Space, Culture and Society (SCaS)
News
The Map Reader published
Martin Dodge and Chris Perkins have co-edited a large volume on cartographic theory entitled The Map Reader which has just been published.
Further details from the publisher Wiley.
"Rethinking Maps" published
"Rethinking Maps", a new book edited by Martin Dodge and Chris Perkins is now published. Further details from publishers website.
Mapping Manchester: Cartographic Stories of the City
A new public exhibition curated by Chris Perkins and Martin Dodge.
The John Rylands Library, Deansgate, 25th June 2009 - 17th January 2010
This exhibition reveals some of the ways in which mapping is ingrained into urban life. It demonstrates how maps work and change over time in response to technology, society and economic imperatives, highlighting visually striking cartographic representations of Manchester.
Mapping Manchester showcases the wealth of cartographic treasures held by the University of Manchester and other institutions in the city - including generous loans of material from the Manchester City Library and Archives and Chetham's Library. These maps are more than just 'pretty pictures' - they are powerful tools, instrumental in the making of the contemporary Manchester, and can be read as rich stories of urban life.
Martin Dodge's new edited book Geographic Visualization published
A new book on visualization, edited by SCaS member by Martin Dodge, has just been published by Wiley. The book entitled ‘Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications’ is co-edited with colleagues from Manchester Computing Mary McDerby and Martin Turner, and comprises fifteen original contributions. More details are on Martin’s blog.
Noteworthy research publications
SCaS members Fiona Smyth and Mark Jayne have had research articles published in the journal Progress in Human Geography in the last couple of months. Mark’s paper, co-written with Gill Valentine, and Sarah L. Holloway, is entitled ‘Geographies of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness: a review of progress’ (vol. 32, 247-263).
Fiona’ paper is entitled ‘Medical geography: understanding health inequalities’ (32, 119-127).
Chris Perkins and Martin Dodge have also had a jointly authored article published in North West Geography entitled, ‘The potential of user-generated cartography: A case study of the OpenStreetMap project and Mapchester mapping party’ (8, 19-32).
Conference News
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
ScaS members Chris Perkins and Mark Jayne also participated in the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Boston. Mark gave a paper entitled ‘Drinking as play: geographies of fun, foolishness, competition, tension and desire’ in a session on the Geographies of Play. Chris had a very busy time at the conference having organised a triple session on ‘Subversive cartographies’ with Jorn Seemann (Louisiana State University) and a double session on ‘Placing golf: landscapes, politics and cultures’. He also chaired a double session on ‘Situating Sat Nav’ that had been co-organised by Martin Dodge. The subversive cartographies sessions were a big success with a packed meeting room.
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference
Martin Dodge and Chris Perkins have organised sessions and a plenary at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference in London in late August. They have a triple session on ‘maps as method’ and are chairing a high profile lunchtime plenary discussion on the ‘future of the map’ with Denis Wood, Mary Spence and Ed Parsons.
Alcohol research published
Drinking places: Where people drink and why
It is well-established that attitudes to alcohol vary by social group, but there is little research on how geography affects these attitudes.
This report investigates where people drink alcohol and why in two contrasting communities, one urban and one rural. Looking at a range of drinking, from abstinence to bingeing.
Martin Dodge and Mark Patterson (from the University of Exeter) co-organised a double session on ‘touch’ at the RGS-IBG 2007 conference in London. Titled ‘touching places / placing touch: space, culture and tactility’, the aim was to advance understanding of touch in geographical scholarship, moving beyond a physical mapping of uneven tactility, to focus on developing a rich understanding of touch in terms of individual social life, personal experiences and tasks, and spatial contexts. Eight stimulating and cross-cutting papers were delivered to a engaged audience. Sara, Martin and Mark are looking to develop some form of publication from the sessions. Sara also gave a paper at the conference on ‘crystals, angels and tarot cards: placing re-enchantment in the everyday’ in a session on Enchanting Geographies.
Chris Perkins participated in the International Cartographic Association (ICA) conference in August 2007 in Moscow, giving a paper on ‘cultures of map use’. Chris has also lead the creation of a new ICA commission on the theme of ‘maps and society’. The goal of the commission is to build bridges between the ICA and researchers involved in mapping who are currently outside the organisation. It will also encompass mapping practice, by building bridges between ICA and other groups of ‘everyday mappers’ in very diverse social and cultural contexts. The idea is to develop a commission that will be inclusive and active, with a deliberately wide contextual remit: a commission seeks wider community involvement. Chris will serve as the first chair of the commission and expects to organise a number of high-profile workshops during the next year.
Martin Dodge and Chris Perkins also hosted ‘State of the Map’, the first conference for OpenStreetMap (an innovative open-source mapping project). The two-day conference held over the weekend of 14-15th July 2007 was a great success with speakers from many countries and over 80 attendees.
Appointment of Maria Kaika
We are please that Dr Maria Kaika has recently been apppointed as a Reader within the School. One of her roles will be to lead the Space, Culture and Society research group. Her research interests are urban theory, and more specifically on the politics and culture of architectural technology and design and on urban political ecology. She will be moving up to Manchester in the summer.
Participation at the Association of American Geographers meeting
Several memebers of the Space, Culture and Society research group participated in the recent AAG meeting in San Francisco. Mark Jayne took part in a successful panel discussion titled, 'Under the influence' in urban public space: Geographies of alcohol consumption.
Martin Dodge organised a double-session on 'Software and Space' with Matthew Zook and Rob Kitchin, considering the interrelations between code and the automatic production of space in a range of context. Presenters were drawn from sociology and media studies as well as geography. Professor Nigel Thrift acted as a discussant.
Chris Perkins and Martin Dodge organised a very successful double-session titled Google Earth as the 'view from nowhere': The spatial politics of high resolution satellite imagery. The eight papers and two discussants presented to a packed audience. Chris and Martin are planning to develop a journal special issue following on from this session.
Great news that Chris Perkins has won a prestigious award from the Leverhulme Trust to support Michael Mayhew (right) as a year-long ‘artist in residence’ in the School of Environment and Development. Michael Mayhew already has established links with members of SCaS, including participation in innovative teaching.
Professor Rob Kitchin awarded a Simon visiting professorship
Professor Rob Kitchin (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) has been awarded a visiting professorship in the School of Environment and Development for three and half months at the start of 2007. He will be hosted in Geography and will be involved with SCaS activities and is collaborating in joint research with several members of SCaS.
Members of SCaS successfully revamped the first year introductory fieldtrip to Keswick, developing a new human geography project using enquiry-based learning. This development was supported by a small grant from the University’s Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-based Learning.
Martin Dodge and Sara MacKian also successfully bid for Faculty teaching developments funds for a project titled, “‘Second Life’ for Student Learning: Bringing Urban Geography Fieldwork into a Virtual World”, that will develop new practical elements linking their third year courses. Sara MacKian is also exploring the potential of a blog to foster student engagement on her third year Otherworlds course.
News of new books. Several members of SCaS have new books out.
Small Cities edited by David Bell and Mark Jayne (Routledge).
Companion Encyclopedia of Geography, Second Edition, edited by Ian Douglas, Richard Huggett, and Chris Perkins (Routledge).
Chinese language translation of Mapping Cyberspace by Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin was recently published by Weber Publications.
Manchester take RGS by storm!: members of ScaS are convening 4 sessions at the forthcoming RGS/IBG Annual Conference in London in September
Launch event: to highlight the work of SCaS we will be holding a launch event ‘Performing the City’ in 2007. Watch this site for details!