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There is a growing trend across the social sciences to engage with archives. Within human geography, this has stimulated a debate about the nature of archives, including moving from considering 'archive as source' to 'archive as subject.' We build on and extend this thinking, suggesting that an even more active appreciation of the dynamic nature of relationships between researchers, owners of records, and archival material is needed. This paper draws on an interdisciplinary study of voluntary action and welfare provision in England in the 1940s and 2010s to highlight how the different iterative processes involved in collaborative archival research are part of what we call co‐curation. Co‐curation involves the negotiated identification, selection, preparation, and interpretation of archival materials. This has implications for both research processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving successful multi‐stakeholder collaboration for sustainable outcomes is complex. This paper provides key principles for future co‐design projects aimed at fostering an inclusive approach to research. These have been developed based on a novel methodology that co‐designed the essential components of a long‐term, collaborative agreement for a nature recovery scheme in England. Using an assortment of iterative, deliberative participatory methods, this research engaged a wide variety of stakeholders to produce a template agreement for an agri‐environmental policy. We demonstrate that a flexible, highly reflective approach resulted in positive engagement with previously marginalised stakeholders. The approach also successfully navigated the unequal power dynamics seen both within and between groups. Finally, multiple feedback loops allowed participants to continually build on previous interactions as they developed and reviewed the agreement. By drawing out the complexities of the co‐design process, this paper explains how co‐design efforts can produce potentially transformative outputs. We hope that the principles introduced here offer a useful starting point for those planning to undertake multi‐stakeholder co‐design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the use of emancipatory research principles in archival research and contends with the suitability of academic conventions that characterise ethical practice when the research goal is to elevate the voices of marginalised historical groups. Drawing on a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home, England (1948–1975) to address a critical gap in the literature, I highlight some ethical dilemmas I encountered when working at the nexus of historical geography and geographies of disability. This paper demonstrates what an emancipatory research approach means for an archival study of disability, using examples to illustrate how ethical decisions impacted all stages of the research design and the write‐up of findings. I argue that ethics should not be envisaged solely as an approval process completed at the project's outset. Rather, the explorative nature of archival research necessitates that ethics should be an iterative undertaking, with archival sources having the potential to shape both the content and conduct of the research. The paper uses a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home to explore research ethics and the applicability of emancipatory research principles for an archival study of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the utility of using qualitative comparative analysis ( QCA) in geographical research following the 'complexity turn'. Although QCA methodology has increasingly been applied in other social science disciplines, it is not widely used by geographers. The major benefit of QCA is that it can handle complexity by exploring different pathways that generate the same outcome, which applies to much spatial research. Significantly, QCA is case - rather than variable - oriented, which is hugely important when considering the significance of context. In this paper we illustrate how QCA can be applied in the discipline of geography through a case study of area-level health resilience. We argue that QCA can be usefully applied to such geographical questions as it aids our understanding of the complex processes that lead to spatial variations in health. Moreover, QCA enables geographical research to bridge the quantitative-qualitative divide. We conclude that QCA has great potential for exploring the complex, spatial factors that influence area-level health resilience by being context-sensitive and case-oriented. We make the case for applying this methodology in future geographical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the potential difficulties associated with researching controversial and/or sensitive issues. Drawing on the findings from in-depth interviews with farmers, the paper provides a reflexive commentary on the use of visual vignettes to explore farmers' attitudes towards the control of bovine tuberculosis in England - currently a highly controversial subject. Five short video clips were shown to interviewees to prompt discussions about different aspects of disease control, including methods to vaccinate and cull badgers. Visual vignettes have not been used widely outside the fields of health and social care. The method is used here to encourage interviewees to discuss sensitive issues related to badger control, including their trust in various stakeholders involved in the management of bovine tuberculosis, their own knowledge and understanding about disease control, and their attitudes towards control methods. The results suggest that visual vignettes have a number of advantages that could benefit research in human geography and the wider social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adds to on-going debates about food provisioning in England and the relative positioning of supermarkets vis-à-vis other sources of fresh food. Arguing that traditional food markets have been neglected in the agri-food literature, the paper investigates the suggestion that they are at 'a critical juncture', with many in decline and others being (re-)gentrified for a wealthier type of customer. Theoretically, the article argues that the 'internal' and 'external' spaces and places of traditional food markets are tightly interwoven. It draws on database analysis and detailed findings from interviews with market managers, traders and shoppers conducted on markets in contrasting regions of England in the cities of Newcastle and Cambridge. The findings provide new insights by examining the connective spaces and places that link market actors and consumers as fresh food moves across the geographical regions and through the marketplace. Taking a relational view, the paper challenges the suggestion that traditional food markets are at 'a critical juncture', arguing that there are unique points of difference on how the traditional food market adapts to rapid retail change, according to its geography, history and the spatial and temporal tensions between traditional and modernised fresh food provisioning systems, and suggests the need for further in-depth research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the transition of talk to text in the process of performing and recording semi-structured interviews over the telephone. In particular, it considers the ways respondents and the materials enjoined in the process of interviewing exceed their role in the research process. Drawing on my experience of conducting telephone interviews in the UK, I position the interview as an uncertain encounter: one framed by earlier narrations as much as the aims and objectives of the research project; and an orientation towards ‘talk’ as much as the reduction of performance to text. Far from losing track of these uncertainties I argue that tape-recorders are well equipped to document these in/audible realms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word ‘dwelling’, to dwell, supposes engagement, in the sense that those who dwell are seen to engage with others and, in doing so, contribute to social capital and cohesion expressed in the forming of ‘community’. Second home buying may be viewed as a course of action severing the process–product link between dwelling and community, as a brake on the community building process. In this paper, I contrast the view of dwelling as process – and its coupling with the ‘traditional’ place–community – with alternative notions of dwelling, and argue that the prevailing view is largely concerned with public and collective dwelling (and ‘productive interaction’), and underplays the importance of private dwelling, and hence the self-identity and orientation – key aspects of dwelling – that flow from the use of private property, including the use of second homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory research approaches are increasingly popular with geographers in developed as well as developing countries, as critical qualitative methodologies which at their best work with participants to effect change. This paper adds to recent debates over the methodologies, practices, philosophical and political issues involved. Drawing on a project on young people, exclusion and crime victimization in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, we discuss the limitations of participatory diagramming and illustrate some of the social and political barriers to meaningful participation in, and action from, this type of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new flood risk policy discussion in England has started to redefine national policy regarding flood and coastal risk management. The key issue in the new policy agenda is to encourage the responsibilities of local authorities in flood risk management, which involve defining local strategies to manage local risks. This downscaling process in flood risk management has a series of consequences in the development of new governance structures and institutions as well as new working relations and intervention strategies. Nevertheless, the main problem is the gap between the downscaling of responsibility and the transfer of resources; in particular the question concerning funding and social capacity. In this way, the focus of policy discussion refers to two main aspects: (a) the equitable sharing of risk-burdens between public authorities, private companies and individuals and (b) how to encourage government agencies and nongovernment agents to take over responsibility for certain tasks from central government. The aim of this paper is to discuss the new funding regime for English flood risk management policy under the new policy paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration scholarship has recently paid attention to lifecourse and non‐economic effects of moving house. Yet consideration of the effects of internal migration in later life has been relatively neglected despite their implications for social and spatial inequalities. Thus we address two questions: how trajectories of wellbeing in later life vary for movers and non‐movers, and how the event of moving affects wellbeing. In both cases we distinguish between "voluntary" and "involuntary" movers. We use 10 years (2002–2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to analyse trends in wellbeing for age cohorts and to examine how wellbeing changes through the event of moving. The Control, Autonomy, Selfrealisation and Pleasure (CASP‐19) measure of wellbeing is used. We find that, after controls for demographic and socio‐economic characteristics, involuntary movers have lower levels of wellbeing than stayers or voluntary movers; and involuntary movers experience a stabilisation in the decline in wellbeing following migration which is not seen for voluntary movers. So, migration in later life is good for wellbeing, maintaining advantageous wellbeing trajectories for voluntary movers and improving wellbeing trajectories for involuntary movers. These findings imply a rich potential of ELSA and similar longitudinal datasets for examining residential mobility; the need for ageing inequalities studies to take more account of residential mobility; the need for internal migration scholarship to pay greater attention to reason for move; and for policy to consider the potentially beneficial effects of residential mobility in later life, particularly for those in adverse circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater mills historically were found throughout England serving a wide variety of uses. The decline in the need for water power over the last 100 years saw a reduction in the number of operational mills. Despite this decline, the associated river structures were rarely removed and many of these have exceeded their design life and have failed or are now starting to fail, with important geomorphological implications for the river. This paper investigates the geomorphological impacts of mills and their structures on English rivers, and considers their legacy for the contemporary management of these systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current interest in neighbourhood-based policy in England and considers the extent to which the output geography developed for the 2001 census helps to meet the need for neighbourhood-based data. The characteristics of the new census output geography are presented, and the difficulties of creating meaningful neighbourhood geographies from statistical reporting units reviewed. The new geography will provide a much improved basis for the consolidation of data from official administrative sources, but additional challenges are also discussed in relation to the future of census data collection and publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our study is to examine whether the widening of the distribution of body mass index (BMI) for England can be explained by compositional changes within the population or contextual changes in the relationships between explanatory variables and BMI. Race, socio‐economic status, and physical activity were important factors in explaining trends at the 90th centile of BMI, with contextual changes more influential than compositional changes. While there is increasing international evidence for the widening of the distribution of body mass index (BMI), there has been little attempt to explain this trend. The aim of our study is to examine whether the trend can be explained by compositional changes within the population or contextual changes in the relationships between explanatory variables and BMI. Data from the Health Survey for England for 2002–2004 and 2012–2014 were used. BMI was our outcome variable and explanatory variables included age, sex, race, education, occupation, and physical activity. We examined how predictors of BMI varied at the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles using unconditional quantile regressions. Oaxaca‐Blinder type decomposition analysis was then applied to examine whether contextual or compositional explanations accounted for changes in the distribution between time periods. We found that changes in the nature of relationships observed by our coefficient values accounted for the majority of the difference in BMI at the 90th percentile in 2012–2014 compared to 2002–2004. Race, physical activity, and socio‐economic status were the primary reasons for explaining the continued growth of the right tail of the BMI distribution. Compositional changes in the population were less influential, but may have offset some of the contextual changes to relationships. Changing relationships between predictors of BMI reflect systematic changes in the determinants of BMI, leading to the widening of the BMI distribution. Our results demonstrate the importance of multi‐tiered policies aimed at tackling the varying influences across the BMI distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood risk in the UK is recognised by many as a major 21st‐century challenge. However, flood risk management has become widely contested, with the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee recently calling for major governance reform. Engaging this debate, this commentary evaluates the extent to which such reform is necessary or wise when it appears that it may ironically, albeit inadvertently, exacerbate key criticisms of the current system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]