This article examines the gendered dynamics of geography PhD study in the United Kingdom, addressing historical, spatial, and disciplinary patterns of female representation. Using metadata from the British Library's E-Theses Online Service (EThOS), we see a marked rise in female PhD graduates since the 1980s, with the gender gap narrowing significantly in recent decades. The year of PhD completion explains 18 percent of the variance observed in the data, but institutional and disciplinary disparities persist: Human geography PhDs are more gender-balanced, whereas physical geography remains male-skewed. Although Oxford, University College London, Birmingham, and Cambridge dominate in PhD completions, industrial heritage and the dynamics of institutional prestige also feature. Limitations in metadata completeness and a reliance on gender inferencing algorithms challenge inclusivity, pointing to the need for more comprehensive, intersectional studies to address inequalities across ethnicity and disability. By advancing knowledge of gender representation in UK geography PhD programs, the study contributes to ongoing efforts to promote diversity and inclusion within the discipline as a whole.

Research on gender in higher education frequently focuses on micro- or macro-scale factors-power relations and working practices, or disciplinary norms and the educational 'pipeline'-overlooking the meso-scale of 'place' embodied in departments and institutions. This study bridges that gap by applying data science and multilevel modelling within a quantitative feminist geographical framework to analyse gendered PhD completion patterns in the UK from 1990 to 2020. Using the British Library's E-Thesis Online Service (EThOS), we identify 'department-like units' as pivotal, accounting for 10.7% of the variation in the likelihood of a PhD student being female-more than any other grouping. Overall, STEM fields remain male-skewed, while the Arts and Humanities, and Social Sciences show a female skew. Institutional histories and geography also matter: in Scottish and Northern Irish universities students are more likely to be female compared with English universities, while the likelihood in Wales is lower. The use of statistical methods through a feminist lens offers a foundation for targeted interventions: our results suggest a greater focus on departments in equality initiatives like Athena SWAN and adjustments to funding policies to enhance diversity in PhD cohorts, particularly in male-dominated disciplines. Future work should integrate intersectional approaches to deepen understanding of these dynamics, but these findings emphasise the value of place-based analysis in addressing gender disparities and guiding policy.

Build-to-Rent (BTR) developments have expanded rapidly in the UK since 2013, often advertised as providing better quality rented accommodation for university-educated Millennials than available elsewhere in the private rental sector. However, the implications of this type of housing development, and especially its affordability, are poorly understood at the city scale, partly due to a lack of evidence of where these developments cluster and what they add to the housing stock in terms of property type, amenities and cost. This article draws on data relating to 373 BTR developments in London (representing over 40,000 housing units) to show that developments are clustered where transport-related infrastructural investments have opened 'rent gaps' that can be exploited by developers. Exploring how these BTR schemes are marketed, the article shows that this accommodation is typically provided through new short-term 'subscription services' which allow developers to rent property at a premium. Questioning whether BTRs really add affordable 'local' homes to the city, the article concludes that BTR provides 'quick-fix' rental accommodation which is doing little to solve London's housing crisis. We focus on the London BTR market and how the expansion of this housing type is reshaping the sociospatial geographies of the city. (sic) 2013 (sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(BTR) (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 373 (sic) BTR (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)((sic)(sic) 40,000 (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic))(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)".(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) BTR (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic) BTR (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), BTR (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) BTR (sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).

Since 2013, Permitted Development Rights (PDR) in England have allowed commercial-to-residential conversions in locations once deemed suitable only for non-residential land-use. This deregulation of planning control has been justified as a way of encouraging more home-building in areas experiencing ‘housing crisis’, but its overall consequences remain unclear. This paper hence compiles quantitative evidence on a city-wide scale on the price, size, build and location of these conversions in London 2013–2021. It finds that homes produced through this route are generally smaller than the London average and are over-concentrated in neighbourhoods with fewer accessible green spaces and higher-than-average levels of air pollution. Here, larger conversion schemes (of more than 10 units) appear particularly problematic, potentially subjecting residents to forms of ‘slow violence’ that could have long-term consequences for their physical and mental health. The paper also finds that, on average, PDR conversions are marginally more affordable than other new developments in the capital, but are also more expensive per square metre, suggesting deregulation is allowing developers to ‘extract’ maximum value from these schemes rather than providing affordable homes per se. The implications of this are discussed in relation to the politics of housing in London and the wider forms of planning deregulation allowing developers to accrue increased profits from housing in an era of intense financialisation.

Over the past 20 years, increasing land values, a rising population and inward investment from overseas have combined to encourage the demolition and redevelopment of many large council-owned estates across London. While it is now widely speculated that this is causing gentrification and displacement, the extent to which it has forced low-income households to move away from their local community remains to a large degree conjectural and specific to those estates that have undergone special scrutiny. Given the lack of spatially disaggregated migration data that allows us to study patterns of dispersal from individual estates, in this article, we report on an attempt to use consumer-derived data (LCRs) to infer relocations at a high spatial resolution. The evidence presented suggests that around 85% of those displaced remain in London, with most remaining in borough, albeit there is evidence of an increasing number of moves out of London to the South-East and East of England.

Women and gender minorities are underrepresented in positions of leadership and seniority in academia. Research on gender in higher education (HE) has varied in scale and methodological approach from large-scale global surveys to small-scale projects with interviews and focus groups, with a noticeable gap in the attention given to early career researchers and doctoral students, and the ways in which their experiences can vary significantly from discipline to discipline, institution to institution, and "department-like unit" to "department-like unit." Drawing on gender theory to link gender to power and gendered organizations, we connect this theoretical perspective to research on gender in HE. This article proposes a new agenda to develop our understanding of gender in HE by drawing together quantitative and feminist geography to focus on the issue at different "palatial" scales within HE. We propose expanding the definition of gender often used in quantitative research and to consider intersectionality, using open source data to provide novel and reproducible insights into the dynamics of gender in HE, and using quantitative geography methods to develop a multiscalar understanding of these dynamics.

In an era of smart cities, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data is purported to be the ‘new oil’, fuelling increasingly complex analytics and assisting us to craft and invent future cities. This paper outlines the role of what we know today as big data in understanding the city and includes a summary of its evolution. Through a critical reflective case study approach, the research examines the application of urban transport big data for informing planning of the city of Sydney. Specifically, transport smart card data, with its diverse constraints, was used to understand mobility patterns through the lens of the 30 min city concept. The paper concludes by offering reflections on the opportunities and challenges of big data and the promise it holds in supporting data-driven approaches to planning future cities.

What makes a great city? Why do people and businesses still value urban life and buildings over a quiet life in the suburbs or countryside? Now might seem a difficult time to make the case for social contact in urban areas - so why is face-to-face contact still considered crucial to many 21st-century economies? In a look back over a century's-worth of thinking about cities, business and office locations, this accessible book explains their ongoing importance as places that thrive on face-to-face meetings, and in negotiating uncertainty and 'sealing the deal'. Using interviews with business leaders and staff from knowledge-intensive, innovation-rich industries, it argues for the continuing value of the 'right' location despite the information revolution, the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI), and the COVID-19 pandemic. It also explores why digital systems have transformed businesses in cities and towns, but in fact have changed surprisingly little about the challenges of business life. This timely book gives readers, including developers, investors, policy-makers and students of planning or geography, essential tools for thinking about the future of places ranging from market towns to great World Cities. © Bristol University Press 2021. All rights reserved.

This introductory chapter sketches the territory to be explored: how ICT is, and is not, changing everything; the continuing importance of face-to-face contact in many sectors; how businesses adapt to this changing and digitally-dominated landscape; and what this all means for cities and towns. It summarises the book’s ‘layered’ structure: starting with the underpinning that infrastructure provides for contact (Chapter 2); explaining how F2F has such an important role to play in making markets and doing deals (Chapters 3 & 4); homing in on the core issue of why firms and workers value face-to-face interaction so highly, and interviewing the people involved about what they actually do day-to-day (Chapters 5 & 6); and finally on to the ‘so what for cities’ conclusions (Chapters 7 & 8). It stresses, too, a view of the coronavirus pandemic as an accelerant to already-existing trends: it may be the petrol, but it is not the fire.

We draw together the book’s themes. These revolve round the core importance of human contact, with face-to-face ever more important, not less, because when insight and knowledge matter F2F will always have the edge. This is despite the ever-deeper penetration of ICT, which allows more choice, accelerates change and enables unparalleled contact, but doesn’t replace face-to face. The pandemic ran a full-strength test of what an e-only work world could be like. The experience will cement and accelerate certain tendencies that already existed, but will not create fundamentally new ones. The long-run strength of central places is because ‘cities are about uncertainty’ and their offer of proximity, of the ‘buzz’, and of confidence is vital. The potential is great: ‘being there’ is still at the core of the urban experience, and face-to-face contact is what towns and cities do for a living.

We look at how Chapter 5’s ‘people ideas’ play out in practice; it is about real people talking about real jobs. Respondents described their interactions, how much was internal or external, the frequency and nature of contacts, and how much their social and work lives interpenetrated. Strongly evident in the responses is the role of different technologies in displacing face-to-face in specific contexts and settings. The trade-offs between on- and off-line encounters emerged, as did what that means for how firms conduct business and choose where to locate. A section titled Was This the Future? reports on a follow-up survey of our original interviewees in the midst of a global pandemic that tested our assumptions and arguments. With lockdowns, ‘social distancing’ and working from home as people’s ‘new normal’, was this the moment to discover that F2F wasn’t quite so important after all? The section reports both on immediate effects in their sectors, and their views on the likely longer-term impacts on how business would be done.

Starting with the basics of infrastructure, Chapter 2 shows how it un-levels the playing field, making distant places ‘close’ and near places ‘far away’. Digital networks are obviously a focus, but so too are transportation and other less glamorous systems. Networks which ‘equalise’ space exert a centrifugal force on activity and growth, spinning it outward, deconcentrating the urban form. The nodal networks tend to reinforce concentration, pulling growth in a ‘centripetal’ way towards the best-connected central places. So infrastructure networks create a ‘surface’ across which locational choices are made, reflecting the interactions between cost, speed, bandwidth, connectivity and convenience. Firms’ and households’ locational choices emerge from the degree of flexibility they have in terms of the connectivity they rely on. But which connectivity? Not every business needs every network. That leads on to subsequent chapters’ analysis of the specific mix of types of mobility and access that firms need, for the markets they serve and the deals they do.

We draw together from Chapters 2–6 many of the factors that will push and pull activities and people to and from our cities over the next few decades. For the great World Cities, the future looks like continued employment growth overall, but reduced dependence on large floorplates and serried ranks of desks. Digitisation will bite ever deeper, and give greater flexibility to support home- and remote-workers, but the wider benefits of agglomeration and clustering will still work in favour of these cities. For other places, the challenges are even greater: ranging down from the other major conurbations to freestanding market towns, medium-sized former industrial towns, places in the hinterlands of the World Cities, and University Towns as a particular form of advanced service centre. All will need careful understanding of scale, location and interrelationships in creating effective public policy for cities and regions - with implications for developers, investors and policymakers alike.

We analyse how and why Central Places come to dominate particular markets for goods and services. Goods, labour, skills and data all move in different ways and at different speeds through the networks, with different ‘ranges’: critical in determining how much centrality matters in each sector. This connects to the challenges of risk and uncertainty, and to the patterns of search and signalling which firms and their people deploy in different types of market: vital for the ‘opaque’ markets in the most dynamic sectors of the 21st century economy, where data on its own will not be enough, and where judgement and confidence are crucial. The chapter then homes in on the relationships between access to information, signalling and proximity in helping to acquire certainty and reduce risk. The density of the information ‘surface’ is why cities are so often the key locus of rare skills, of sites for the exchange of complex information, and of high-value markets.

We focus on transactions and their costs: how the where and who of ‘doing deals’ shapes choices about which business locations are more or less desirable. It unpicks the nature of the choices firms are making: what sort of transactions; what this imposes in terms of search costs; and how ICT is shifting the boundaries of these choices. Yet face-to-face interactions can still make or break a deal, and the informational advantages from being in central places and being able to meet a wide range of collaborators and competitors, can outweigh high urban costs. It looks at how distinguishing between co-location, agglomeration, and clustering can help us to understand the ‘stickiness’ of some locations and the vulnerability of others; and what drives firms’ choices along the axis of centralisation versus dispersal - where it seems that even in a digital age, many of them still can’t, or daren’t, operate without face-to-face contact.

We draw together the book’s themes. These revolve round the core importance of human contact, with face-to-face ever more important, not less, because when insight and knowledge matter F2F will always have the edge. This is despite the ever-deeper penetration of ICT, which allows more choice, accelerates change and enables unparalleled contact, but doesn’t replace face-to face. The pandemic ran a full-strength test of what an e-only work world could be like. The experience will cement and accelerate certain tendencies that already existed, but will not create fundamentally new ones. The long-run strength of central places is because ‘cities are about uncertainty’ and their offer of proximity, of the ‘buzz’, and of confidence is vital. The potential is great: ‘being there’ is still at the core of the urban experience, and face-to-face contact is what towns and cities do for a living.

g eo p y t e r , an acronym of Geographical Python Teaching Resources, provides a hub for the distribution of ‘best practice’ in computational and spatial analytic instruction, enabling instructors to quickly and flexibly remix contributed content to suit their needs and delivery framework and encouraging contributors from around the world to ‘give back’ whether in terms of how to teach individual concepts or deliver whole courses. As such, g eo p y t e r is positioned at the confluence of two powerful streams of thought in software and education: the free and open-source software movement in which contributors help to build better software, usually on an unpaid basis, in return for having access to better tools and the recognition of their peers); and the rise of Massive Open Online Courses, which seek to radically expand access to education by moving course content online and providing access to students anywhere in the world at little or no cost. This paper sets out in greater detail the origins and inspiration for g eo p y t e r , the design of the system and, through examples, the types of innovative workflows that it enables for teachers. We believe that tools like g eo p y t e r , which build on open teaching practices and promote the development of a shared understanding of what it is to be a computational geographer represent an opportunity to expand the impact of this second wave of innovation in instruction while reducing the demands placed on those actively teaching in this area.

We focus on the people and asks what role does personal choice and interaction play? The key issue here is the role of face-to-face interaction in the transfer of complex, uncertain knowledge. It analyses the different sorts of knowledge and relationships involved in day-to-day exchanges. This leads on to the milieux for such exchange, from meetings to bar-chat to the digital world; and to the need (or not) for frequent access to each other, and thus to the communication networks: digital in all cases, physical to varying degrees in others. This need varies according to the differential importance of knowledge, confidence and judgement across sectors and firms. All of it is more or less amenable to replacement by ICT; the questions explored are: what is the core of irreplaceable contact, to whom does it still matter and, consequently, what are the locational effects for cities and their hinterlands?