracial patterns or persistent inequalities?' by Rory Coulter

This paper reveals the persistence of stark ethnic disparities in overcrowding, & explores how these are ignored in housing policy.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Rory Coulter (2025) entitled: 'Ethnic disparities in overcrowding across England and Wales: Postracial patterns or persistent inequalities?' with a blue banner at the top. In Britain, ethnic minorities have long been disproportionately likely to live in overcrowded homes and to experience other forms of housing disadvantage. However, in recent years, housing policy across Great Britain has retreated away from acknowledging and seeking to address these ethnic disparities. This study critically assesses the evidence for this policy shift by examining the contemporary magnitude and geography of ethnic disparities in overcrowding across England and Wales. This is achieved by analysing 2021 Census microdata using multilevel logistic regressions. The results show that even after controlling for differences in the demographic and socio-economic attributes of ethnic groups, almost all ethnic minorities have a substantially higher propensity to live in overcrowded homes than comparable White Britons. In addition, while overcrowding is generally more common in places where housing constraints are more acute, ethnic disparities in overcrowding vary geographically in more complex and group-specific ways. Taken together, these findings indicate that longstanding patterns of ethnic housing disparity have not faded away. Greater recognition of these persistent inequalities and renewed efforts to address them thus need to be built back into local and national housing policies.
September 29, 2025 at 11:07 AM
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📢New Issue of The GJ!📢

𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡

September's Issue features the 'Legacies of Austerity' Special Section alongside 9 papers, 3 commentaries, and records of the 2025 RGS-IBG Medals and Awards ceremony.

Take a look here ⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14754959...
A graphic showing the title page of The Geographical Journal on a blue background with The GJ in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are eight tiles showing the Special Section 'Legacies of Austerity', with the names of papers in the issue. The names of the papers and authors are as follows: 1) 'Legacies of Austerity: Editorial Introduction' by Sander van Lanen & Sarah Marie Hall 2) 'Family Hubs and the vulnerable care ecologies of child and family welfare in austerity' by Tom Disney et al. 3) 'Relational legacies and relative experiences: Austerity, inequality and access to special educational needs and disability (SEND) support in London, England' by Rosalie Warnock 4) 'Lived experiences of utilities-based indebtedness in Greece: Tracing the afterlives of austerity' by Aliki Koutlou 5) 'Grassroots temporary urbanism as a challenge to the city of austerity? Lessons from a self-organised park in Thessaloniki, Greece' by Matina Kapsali 6) 'De-municipalisation? Legacies of austerity for England's urban parks' by Andrew Smith et al. 7) 'Austerity's afterlives? The case of community asset transfer in the UK' by Neil Turnbull 8) 'Austere futures: From hardship to hope?' by Julie MacLeavy A graphic showing the title page of The Geographical Journal on a blue background with The GJ in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are nine tiles with standard articles, with the names of papers in the issue. 1) 'The rise of education-featured gated communities in Chinese cities: (Re)producing the enterprising self via the entrepreneurial local state–capital nexus' by Shenjing He 2) 'Policy-driven education-led gentrification and its spatiotemporal dynamics: Evidence from Shanghai, China' by Rong Cai, Lirong Hu & Shenjing He 3) 'The market formation of private sector, purpose built student accommodation in Sheffield 2000–2019' by Carl Lee 4) 'Evaporation losses from residential swimming pools and water features under climate variability and change' by Alicia Cumberland & Robert Wilby 5) 'Forecasting urban shifts post-earthquake: LULC change analysis in Elazığ, Turkey using ANN and Markov models' by Fatih Sunbul, Enes Karadeniz, Mustafa Taner Sengun & Muhammed Kocaoglu 6) 'Care-ful encounters: A case for empathetic youthful encounters with coastal environments' by Mark Holton 7) 'How do you like your rivers? Portraying public perception and preference for urban rivers in China via a combined visual and textual analysis' by Yixin Cao, Wendy Yan Chen & Karl Matthias Wantzen 8) 'Understanding place-to-place interactions using flow patterns derived from in-app mobile phone location data' by Mikaella Mavrogeni, Justin van Dijk & Paul Longley 9) 'Gender difference in space–time fixity from household structure in urban China: A case study of Beijing' by Hongbo Chai, Patrick Witte, Stan Geertman & Dick Ettema A graphic showing the title page of The Geographical Journal on a blue background with The GJ in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are five tiles with commentaries and RGS-IBG Regulars, with the names of papers in the issue. 1) 'On commons, state institutions and capitalism' by Ioannis Rigkos-Zitthen & Nikos Kapitsinis 2) 'From The Hague to the margins: The ICC, feminist geopolitics and alternative legal futures' by Sarah Klosterkamp & Alex Jeffrey 3) 'Everyone's talking about climate change actions, but can we learn from Wales’ approach?' by Lynda Yorke, Athanasios Dimitriou, Sonya Hanna, Corinna Patterson, Sara Parry & Georgina Smith 4) 'Presidential address and record of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) AGM 2025' by Dame Jane Francis 5) 'Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards celebration 2025' by Jane Francis, Murray Gray, Børge Ousland, Gillian Rose, Susan Smith & Dariusz Wójcik
September 26, 2025 at 2:32 PM
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#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Quantifying a decadal driver of ecological environment in Jamuna River basin using geospatial techniques' by Md. Naimur Rahman et al.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Md. Naimur Rahman, Md. Rakib Hasan Rony & Kevin Lo (2025) entitled: 'Quantifying a decadal driver of ecological environment in Jamuna River basin using geospatial techniques' with a blue banner at the top. This study investigates the ecological environment quality within Bangladesh's Jamuna River Basin from 2003 to 2023, using Landsat imagery analysed through Google Earth Engine (GEE) to create the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) for the districts of Kurigram, Sirajganj and Tangail. The analysis reveals significant spatial and temporal variations in ecological health, driven by both anthropogenic and natural factors. The findings show that whilst Kurigram's ecological quality fluctuates between good and moderate states, Sirajganj has experienced a continuous decline, and Tangail shows marked ecological degradation, especially in urban areas. The study demonstrates that the integration of RSEI with spatial autocorrelation techniques, such as Moran's I and Local Indicator of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA), effectively captures spatial clustering of ecological quality. The clustering patterns indicate that ecological degradation is unevenly distributed, influenced by both human activities and natural processes. These results emphasise the importance of sustainable land management practices to mitigate further ecological decline and provide a foundation for targeted conservation efforts. The study's use of geospatial tools offers a scalable approach for assessing ecological health in other river basins and regions facing environmental pressures. This research underscores the critical role of monitoring long-term ecological changes to inform policy interventions and promote sustainable development in vulnerable ecosystems.
September 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
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Special Section in The GJ:

'Legacies of Austerity', edited by @smhall.bsky.social & @sanvanlan.bsky.social

This #OpenAccess collection explores how the lens of legacies can be applied to understand austerity's effects in Europe. Available here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
A blue tile with a quote from the editorial introduction to the 'Legacies of Austerity' Special Section by S. van Lanen & S.M. Hall (2025): "As political discourse transforms and the period of fierce austerity implementation moves into history, we believe critical geographers should remain attentive to its traces in everyday practices, policy realities and material conditions. To imagine alternative futures, austerity's legacies should not be forgotten". A blue tile sharing the titles of 8 open access papers within the 'Legacies of Austerity' Special Section: 1) 'Legacies of Austerity: Editorial Introduction' by Sander van Lanen & Sarah Marie Hall 2) 'Family Hubs and the vulnerable care ecologies of child and family welfare in austerity' by Tom Disney et al. 3) 'Relational legacies and relative experiences: Austerity, inequality and access to special educational needs and disability (SEND) support in London, England' by Rosalie Warnock 4) 'Lived experiences of utilities-based indebtedness in Greece: Tracing the afterlives of austerity' by Aliki Koutlou 5) 'Grassroots temporary urbanism as a challenge to the city of austerity? Lessons from a self-organised park in Thessaloniki, Greece' by Matina Kapsali 6) 'De-municipalisation? Legacies of austerity for England's urban parks' by Andrew Smith et al. 7) 'Austerity's afterlives? The case of community asset transfer in the UK' by Neil Turnbull 8) 'Austere futures: From hardship to hope?' by Julie MacLeavy
September 25, 2025 at 9:50 AM
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New in The GJ:

'Multispecies home (un)making: Dogs and lifestyle migrants in Lijiang Ancient Town, China' by Duo Yin & Quan Gao

This paper explores how dogs co-construct and contest the making of home alongside lifestyle migrants in China.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
This is a graphical abstract for this paper in The Geographical Journal. It is a photograph of three 'lifestyle migrants' in China celebrating a dog's birthday with seven large dogs gathered around them.
September 22, 2025 at 9:13 AM
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#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Translating sanctuary: Politics of solidarity in a bilingual and plurinational context' by @catrineds.bsky.social & Rhys Dafydd Jones

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section on 'Language and Migration'

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Catrin Wyn Edwards & Rhys Dafydd Jones (2025) entitled 'Translating sanctuary: Politics of solidarity in a bilingual and plurinational context' with a blue banner at the top. This paper explores the rescaling of sanctuary to the national scale, distinct from the state scale. While scholarship has largely focussed on how sanctuary, hospitality and citizenship are provided at city scales, we analyse how substate nations respond to people seeking sanctuary by focussing on the case of Wales, an officially bilingual nation (multilingual in practice) within a plurinational state. By unpacking different meanings of Nation of Sanctuary (NoS)/Cenedl Noddfa (CN) in English and Welsh, we demonstrate the importance of adopting a ‘national gaze’ for complex, nuanced and heterogeneous understandings, rather than singular and homogenous assumptions (often associated with national perspectives). In interrogating etymology and meanings of sanctuary and delving into the (subtly) different meanings of lloches and noddfa, we illustrate the nuances and complexities of sanctuary politics and practices in a bilingual nation. This highlights the significance of considering the presence of competing, contrasting or complementary understandings of sanctuary in multilingual nations along with the various histories, cultures and ideas of belonging that shape sanctuary practices, rather than leaving translation as an afterthought. In uncovering the complexities and different meanings of NoS/CN, we develop a novel perspective on understandings of host/guest relations and provide an alternative way of understanding this dyadic distinction central to extant hospitality scholarship.
September 19, 2025 at 10:48 AM
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#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Everywhere Islamophobia' by @kawtarnajib.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Kawtar Najib (2025) entitled: 'Everywhere Islamophobia' with a blue banner at the top. The multi-scalar nature of Islamophobia highlights how it spares no spatial scale (from the globe to the body). However, Islamophobia is also a multi-dimensional nature that affects all places and sectors of our societies (whether political, institutional, educational, etc.). This article aims to reinforce this dual nature by using the notion of ‘Everywhere Islamophobia’, in light of theories showing that racism is everywhere. The everywhereness of Islamophobia even within the discipline of geography has been recognised late, compared to its everydayness, and this contribution shows precisely that Islamophobia is everywhere but manifests itself differently in each locality.
September 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
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New commentary in The GJ:

'The digitization of economic geography's infrastructure: Implications of the information overload' by José Luis Sánchez-Hernández

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by José Luis Sánchez-Hernández (2025) entitled 'The digitization of economic geography's infrastructure: Implications of the information overload' with a blue banner at the top. During the last two decades, digitization has deeply transformed the ‘infrastructure’ of economic geography: the quantity and variety of available data, the techniques for retrieving and the tools for processing such data, and the practices of academic research. This commentary argues that the digitization process burdens economic geographers with an information overload, which is commonly addressed through various scholarly practices: coordinated research projects, direct technique-based research design, and increasing participation in multidisciplinary research networks. However, both information overload and adaptive practices include a risk of fragmentation of the research community, since only large and/or well-funded universities and research groups may adapt to the new research context depicted by the digitization of the ‘infrastructure’ of economic geography. Mixed methods and methodological polyglossia emerge, then, as a potential fix for pushing research ahead in economic geography.
September 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
thegj.bsky.social
#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Potential impact of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection on horticultural crop suitability in Africa' by Temitope S. Egbebiyi et al.

This paper is part of an ongoing Special Section on 'Climate Change and Variability'.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Temitope S. Egbebiyi, Christopher Lennard, Kwesi A. Quagraine, Romaric C. Odoulami, Babatunde J. Abiodun & Simone Tilmes (2025) entitled: 'Potential impact of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection on horticultural crop suitability in Africa' with a blue banner at the top.
September 10, 2025 at 10:11 AM
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#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Community engagement courses and feminist participatory action research: Pedagogies of sacrifice and refusal' by Kamalini Ramdas & Menusha De Silva

This commentary draws on experiences of partnering with NGOs in Singapore for research.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by Kamalini Ramdas & Menusha De Silva (2025) entitled: 'Community engagement courses and feminist participatory action research: Pedagogies of sacrifice and refusal' with a blue banner at the top. 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.
September 9, 2025 at 9:14 AM
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New in The GJ:

'"We live in fear and face endless physical and emotional health problems": Perceived health implications of floods among urban households in Ghana' by Kabila Abass et al.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Kabila Abass, Gift Dumedah, Aminu Dramani, Andrews Ofosu, Lawrence Guodaar, Emmanuel Nyaaba, Alex Yao Segbefia, Kwadwo Afriyie, Hubert Bimpeh Asiedu, George Appiah, Samuel Awuni Azinga & Razak M. Gyasi entitled: "‘We live in fear and face endless physical and emotional health problems’: Perceived health implications of floods among urban households in Ghana" 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.
September 4, 2025 at 9:36 AM
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New in The GJ:

'Interwoven on-site and online: A geographical analysis of the significance and determinants of digital library services' by Kunyang Lin & Jiebing Wu

This paper explores access to information through the distribution of digital library services in China.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Kunyang Lin & Jiebing Wu (2025) entitled: 'Interwoven on-site and online: A geographical analysis of the significance and determinants of digital library services' with a blue banner at the top. 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.
September 2, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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The fourth and final commentary in this collection is by @kawtarnajib.bsky.social who frames the 2024 UK riots as anti-Muslim pogroms:

'The United Kingdom's first anti-Muslim pogroms in a context of genocidal Islamophobia in Gaza'

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Screenshot of a commentary abstract in The Geographical Journal by Kawtar Najib (2025) entitled: 'The United Kingdom's first anti-Muslim pogroms in a context of genocidal Islamophobia in Gaza' with a blue banner at the top. In summer 2024, the United Kingdom was the scene of several days of horrific public attacks against Muslim populations. While some have described these attacks as spontaneous riots between far-right groups and anti-racist activists, these were in fact the United Kingdom's first anti-Muslim pogroms, occurring in a very specific genocidal context against the Muslim populations of Gaza. In this commentary, I explore why such pogroms happened by analysing the nature of British Islamophobia, its specific geographies and the political context in which they were able to develop to better understand how to combat anti-Muslim racism and thus better protect Muslims in Britain.
September 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
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If you're at the @rgsibg.bsky.social Annual Conference today, stop by our 'Meet the Editors' session at 13:10 in the Muirhead Building today to hear about our new editorial team's vision for the The GJ ⬇️
A poster advertising a 'Meet the Editors' session for The GJ at today's RGS-IBG Annual Conference in Birmingham, with The Geographical Journal logo in blue on the left hand side, and text reading 'Meet the Editors, The Geographical Journal: "Geography in the public interest"' with Peter Hopkins, Paul Milbourne, Rebecca Collins & Trivik Verma, Wednesday 27th August, Muirhead Building: Room 113, 13:10-14:25
August 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
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#OpenAccess in The GJ:

'Gender difference in space-time fixity from household structure in urban China: A case study of Beijing' by Hongbo Chai et al.

This paper uses activity diaries to investigate gendered disparities in household responsibilities in Beijing.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Hongbo Chai, Patrick Witte, Stan Geertman & Dick Ettema (2025) entitled 'Gender difference in space–time fixity from household structure in urban China: A case study of Beijing' with a blue banner at the top. 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.
August 14, 2025 at 10:10 AM
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#OA in The GJ:

'How do you like your rivers? Portraying public perception & preference for urban rivers in China via a combined visual & textual analysis' by Yixin Cao et al.

This paper explores the role of social perceptions in sustainable urban river restoration in China
doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in The Geographical Journal by Yixin Cao, Wendy Yan Chen & Karl Matthias Wantzen (2025) entitled: 'How do you like your rivers? Portraying public perception and preference for urban rivers in China via a combined visual and textual analysis' with a blue banner at the top.
August 8, 2025 at 9:07 AM
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#OA in The GJ:

'Everyone's talking about climate change actions, but can we learn from Wales' approach?' by Lynda Yorke (@bugeography.bsky.social) et al.

This commentary examines Wales' journey in implementing & evaluating climate initiatives as a framework for broader use

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
August 4, 2025 at 1:22 PM
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#OA in The GJ:

'From The Hague to the margins: Th ICC, feminist geopolitics and alternative legal futures' by @sklosterkamp.bsky.social & Alex Jeffrey

This commentary critically examines how the structures of the International Criminal Court reproduce global inequalities.

doi.org/10.1111/geoj...
July 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM