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National censuses are expensive. They are conducted infrequently. They collect information that some feel infringes their human rights, and people are required by law to complete them. The outputs are not perfect, and in some situations may be misleading. Some suggest that censuses hark back to a period when regularly collected administrative data were not available. These are some of the views held about national censuses. Why, then, would others argue that they are an essential resource? In this paper, we consider some of the pros and cons of conducting national censuses, before introducing a series of papers that draw on early data available from the 2001 UK census. We argue that these papers, and the wealth of research that will be conducted in the future with 2001 census data, make a strong case for supporting the compulsory collection of personal information about the ‘entire’ population every ten years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discursive analysis of Great Britain's Conservative Party 2011 Green Paper "One World Conservatism: A Conservative agenda for international development." It offers a comparison of the conception of development in that paper with the 1997 Labour Party White Paper which launched the development of the Department for International Development (DFID). The discourse used to describe Britain's role in promoting global development and reducing poverty is examined.

Summary In this paper it is proposed that the territory of governance is currently being reconfigured by the state. The state is pulling back from a universalist, welfare role, which entailed comprehensive governance of the whole national territory. Now a much more selective form of government is coming into being, concerned with 'community', 'diversity' and 'locality'. This is not, however, simply a belated recognition by the state that these are ever more important features of socio-spatial life: rather, it is part of the reconfiguration of the territory of government as the state invokes these characteristics in order to modify its ways of governing. Using Foucault's concept of governmentality-that is the means used by the state to 'problematise' life within its territorial borders and then act on the basis of these problematisations-the recent case of the Rural White Paper is examined. It is proposed that this is a very clear example of a governmental retreat from a comprehensive role in the governance of rural areas and shows how the state now seeks to govern 'through communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents an analysis of the physical and environmental geography papers published in previous issues the periodical "Area." He identifies the trend where the increased contribution to Area comes from papers focusing on environmental problems as subjects of science. He states that physical and environmental geographers choose to publish in Area.

The article offers information on the Conservative Green paper released by Conservative Party to improve the contribution of Great Britain to gross national income. It mentions that Green Paper was written at the time of recession. It mentions that Green Paper focuses on the role of corporate contributions to international aid.

Introduces the articles published in the December 2003 issue of the periodical "Area". Topics of the articles; Authors who contributed to the issue.

The article offers information on the Conservative Green paper released by Conservative Party to improve the contribution of Great Britain to gross national income. It mentions that Green Paper was written at the time of recession. It mentions that Green Paper focuses on the role of corporate contributions to international aid.

The article lists the previous winners and the 2007 winner of the Wiley-Blackwell Area Prize which was announced at the RGS-IBG Annual General Meeting on June 2008 at the RGS-IBG headquarters in London, England including Jessica Graybill, Clare Herrick, and Pauline Couper.

The article announces that Christine McCulloch has received the 2006 Wiley-Blackwell Publishers Area Prize for New Research in Geography award from the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG).

Provides updates on manuscript submissions to the periodical 'Area' for the period January-December 2001. Number of papers submitted for publication; Origin of papers; Gender distribution of authors of manuscripts.

As a result of its importance to the discipline's identity and epistemology, the nature of fieldwork and the fieldtrip itself have recently come under close scrutiny in the education and geographical literature. Moreover, not only is their pedagogical importance being debated, but also their future viability at a time of increasing pressure on institutions to minimise potential risk situations in the field, offer value for money to students as well as following the increasingly common and popular trend of long-haul fieldtrips. This paper therefore critically interrogates the role and use of fieldwork within geographical teaching and learning in the light of its changing and increasingly contested status within the discipline in three parts. First, it outlines and reflects upon the current debate surrounding the threat to the primacy of fieldtrips in geography at a time of ongoing upheaval in higher education. Second, through the empirical example of personal experiences teaching on second-year undergraduate urban geography fieldtrips to San Francisco in December 2007 and 2008, the paper engages with the current discussions of the pedagogical importance of fieldtrips. Third, the paper asks, to what extent teaching in ‘the field’ might foster the ‘experiential’ or ‘active’ learning needed to inspire the kind of ‘deep learning’ approaches that hold the kind of ‘transformative’ potential envisaged as a key goal of education more broadly. Through exploring these ideas with reference to recent and relevant experience, the paper aims to critically interrogate the role and value of fieldtrips at a time when their potential demise is being cast as a fundamental assault on geography's founding identity and pedagogical traditions. The paper concludes that despite the threats it faces, the pedagogical significance of fieldwork means that it must remain a fundamental tenet of the geographical educational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares insights on the importance of a reference list. Common problems with reference lists; Fundamental law of good reference practice; Aspects of reference lists that are rarely commented upon.

The built heritage of most cities is heterogeneous, hybrid and multiple. However, certain heritage objects and meanings are invariably privileged over others in place-making strategies. In this paper we are interested in the production of local heritage and design discourses and their impact on the regulation of conservation and change in the built environment. Using the example of the legacy of post-war (i.e. 1950s and 1960s) modernist development in Manchester, England, the paper explores the performative work of place narratives in conservation policy. The contested heritage value of post-war modernist development in the UK is particularly relevant, given the difficulties posed by aspects of 1950s and 1960s design set against increased pressures for conservation. Accordingly, the conservation of aspects of 1950s/1960s urbanism can be fiercely resisted by urban leaders. Empirically, we examine the ways in which post-war heritage has been selectively incorporated into the dominant design and heritage narratives of the city of Manchester. Looking beyond Manchester, the paper contributes to conceptual debates about the situated politics of heritage and the institutional work performed by heritage discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy developments in the post-Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) have a major impact on global energy security and sustainability, thanks to this region's key geographical position between the energy-exporting states of the former Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the energy-importing states of Western and Southern Europe, on the other. At the same time, post-socialist reforms of energy industries in this region provide unique insights into the complex relations of power, economic transformation and spatial inequality that govern energy production and consumption. This paper therefore aims to provide an initial look at some of the theoretical and policy issues that underpin the emergent ‘geographies’ of energy reform in ECE, as well as their embeddedness in relations of power stemming from organisational, infrastructural and economic inequalities in the region. It employs an analysis of local news reports, policy papers and statistical data to examine the intricate institutional networks and spatial formations that have governed the energy transformation process. In broader terms, the paper aims to emphasise the important role that human geography can play in making sense of the territorial differences and frictions that have emerged during the post-socialist reform process, while challenging the idea of a ‘neat’ neoliberal transition from a centrally planned to a market-based mode of energy regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the concept of nanotechnology and explores the potential of the technology. The authors note that nanotechnology has been held up by many to be the savior of the times, claiming that it will help accomplish everything from fighting disease to ending world hunger. The authors examine three papers that have been published on the topic and discusses the differences. They note that there is a social side involved that will deal with public response and government regulation.

Presents an introduction to the March 2005 issue of the journal "Area."

Editorial. Comments on several articles related to geographies of childhood published in the 2001 issue of the journal 'Area.' Information related to several articles included in the journal; Issues related to the theme of the journal; Purpose of the journal.

Cites the 2000 annual report of Mike Bradshaw, the editor of the periodical 'Area.' Number of papers published; Manuscripts received; Use of electronic mail for the transmission of papers to be 'refereed.'

This paper extends recent work that has called for greater attention to be paid to nonhuman difference. The burgeoning animal geographies literature has been very successful in dissecting the concept of 'nature' and in examining the myriad ways in which animal and human lives are intertwined. However, its focus is more often on collectivities, such as species and herds, than on individual animals. Through the brief case study of an octopus in The Deep, an aquarium in Kingston-upon-Hull, UK, the paper draws on and develops recently promoted notions of responsible anthropomorphism. It argues that future work might usefully pay greater attention to the lived experience of individual animals, and that further emphasis should be given to non-mammalian life forms. Doing so might not only shed light on these creatures' encounters with humans, but also help to give a greater sense of their lives beyond these direct encounters, challenging understandings of what it means to be 'animal'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somewhat hesitantly, this paper asks 'what place for you and me in assemblage?' What, if anything, remains of the 'you' and the 'me' after 'assemblage theory'? As, with this new material imaginary, subjects are once again subject to dispersal and decentring, fading into flickering networks and multiplied across orders and orderings, this paper seeks to recall the singularity of the other. To do so the paper reflects on the all too fragile difference between 'him' and 'it', and on how and why we should try to remember this difference (a recalling that may well constitute the 'we' in the first place). At the same time, the paper seeks to cite and perform specific 'relations of address'- belief, doubt, vow, dis-agreement, hesitation, promise, weeping, mourning, prayer - relations that are, arguably, specific to that between the I and Thou, and that demand a specific form of grammar, exposure and existential commitment. Finally, the paper suggests, albeit implicitly, that the forms of speech and rationalisation that we are involved in here, in papers and journals such as this, only take on sense when they are addressed to or owed to an other and that this corporeal, ethical and existential fact underwrites all other claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet discussion forums and other forms of virtual social networking media are increasingly being used as sites of discursive practice. Quite apart from the research opportunities offered by conventional forms of Internet research (such as surveys and polls), discussion forums (alongside Web-logs and social networking sites) arguably provide new opportunities for social researchers to gather data in this very particular, but nonetheless popular cultural context. This paper explores the phenomenon through the large amount of textual data generated from an article on climate change and sustainable lifestyles in the Guardian newspaper. The discourses that emerged in reaction to this article provide valuable insights into the social construction of climate change and sustainable lifestyles, demonstrating conflicting arguments relating to the acceptance of climate change as a human-induced phenomenon, the reliability of data used to assert arguments concerning global warming and the contested views expressed over the value of adopting more sustainable lifestyles. Further, the paper argues that environmental social scientists need to become aware of the potential for analysing virtual discussion forums and social networking sites as valuable data sources for their research, recognising that these represent both cultural artefacts in their own right and alternative sites of discursive practice for anonymous and immediate everyday talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been recognised that there is potential for the study of social enterprise to engage to a greater degree with the social science disciplines. This paper demonstrates that some of the research gaps relating to social enterprise and socially enterprising behaviour within the UK could be tackled within a geographical research agenda for social enterprise that recognises the place-based aspects of such activity. There is scope for a greater focus on the relationship between socially enterprising behaviour and the spaces of social enterprise within current discourses on the ‘sustainable’ city and ‘cohesive’ communities in particular. There is a need to investigate in more detail the role of social enterprise in tackling social exclusion and the creation of spaces of empowerment for marginalised and excluded groups. This paper puts forward the case for a research agenda for social enterprise that draws on the discipline of geography but also suggests ways in which geographers can bring their spatial lens to the development of interdisciplinary work on social enterprise. Through literature review the paper highlights knowledge gaps that geographers would be well-placed to fill and draws out some key avenues for future research that could be tackled within a redefined research agenda for social enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an emerging body of work on youth transitions, research has yet to explore the often unconventional routes to adulthood for young people marginalised through poverty. By drawing on interviews with 60 young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia, this paper explores the connections between poverty, migration and sex work and demonstrates that sex work provides a risky alternative, but often successful, path to independence for some rural–urban migrants. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for policies that seek to support young sex workers by enabling them to maintain their independence while seeking different employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long history of removing oneself from ‘society’ in order to recuperate or repair. This paper considers a yoga and massage retreat in Southern Spain, and what opportunities this retreat experience might offer for recuperation and the creation of healthy bodies. The paper positions ‘nature’ as an active participant, and as ‘enrolled’ in the experiences of the retreat as a ‘therapeutic landscape’, and questions how and what particular aspects of yoga practice (in intimate relation with place) give rise to therapeutic experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how hopes can be, and have been, placed in nanotechnology. Focusing on two recent UK government reports into the future of nanotechnology, by the DTI/OST and MoD, the paper describes how the disclosure of the nanoscale as a place subject to intervention, the act that is taken to define nanotechnology, can be understood in the context of anticipatory knowledge practices that create futures. Because the object of such practices are virtualities, such as opportunities and threats, the paper argues that affect is transversal to both nano-technoscience and anticipatory governance. In conclusion, I open up a set of questions about anticipatory knowledges and argue that the ground that enables hope to be placed in nanotechnology is the event that defines nano – to simultaneously reduce ‘life’ to matter and to multiply ‘life’ into a limitless set of materialities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an original study of the relationship between landscape and ideology through an examination of Pamir mountain toponyms. The research analyses traditional, Tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet Pamiri toponyms. It is the first study to compare mountain toponyms with existing research on the naming processes of urban Soviet and post-Soviet places. It also compares the Soviet political use of landscape with that by other political systems and ideologies, in particular Nazism. The paper finds that over time there are commonalities in the types of names selected for urban places and mountains and the rationale behind these choices. However, it also notes significant differences. These differences suggest that the concept of ‘the mountain’ did not carry the same political significance as the urban or other landscapes (the steppe and forest) in Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet ideological and nation-building constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Recounts the tasks and responsibilities of the co-editor of the physical and environmental geography periodical 'Area.' Differences in writing style and expectations of publishing; Journal's mission statement; Other journals on earth and environmental science.

This paper examines a key aspect of how the global geometries of finance and trade articulate the euro–dollar relationship. Here, European integration extends into a global financial and trading system replete with contradictions. The paper examines these, drawing upon a literature from international political economy, foregrounding the spatialities that they signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key to this paper is not so much the emotions of the researcher that emanate from fieldwork, but those of the researched (and their emotional intelligence). Using a vignette of research on the impact of the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak on rural economies in the north of England, the paper explores emotions as clues and ways of seeing. It is broadly influenced by a social constructionist approach that views emotion as created and understood in the context of relationships with others and made meaningful through discourses, language and signifiers. It does not, though, deny the physical sensations that accompany emotion and the ways in which emotions are embodied as individuals interact with others (human and non-human). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor about journal publications and language in the refereeing process.

This paper explores the use of personal solicited diaries as a qualitative research tool within social geography. Diaries were used with women from South Africa who recorded their experiences of violence over a period of one month. The paper analyses diaries in terms of their longitudinal benefits, their socially constituted nature, their use in conjunction with interviews and finally their potential for empowerment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the diary as a methodological tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between political hierarchy and the complex webs of political organization associated with urban governance. Deploying the concept of meta-governance and a study of urban policy reform in the West Midlands region of England, this paper claims that state and governmental hierarchies continue to have a crucial role in coordinating the activities of governance regimes in the UK. This paper concludes by considering the effects of hierarchical power on the systems of political participation and representation that are associated with urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares insights about professional responsibilities in academic publishing. Four principal groups of players in academic publishing who complement each other; Identification of the various processes involved in bringing a paper to print; Emphasis on the need of authors, editors, reviewers and publishers to act more responsibly and do their respective tasks to the best of their abilities.

Summary This paper focuses on the ways in which demographic, social and environmental factors, combined with differential emphases on priorities and patterns of spending between local authority jurisdictions, are contributing to a changing spatial geography of caring. This is examined firstly by highlighting how macro factors contribute to a restructured landscape of care, and secondly by examining the personal geographies of carers located within the Scottish environment. Finally, the paper suggests that as care moves from institutional space to the homespace, it may be creating a blurring of the boundaries between what has traditionally been public/institutional space, and the homespace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Under New Labour, the British Department for International Development (DFID) promises a radical and alternative new 'development agenda' and, more specifically, an end to 'development handouts'. The short cut to international development envisioned by Secretary of State Clare Short is explored in this paper, as is the 'messy' contextuality of writing about development in 'New Britain'. This paper raises questions about New Labour's discussion of the 'moral authority' for international development in 'post-colonial' Britain, particularly in light of the recent 'arms-to-Africa' affair involving Britain and Sierra Leone. The paper argues that Britannia's neoliberal vision of development is not so 'cool' and that, in ethical terms, the development of foreign policy toward Africa has not been consistent. In conclusion, the paper raises doubts about the likelihood of world poverty being halved by 2015 (as the DFID has confidently predicted). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper provides evidence of the movement towards a sector-based approach to regional development by the Welsh Development Agency, its effects on economic competitiveness and its role as a focal point for stimulating the development of specialized industrial clusters. The paper concentrates on the initiatives taking place in the electronics/IT, automotive and healthcare sectors in Wales, and the development of clustering through vertical linkages in the machine tooling sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares an author's experience during the IGC meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. First encounter with the International Geographic Union; Different styles used in the presentation of papers about geography and its concerns; Assertions on the usefulness of PowerPoint in the process of communication at the international congress.

Editorial. Highlights the September 2003 RGS-IBG Annual Conference. Environmental issues discussed during the conference; Theme of the conference; Papers presented during the event.

The article focuses on the Wiley-Blackwell Publishers' Area Prize for new geographical research. It says that the 2010 Area Prize winner will be introduced at the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographer (RGS-IBG) Annual Conference in August 2011. It says that the Area Prize aims to encourage submissions from new researchers and recognize outstanding geographical research. It also discusses researchers' qualifications, application procedures, and process of research evaluation.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Nicola Kime and colleagues on the eating behaviours of children and the importance of family setting in preventing obesity in children and another one by Melanie N. Tomintz and colleagues on the rate of smokers in Leeds, England and the implications for the location of the stop smoking services.

The article presents geographical perspectives about climate policy implementation . It highlights several papers relative to policy implementation that were first presented at the Royal Geographical Society conference in September 2006. Collectively, the papers evidence the need for a greater appreciation of the polyvalent geographies of climate policy implementation, to challenge and contextualize prevailing orthodoxies about how rapid climate change can or should be tackled. According to the author, the papers deal a range of theoretical and practical issues which assist geographers' understanding of the socially and politically embedded nature of climate policy implementation and the key challenges involved in making climate promises a reality.

Many geographers carry out research in locations away from home. In the name of fieldwork we sometimes travel out of our comfort zones. And then there are those of us who travel to places that are 'dangerous', where we engage in adventures while carrying out research. This paper reflects on the lure of the remote or unusual research destination for researchers who venture to 'foreign' or unfamiliar places. By turning the research lens on our own kind, this paper unpacks moments of excitement and trepidation, sometimes anticipated but rarely predicted, and the links to earlier encounters, of voyaging and story-telling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking European world music charts since 1991 as a surrogate measure of the salience of global economic and geographical linkages in world music production, our paper offers an in-depth analysis into the clustered and transnational dynamics therein. We substantiate the claim that the valorisation of commodified musical content has traditionally been removed from its place of origin and centred on metropolitan areas in Western Europe and the USA. However, the paper suggests a growing diversification in the geography of production, with the emergence of secondary centres with an international and national orientation. It also offers promising avenues for further research into the positionality of cultural mediation and the increasing prominence of hybrid musical output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper serves to offer an exploration of the everyday geographies of transnational elites (TNEs) living and working in Prague, Czech Republic. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu regarding the existence of multiple forms of capital, the author suggests that by reconsidering the role of place in understandings of cultural capital, and the links and interactions between social and cultural capital, original insights concerning the everyday lives of spatially dislocated individuals can be arrived at. Through a combination of in-depth interviews and secondary data, the spatio-temporal development of everyday social practices is investigated, paying particular attention to the interactions and social groups that TNEs are embroiled within. The qualitative analysis is embedded within a discussion of the economic and social changes that have occurred in Prague since 1993 in order that the historical specificities relevant to the growth of a significant TNE community in Prague are appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since George Marcus wrote his seminal article on multi-sited ethnography, this methodology has become much used by scholars who study people's everyday life in a global and transnational context. In that same article, Marcus argued that single-site ethnography can still be a useful methodology in the global era. In contrast with multi-sited ethnography, Marcus' thoughts about single-site ethnography have rarely been elaborated and put into practice so far. The aim of this paper is to show the value of doing single-site ethnography in the field of transmigration studies. The paper concentrates on migrants' personal experiences of living in-between two countries. Drawing on recent research by Katie Walsh, I will show how both the relationality and emotionality of transnational experiences can be studied in one place: the migrant house. The crux of an ethnography of the migrant house is to regard that place as both a relational and an emotional place. Since geographers have thorough knowledge about relational and emotional senses of place, they can play an important role in further developing these single-site ethnographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in the research environment during the conduct of ethnographic-style fieldwork often have a profound impact on the role of the researcher, her/his approach to the process of data acquisition as well as on the relations with the researched and the research environment. This paper deals with those implications in the context of a research project on EU development policy during the Kenyan post-election crisis in early 2008. It highlights how they can pose considerable challenges but also open up new spaces and modes of inquiry. In so doing, this paper addresses issues of researcher positionality and illustrates how such unexpected changes often require (re)negotiating the balance between multiple roles in the 'field'. I discuss how the Kenyan crisis impacted on the embodiment of the two roles as researcher and practitioner and on researcher/researched relations. Furthermore, the paper shows how the practitioner role largely mediated the effects of the Kenyan crisis on the conduct of fieldwork and thus enriched the research methodologically, thematically and spatially. At the same time, this raised a number of ethical issues. Finally, the paper concludes by highlighting how the spatiality of fieldwork, and the social constellations embedded in it, have significant impacts on such challenges and opportunities arising from unexpected changes in the research environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of offshore broadcasting stations such as Radio Caroline have often focused on the media-communication impacts of the phenomenon, rather than the ramifications these so-called 'pirate' stations had over the governance of sea-space. This paper examines the strategies by which successive British governments sought to regulate offshore 'pirate' broadcasts emanating from outside territorial boundaries, onboard ships in the North Sea. Between 1964 and 1991 it is contended that two different regulatory methods were enacted in order to control radio 'pirates'; firstly a non-marine/territorial approach, which sought to govern the sea through controlling activities within Britain's borders; and secondly, through a marine/non-territorial approach, which was aimed at regulating the ocean through managing the use of extra-territorial international space; the high seas. It is argued that the latter approach was particularly problematic as it challenged Britain's long-held ideology of maritime freedom. The paper makes a significant contribution in understanding Britain's legal and political relationship with the ocean and to the wider move towards 'geographies of the sea', through examining shifts in the governance of ocean space surrounding this episode in maritime history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently there has been a significant upsurge in the use of video methodologies in the study of the geographies of everyday and artistic practices. This paper seeks to contribute to this growing interest in a very particular sense, by thinking critically about what video does and does not offer to the study of embodied practice. Grounding this discussion in recent developments in the theorisation of practice, and related calls for further methodological thinking, the paper draws on the use of video in the study of the practice of street performance - and particularly the giving and receiving of donations within this and the contingency of the affective relations they produce - to show that while video can capture the minute detail of practices and allow for the close analysis of this, video in and of itself does not necessarily present or give a sense of the affective relations present in such encounters. The paper argues that video be incorporated into a broader ethnographic methodology in which the researching/researched body is central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]