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  • Rob Kitchin is a professor and ERC Advanced Investigator in the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis a... moreedit
This paper critically appraises citizens' participation in the smart city. Reacting to critiques that the smart city is overly technocratic and instrumental, companies and cities have reframed their initiatives as 'citizen-centric'.... more
This paper critically appraises citizens' participation in the smart city. Reacting to critiques that the smart city is overly technocratic and instrumental, companies and cities have reframed their initiatives as 'citizen-centric'. However, what 'citizen-centric' means in practice is rarely articulated. We draw on and extend Sherry Arnstein's seminal work on participation in planning and renewal programmes to create the 'Scaffold of Smart Citizen Participation' – a conceptual tool to unpack the diverse ways in which the smart city frames citizens. We then use this scaffold to measure smart citizen inclusion, participation, and empowerment in smart city initiatives in Dublin, Ireland. Our analysis illustrates how most 'citizen-centric' smart city initiatives are rooted in stewardship, civic paternalism, and a neoliberal conception of citizenship that prioritizes consumption choice and individual autonomy within a framework of state and corporate defined constraints that prioritize market-led solutions to urban issues, rather than being grounded in civil, social and political rights and the common good. We conclude that significant normative work is required to rethink 'smart citizens' and 'smart citizenship' and to remake smart cities if they are to truly become 'citizen-centric'.
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While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there... more
While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices as to how the smart city as a whole unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland, and examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to progressively frame and mobilise an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of 'Smart Dublin', a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin's smart city initiatives. We argue that Smart Dublin has on the one hand sought to corral smart city initiatives within a common framework, and on the other has acted to boost the city-region's smart city activities, especially with respect to economic development. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.
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Hackathons – quick prototyping events for commercial purposes – have become an important means to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and the start-up economy in smart cities. Smart and entrepreneurial cities have been critiqued with... more
Hackathons – quick prototyping events for commercial purposes – have become an important means to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and the start-up economy in smart cities. Smart and entrepreneurial cities have been critiqued with respect to the neoliberalization of governance and statecraft. We consider the passions, inventions and imitations in the assemblage of practices – alongside neoliberalizing and capitalist operations – that shape the economy and governance of smart cities. The paper examines hackathons as tech events that extend the passions for digital innovation and entrepreneurship and act as sites of social learning for the development of smart urbanism. We argue that passionate and imitative practices energize the desire and belief in entrepreneurial life and technocratic governance, and also engender precarious, ambiguous and uncertain future for participants and prototypes.
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This paper evaluates smart city (SC) initiatives in the context of re-using vacant property. More specifically, we focus on living labs (LL) and vacancy in general, as well as on their potential role in fostering creative economy-fuelled... more
This paper evaluates smart city (SC) initiatives in the context of re-using vacant property. More specifically, we focus on living labs (LL) and vacancy in general, as well as on their potential role in fostering creative economy-fuelled gentrification. LL utilise Lo-Fi technologies to foster local digital innovation and support community-focused civic hacking, running various kinds of workshops and engaging with local citizens to co-create digital interventions and apps aimed at 'solving' local issues. Five approaches to LL are outlined and discussed in relation to vacancy and gentrification: pop-up initiatives, university-led activities, community organised venues/activities, citizen sensing and crowdsourcing, and tech-led regeneration initiatives. Notwithstanding the potential for generating temporary and independent spaces for transferring and fostering digital competences and increasing citizens' participation in the SC, we argue that LL largely foster a form of participation framed within a model of civic stewardship for 'smart citizens'. While presented as horizontal, open, and participative, LL and civic hacking are often rooted in pragmatic and paternalistic discourses and practices related to the production of a creative economy and a specific version of SC. As such, by encouraging a particular kind of re-use of vacant space, LL potentially contributes to gentrification pressures within locales by attracting the creative classes and new investment. We discuss these approaches and issues generally and with respect to examples in Dublin, Ireland.
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In this paper, we argue that the ideas, ideals and the rapid proliferation of smart city rhetoric and initiatives globally have been facilitated and promoted by three interrelated communities. A new set of 'urban technocrats' – chief... more
In this paper, we argue that the ideas, ideals and the rapid proliferation of smart city rhetoric and initiatives globally have been facilitated and promoted by three interrelated communities. A new set of 'urban technocrats' – chief innovation/technology/data officers, project managers, consultants, designers, engineers, change-management civil servants, and academics – many of which have become embedded in city administrations. A smart cities 'epistemic community'; that is, a network of knowledge and policy experts that share a worldview and a common set of normative beliefs, values and practices with respect to addressing urban issues, and work to help decision-makers identify and deploy technological solutions to solve city problems. A wider 'advocacy coalition' of smart city stakeholders and vested interests who collaborate to promote the uptake and embedding of a smart city approach to urban management and governance. We examine the roles of new urban technocrats and the multiscale formation and operation of a smart cities epistemic community and advocacy coalitions, detailing a number of institutional networks at global, supra-national, national, and local scales. In the final section, we consider the translation of the ideas and practices of the smart city into the policies and work of city administrations. In particular, we consider what might be termed the 'last mile problem' and the reasons why, despite a vast and active set of technocrats and epistemic community and advocacy coalition, smart city initiatives are yet to become fully mainstreamed and the smart city mission successfully realized in cities across the globe. We illustrate this last mile problem through a discussion of plans to introduce smart lighting in Dublin.
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This paper provides a short introductory overview of urban science. It defines urban science, details its practioners and their aims, sets out its relationship to urban informatics and urban studies, and explains its epistemology and the... more
This paper provides a short introductory overview of urban science. It defines urban science, details its practioners and their aims, sets out its relationship to urban informatics and urban studies, and explains its epistemology and the analysis of urban big data. It then summarizes criticism of urban science with respect to epistemology, instrumental rationality, data issues, and ethics. It is concluded that urban science research will continue to grow for the foreseeable future, providing a valuable means of making sense of cities, but that it is unlikely it will become a new paradigm, producing an integrative approach that replaces the diverse philosophical traditions within urban studies.
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In this paper we examine the current state of play with regards to the security of smart city initiatives. Smart city technologies are promoted as an effective way to counter and manage uncertainty and urban risks through the effective... more
In this paper we examine the current state of play with regards to the security of smart city initiatives. Smart city technologies are promoted as an effective way to counter and manage uncertainty and urban risks through the effective and efficient delivery of services, yet paradoxically they create new vulnerabilities and threats, including making city infrastructure and services insecure, brittle, and open to extended forms of criminal activity. This paradox has largely been ignored or underestimated by commercial and governmental interests or tackled through a technically-mediated mitigation approach. We identify five forms of vulnerabilities with respect to smart city technologies, detail the present extent of cyberattacks on networked infrastructure and services, and present a number of illustrative examples. We then adopt a normative approach to explore existing mitigation strategies, suggesting a wider set of systemic interventions (including security-by-design, remedial security patching and replacement, formation of core security and computer emergency response teams, a change in procurement procedures, and continuing professional development). We discuss how this approach might be enacted and enforced through market-led and regulation/management measures, and examine a more radical preventative approach to security.
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In this paper, we examine the governmentality and the logics of urban control enacted through smart city technologies. Several commentators have noted that the implementation of algorithmic forms of urban governance that utilize big data... more
In this paper, we examine the governmentality and the logics of urban control enacted through smart city technologies. Several commentators have noted that the implementation of algorithmic forms of urban governance that utilize big data greatly intensifies the extent and frequency of monitoring populations and systems and shifts the governmental logic from surveillance and discipline to capture and control. In other words, urban governmentality is shifting from subjectification – molding subjects and restricting action – to modulating affects, desires and opinions, and inducing action within prescribed comportments. We examine this contention through an examination of two forms of urban informatics: city dashboards and urban control rooms and their use in urban governance. In particular, we draw on empirical analysis of the governmental logics of the Dublin Dashboard, a public, analytical dashboard that displays a wide variety of urban data, and the Dublin Traffic Management and Incident Centre (TMIC) and its use of SCATS (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System) to control the flow of traffic in the city. We argue that there is no one governmentality being enacted by smart city technologies, rather they have mutable logics which are abstract, mobile, dynamic, entangled and contingent, being translated and operationalized in diverse, context-dependent ways. As such, just as disciplinary power never fully supplanted sovereign power, control supplements rather than replaces discipline.
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To date, research examining the socio-spatial effects of smart city technologies have charted how they are reconfiguring the production of space, spatiality and mobility, and how urban space is governed, but have paid little attention to... more
To date, research examining the socio-spatial effects of smart city technologies have charted how they are reconfiguring the production of space, spatiality and mobility, and how urban space is governed, but have paid little attention to how the temporality of cities is being reshaped by systems and infrastructure that capture, process and act on real-time data. In this paper, we map out the ways in which city-scale Internet of Things infrastructures, and their associated networks of sensors, meters, transponders, actuators and algorithms, are used to measure, monitor and regulate the polymorphic temporal rhythms of urban life. Drawing on Lefebvre (1992[2004]), and subsequent research, we employ rhythmanalysis in conjunction with Miyazaki's (2012, 2013a/b) notion of 'algorhythm' and nascent work on algorithmic governance, to develop a concept of 'algorhythmic governance'. We then use this framing to make sense of two empirical case studies: a traffic management system and sound monitoring and modelling. Our analysis reveals: (1) how smart city technologies computationally perform rhythmanalysis and undertake rhythm-work that intervenes in space-time processes; (2) three distinct forms of algorhythmic governance, varying on the basis of adaptiveness, immediacy of action, and whether humans are in, on-, of-, off-the-loop; (3) and a number of factors that shape how algorhythmic governance works in practice.
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This chapter considers the relationship between data and the city by critically examining six key issues with respect city dashboards: epistemology, scope and access, veracity and validity, usability and literacy, use and utility, and... more
This chapter considers the relationship between data and the city by critically examining six key issues with respect city dashboards: epistemology, scope and access, veracity and validity, usability and literacy, use and utility, and ethics. While city dashboards provide useful tools for evaluating and managing urban services, understanding and formulating policy, and creating public knowledge and counter-narratives, our analysis reveals a number of conceptual and practical shortcomings. In order for city dashboards to reach their full potential we advocate a number of related shifts in thinking and praxes and forward an agenda for addressing the issues we highlight. Our analysis is informed by our endeavours in building the Dublin Dashboard.
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As many cities increase in size across multiple dimensions such as population, economic output and physical size, new methods for understanding and managing cities are required. Data produced by and about urban environments offer insight... more
As many cities increase in size across multiple dimensions such as population, economic output and physical size, new methods for understanding and managing cities are required. Data produced by and about urban environments offer insight into what is happening in cities. Real-time data from sensors within the city record current transport and environmental conditions such as noise levels, water levels, journey times and public transport delays. Similarly administrative data such as demographics, employment statistics, property prices and crime rates all provide insight into how a city is evolving. Traditionally, these data were maintained separately and managed by individual city departments. Advances in technology and a move to open-government have placed many of these data in the public domain. Urban dashboards have emerged as a technique to visualise these data in an accessible way. This paper describes the implementation of one such dashboard, the Dublin Dashboard, an interactive website which collects, analyses and visualises data from a variety of sources about Dublin in Ireland through a series of interactive maps, graphs and applications. This paper describes the approach, the data and the technology used to develop the Dublin Dashboard and acts as a guideline for developing urban dashboards in other cities.
Over the past decade the concept and development of smart cities has unfolded rapidly, with many city administrations implementing smart city initiatives and strategies and a diverse ecology of companies and researchers producing and... more
Over the past decade the concept and development of smart cities has unfolded rapidly, with many city administrations implementing smart city initiatives and strategies and a diverse ecology of companies and researchers producing and deploying smart city technologies. In contrast to those that seek to realise the benefits of a smart city vision, a number of critics have highlighted a number of shortcomings, challenges and risks with such endeavours. This short paper outlines a third path, one that aims to realise the benefits of smart city initiatives while recasting the thinking and ethos underpinning them and addressing their deficiencies and limitations. It argues that smart city thinking and initiatives need to be reframed, reimagined and remade in six ways. Three of these concern normative and conceptual thinking with regards to goals, cities and epistemology, and three concern more practical and political thinking and praxes with regards to management/governance, ethics and security, and stakeholders and working relationships. The paper does not seek to be definitive or comprehensive, but rather to provide conceptual and practical suggestions and stimulate debate about how to productively recast smart urbanism and the creation of smart cities.
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Kitchin, R. (2016) Getting smarter about smart cities: Improving data privacy and data security. Data Protection Unit, Department of the Taoiseach, Dublin, Ireland.... more
Kitchin, R. (2016) Getting smarter about smart cities: Improving data privacy and data security. Data Protection Unit, Department of the Taoiseach, Dublin, Ireland.  http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Publications/Publications_2016/Smart_Cities_Report_January_2016.pdf
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Over the past two decades urban social life has undergone a rapid and pervasive geocoding, becoming mediated, augmented and anticipated by location-sensitive technologies and services that generate and utilise big, personal, locative... more
Over the past two decades urban social life has undergone a rapid and pervasive geocoding, becoming mediated, augmented and anticipated by location-sensitive technologies and services that generate and utilise big, personal, locative data. The production of these data has prompted the development of exploratory data-driven computing experiments that seek to find ways to extract value and insight from them. These projects often start from the data, rather than from a question or theory, and try to imagine and identify their potential utility. In this paper, we explore the desires and mechanics of data-driven computing experiments. We demonstrate how both locative media data and computing experiments are 'staged' to create new values and computing techniques, which in turn are used to try and derive possible futures that are ridden with unintended consequences. We argue that using computing experiments to imagine potential urban futures produces effects that often have little to do with creating new urban practices. Instead, these experiments promote Big Data science and the prospect that data produced for one purpose can be recast for another and act as alternative mechanisms of envisioning urban futures.
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Big Data has been variously defined in the literature. In the main, definitions suggest that Big Data possess a suite of key traits: volume, velocity and variety (the 3Vs), but also exhaustivity, resolution, indexicality, relationality,... more
Big Data has been variously defined in the literature. In the main, definitions suggest that Big Data possess a suite of key traits: volume, velocity and variety (the 3Vs), but also exhaustivity, resolution, indexicality, relationality, extensionality and scalability. However, these definitions lack ontological clarity, with the term acting as an amorphous, catch-all label for a wide selection of data. In this paper, we consider the question 'what makes Big Data, Big Data?', applying Kitchin's taxonomy of seven Big Data traits to 26 datasets drawn from seven domains, each of which is considered in the literature to constitute Big Data. The results demonstrate that only a handful of datasets possess all seven traits, and some do not possess either volume and/or variety. Instead, there are multiple forms of Big Data. Our analysis reveals that the key definitional boundary markers are the traits of velocity and exhaustivity. We contend that Big Data as an analytical category needs to be unpacked, with the genus of Big Data further delineated and its various species identified. It is only through such ontological work that we will gain conceptual clarity about what constitutes Big Data, formulate how best to make sense of it, and identify how it might be best used to make sense of the world.
For as long as data have been generated about cities various kinds of data-informed urbanism have been occurring. In this paper, I argue that a new era is presently unfolding wherein data-informed urbanism is increasingly being... more
For as long as data have been generated about cities various kinds of data-informed urbanism have been occurring. In this paper, I argue that a new era is presently unfolding wherein data-informed urbanism is increasingly being complemented and replaced by data-driven, networked urbanism. Cities are becoming ever more instrumented and networked, their systems interlinked and integrated, and vast troves of big urban data are being generated and used to manage and control urban life in real-time. Data-driven, networked urbanism, I contend, is the key mode of production for what have widely been termed smart cities. In this paper I provide a critical overview of data-driven, networked urbanism and smart cities focusing in particular on the relationship between data and the city (rather than network infrastructure or computational or urban issues), and critically examine a number of urban data issues including: the politics of urban data; data ownership, data control, data coverage and access; data security and data integrity; data protection and privacy, dataveillance, and data uses such as social sorting and anticipatory governance; and technical data issues such as data quality, veracity of data models and data analytics, and data integration and interoperability. I conclude that whilst data-driven, networked urbanism purports to produce a commonsensical, pragmatic, neutral, apolitical, evidence-based form of responsive urban governance, it is nonetheless selective, crafted, flawed, normative and politically-inflected. Consequently, whilst data-driven, networked urbanism provides a set of solutions for urban problems, it does so within limitations and in the service of particular interests.
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In this paper, we examine the relationship between the digital and geography. Our analysis provides an overview of the rich scholarship that has examined: (1) geographies of the digital, (2) geographies produced by the digital, and (3)... more
In this paper, we examine the relationship between the digital and geography. Our analysis provides an overview of the rich scholarship that has examined: (1) geographies of the digital, (2) geographies produced by the digital, and (3) geographies produced through the digital. Using this material we reflect on two questions: has there been a digital turn in geography? and, would it be productive to delimit 'digital geography' as a field of study within the discipline, as has recently occurred with the attempt to establish 'digital anthropology' and 'digital sociology'? We argue that while there has been a digital turn across geographical sub-disciplines, the digital is now so pervasive in mediating the production of space and in producing geographic knowledge that it makes little sense to delimit digital geography as a distinct field. Instead, we believe it is more productive to think about how the digital reshapes many geographies.
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Within the context of the smart city, data are an integral part of the digital economy and are used as input for decision making, policy formation, and to inform citizens, city managers and commercial organisations. Reflecting on our... more
Within the context of the smart city, data are an integral part of the digital economy and are used as input for decision making, policy formation, and to inform citizens, city managers and commercial organisations. Reflecting on our experience of developing real-world software applications which rely heavily on urban data, this article critically examines the veracity of such data (their authenticity and the extent to which they accurately (precision) and faithfully (fidelity, reliability) represent what they are meant to) and how they can be assessed in the absence of quality reports from data providers. While data quality needs to be considered at all aspects of the data lifecycle and in the development and use of applications, open data are often provided 'as-is' with no guarantees about their veracity, continuity or lineage (documentation that establishes provenance and fit for use). This allows data providers to share data with undocumented errors, absences, and biases. If left unchecked these data quality issues can propagate through multiple systems and lead to poor smart city applications and unreliable 'evidence-based' decisions. This leads to a danger that open government data portals will come to be seen as untrusted, unverified and uncurated data-dumps by users and critics. Drawing on our own experiences we highlight the process we used to detect and handle errors. This work highlights the necessary janitorial role carried out by data scientists and developers to ensure that data are cleaned, parsed, validated and 2 transformed for use. This important process requires effort, knowledge, skill and time and is often hidden in the resulting application and is not shared with other data users. In this paper, we propose that rather than lose this knowledge, in the absence of data providers documenting them in metadata and user guides, data portals should provide a crowdsourcing mechanism to generate and record user observations and fixes for improving the quality of urban data and open government portals.
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'Smart cities' is a term that has gained traction in academia, business and government to describe cities that, on the one hand, are increasingly composed of and monitored by pervasive and ubiquitous computing and, on the other, whose... more
'Smart cities' is a term that has gained traction in academia, business and government to describe cities that, on the one hand, are increasingly composed of and monitored by pervasive and ubiquitous computing and, on the other, whose economy and governance is being driven by innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, enacted by smart people. This paper focuses on the former and, drawing on a number of examples, details how cities are being instrumented with digital devices and infrastructure that produce 'big data'. Such data, smart city advocates argue enables real-time analysis of city life, new modes of urban governance, and provides the raw material for envisioning and enacting more efficient, sustainable, competitive, productive, open and transparent cities. The final section of the paper provides a critical reflection on the implications of big data and smart urbanism, examining five emerging concerns: the politics of big urban data, technocratic governance and city development, corporatisation of city governance and technological lock-ins, buggy, brittle and hack-able cities, and the panoptic city.
Since the mid-1990s a plethora of indicator projects have been developed and adopted by cities seeking to measure and monitor various aspects of urban systems. These have been accompanied by city benchmarking endeavours that seek to... more
Since the mid-1990s a plethora of indicator projects have been developed and adopted by cities seeking to measure and monitor various aspects of urban systems. These have been accompanied by city benchmarking endeavours that seek to compare intra-and inter-urban performance. More recently, the data underpinning such projects have started to become more open to citizens, more real-time in nature generated through sensors and locative/social media, and displayed via interactive visualisations and dashboards that can be accessed via the internet. In this paper, we examine such initiatives arguing that they advance a narrowly conceived but powerful realist epistemology – the city as visualised facts – that is reshaping how managers and citizens come to know and govern cities. We set out how and to what ends indicator, benchmarking and dashboard initiatives are being employed by cities. We argue that whilst these initiatives often seek to make urban processes and performance more transparent and to improve decision making, they are also underpinned by a naive instrumental rationality, are open to manipulation by vested interests, and suffer from often unacknowledged methodological and technical issues. Drawing on our own experience of working on indicator and dashboard projects, we argue for a conceptual re-imaging of such projects as data assemblages – complex, politically-infused, socio-technical systems that, rather than reflecting cities, actively frame and produce them.
The development of big data is set to be a significant disruptive innovation in the production of official statistics offering a range of opportunities, challenges and risks to the work of National Statistical Institutions (NSIs). This... more
The development of big data is set to be a significant disruptive innovation in the production of official statistics offering a range of opportunities, challenges and risks to the work of National Statistical Institutions (NSIs). This paper provides a synoptic overview of these issues in detail, mapping out the various pros and cons of big data for producing official statistics, examining the work to date by NSIs in formulating a strategic and operational response to big data, and plotting some suggestions with respect to ongoing change management needed to address the use of big data for official statistics.
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This article examines how the availability of Big Data, coupled with new data analytics, challenges established epistemol-ogies across the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and assesses the extent to which they are engendering... more
This article examines how the availability of Big Data, coupled with new data analytics, challenges established epistemol-ogies across the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and assesses the extent to which they are engendering paradigm shifts across multiple disciplines. In particular, it critically explores new forms of empiricism that declare 'the end of theory', the creation of data-driven rather than knowledge-driven science, and the development of digital humanities and computational social sciences that propose radically different ways to make sense of culture, history, economy and society. It is argued that: (1) Big Data and new data analytics are disruptive innovations which are reconfiguring in many instances how research is conducted; and (2) there is an urgent need for wider critical reflection within the academy on the epistemological implications of the unfolding data revolution, a task that has barely begun to be tackled despite the rapid changes in research practices presently taking place. After critically reviewing emerging epistemological positions, it is contended that a potentially fruitful approach would be the development of a situated, reflexive and contextually nuanced epistemology.
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We are entering an era of big data – data sets that are characterised by high volume, velocity, variety, exhaustivity, resolution and indexicality, relationality and flexibility. Much of these data are spatially and temporally referenced... more
We are entering an era of big data – data sets that are characterised by high volume, velocity, variety, exhaustivity, resolution and indexicality, relationality and flexibility. Much of these data are spatially and temporally referenced and offer many possibilities for enhancing geographical understanding, including for post-positivist scholars. Big data also, however, poses a number of challenges and risks to geographic scholarship and raises a number of taxing epistemological, methodological and ethical questions. Geographers need to grasp the opportunities whilst at the same time tackling the challenges, ameliorating the risks and thinking critically about big data as well as conducting big data studies. Failing to do so could be quite costly as the discipline gets left behind as others leverage insights from the growing data deluge.
In this paper, we examine the development and implementation of new technical systems designed to more effectively manage and produce driving, drivers and driving spaces. These new systems change the governmentality of automobilities by... more
In this paper, we examine the development and implementation of new technical systems designed to more effectively manage and produce driving, drivers and driving spaces. These new systems change the governmentality of automobilities by altering the relationship between driver, vehicle and transport infrastructure and produce new subjects and spaces. They do this principally through the process of automation, creating a system of regulation that we term ‘automated management’. Automated management consists of two interlocking sets of regulatory technologies: automated surveillance that seeks to enforce more effective (self)disciplining and capture systems that actively reshape activity. We argue that these work together to alter the automobilities landscape creating new socio-spatial arrangements with respect to access, movement, flow, and behaviour. Some of these arrangements are benign and empowering to individuals, others enhance the power of state and corporations. We illustrate our argument with examples predominately drawn from the UK, though the technologies we discuss are increasingly being developed and implemented throughout Western countries and beyond.
The effects of software (code) on the spatial formation of everyday life are best understood through a theoretical framework that utilizes the concepts of technicity (the productive power of technology to make things happen) and... more
The effects of software (code) on the spatial formation of everyday life are best understood through a theoretical framework that utilizes the concepts of technicity (the productive power of technology to make things happen) and transduction (the constant making anew of a domain in reiterative and transformative practices). Examples from the lives of three Londoners illustrate that code makes a difference to everyday life because its technicity alternatively modulates space through processes of transduction. Space needs to be theorized as ontogenetic, that is, understood as continually being brought into existence through transductive practices (practices that change the conditions under which space is (re)made). The nature of space transduced by code is detailed and illustrated with respect to domestic living, work, communication, transport, and consumption.
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Over the past decade a new set of spatial and locative technologies have been rolled out, including online, interactive mapping tools with accompanying application programming interfaces (APIs), interactive virtual globes, user-generated... more
Over the past decade a new set of spatial and locative technologies have been rolled out, including online, interactive mapping tools with accompanying application programming interfaces (APIs), interactive virtual globes, user-generated spatial databases and mapping systems, locative media, urban dashboards and citizen reporting geo-systems; and geodesign and architectural and planning tools. In addition, social media produces spatial (meta)data that can be analysed geographically. These technologies, their practices, and the effects they engender have been referred to in a number of ways, including the geoweb, neogeography, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and locative media, which collectively constitute spatial media. This chapter untangles and defines these terms before setting out the transformative effects of spatial media with respect to some fundamental geographic and social concepts: spatial data/information; mapping; space and spatiality; mobility, spatial practices and spatial imaginaries; and knowledge politics. We conclude by setting out some questions for further consideration.
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In recent years there has been a turn within cartographic theory from a representational to a processual understanding of mapping. Maps have been re-conceptualised as mappings that ceaselessly unfold through contingent , citational,... more
In recent years there has been a turn within cartographic theory from a representational to a processual understanding of mapping. Maps have been re-conceptualised as mappings that ceaselessly unfold through contingent , citational, habitual, negotiated, reflexive and playful practices, embedded within relational contexts. In this paper, we explore what this rethinking means for cartographic epistemology, contending that attention needs to be focused on understanding cartography through the lens of practices – how mappings are (re)made in diverse ways (technically, socially, bodily, aesthetically and politically) by people within particular contexts and cultures as solutions to everyday tasks. We detail how these practices can be profitably examined using a suite of methods – genealogies, ethnographies, ethnomethodology, participant observation, observant participation and deconstruction – that are sensitive to capturing and distilling the unfolding and contextual nature of mapping. To illustrate our argument we narrate the unfolding production and consumption of a set of mappings of so-called 'ghost estates' in Ireland, a public geography project that has been covered over 300 times in local, national and international media and that has contributed to Irish public discourse and policy debates.
This paper considers the emerging phenomenon of crowdsourced cartography in relation to ideas about the organisation of contemporary knowledge production in capitalist societies. Taking a philosophical perspective that views mapping as a... more
This paper considers the emerging phenomenon of crowdsourced cartography in relation to ideas about the organisation of contemporary knowledge production in capitalist societies. Taking a philosophical perspective that views mapping as a processual, creative, productive act, constructed through citational, embodied, and contextual experiences, we examine how we might profi tably analyse collaborative crowdsourced projects like OpenStreetMap to better understand geographic knowledge production in a shifting political economy and sociotechnical landscape. We begin by characterising crowdsourcing practices in the wider context of Web 2.0, which some commentators assert is rapidly becoming a new, dominant mode of knowledge production. We then contextualise Web 2.0 knowledge production, drawing upon the ideas of sociologist George Ritzer, and his notion of 'prosumption', geographer Michael Goodchild's idea of volunteerist 'citizen scientists', and economic commentator Nicholas Carr's critique of the 'ignorance of crowds'. We then go on to discuss the changing nature of cartography in the Web 2.0 era with respect to authorship, ontology, representation, and temporality. Contemporary knowledge production: Web 2.0 A burgeoning set of concepts has been used to characterise the emerging nature of contemporary digital knowledge production in Western
... orthodoxy is borne out in research agendas of the geovisualisation community (MacEachren ... we can know and measure the world, how maps work, their techniques, technologies, aesthetics, ethics ... 1.11.) Morrison, JL (1976) The... more
... orthodoxy is borne out in research agendas of the geovisualisation community (MacEachren ... we can know and measure the world, how maps work, their techniques, technologies, aesthetics, ethics ... 1.11.) Morrison, JL (1976) The science of cartography and its essential processes ...
... Peluso 1995, excerpted as Chapter 5.6; Sparke 1998, excerpted as Chapter 5.7; Wood 2010) and with mapping as a process (Rundstrom 1991 ... studies (for example, Grasseni 2004 on the co-construction of ideas of landscape in Italian... more
... Peluso 1995, excerpted as Chapter 5.6; Sparke 1998, excerpted as Chapter 5.7; Wood 2010) and with mapping as a process (Rundstrom 1991 ... studies (for example, Grasseni 2004 on the co-construction of ideas of landscape in Italian local mapping initiatives; Parker 2006 on ...
This chapter contains sections titled: IntroductionCharacteristics of digital cartographiesCautions and caveats in digital cartographic developmentsReferencesIntroductionCharacteristics of digital cartographiesCautions and caveats in... more
This chapter contains sections titled: IntroductionCharacteristics of digital cartographiesCautions and caveats in digital cartographic developmentsReferencesIntroductionCharacteristics of digital cartographiesCautions and caveats in digital cartographic developmentsReferences
Perkins, C., Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R.(2011) Introductory Essay: Cartographic Aesthetics and Map Design, in The Map Reader: Theories of Mapping Practice and Cartographic Representation (eds M. Dodge, R. Kitchin and C. Perkins), John Wiley... more
Perkins, C., Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R.(2011) Introductory Essay: Cartographic Aesthetics and Map Design, in The Map Reader: Theories of Mapping Practice and Cartographic Representation (eds M. Dodge, R. Kitchin and C. Perkins), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, ...
... Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 23 (6), 851–881. ROB KITCHIN, MARTIN DODGE AND CHRIS PERKINS 393 Page 8. Farman, J. (2010) Mapping the digital empire: Google Earth and the process of postmodern cartography. ...
ABSTRACT Maps are changing. They have become important and fashionable once more. Rethinking Maps brings together leading researchers to explore how maps are being rethought, made and used, and what these changes mean for working... more
ABSTRACT Maps are changing. They have become important and fashionable once more. Rethinking Maps brings together leading researchers to explore how maps are being rethought, made and used, and what these changes mean for working cartographers, applied mapping...
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... A 3D VR system is considered more 'real'as this replicates our perceptual experiences in the ... to include haptic inter-faces in VR systems, particularly when an object needs to be ... Fanstone... more
... A 3D VR system is considered more 'real'as this replicates our perceptual experiences in the ... to include haptic inter-faces in VR systems, particularly when an object needs to be ... Fanstone (1995) has exploited the GIS capabilities of NOMAD to build a hierarchical audio–tactile ...
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During the last 3 years the interface between geography and nursing has provided fertile ground for research. Not only has a conceptual emphasis on space and place provided nurse researchers with a robust and subtly different way to... more
During the last 3 years the interface between geography and nursing has provided fertile ground for research. Not only has a conceptual emphasis on space and place provided nurse researchers with a robust and subtly different way to deconstruct and articulate nursing environments, but also their studies have provided a much needed focus on certain areas of health-care, and in particular clinical practice, not currently prioritized by health geographers. We argue that, as something that is forcing fundamental re-considerations of the nature of both nursing and geography, cyberspace is a particularly important phenomenon that lies comparatively under-researched at this interface. To encourage some interest in researching nursing and cyberspace through a geographical lens, and at least to showcase a range of potentially useful and transportable concepts, we provide an overview of some of the key debates pertaining to cyberspace developed by human geographers, and make some initial and tentative connections to nursing.
Much cognitive mapping data consists of spatial elements such as points, lines and polygons. This makes it possible to analyze such data with traditional spatial statistics and to visualise them using cartographic techniques. Using this... more
Much cognitive mapping data consists of spatial elements such as points, lines and polygons. This makes it possible to analyze such data with traditional spatial statistics and to visualise them using cartographic techniques. Using this approach can reveal 'hidden' spatial patterns and provide quantitative evidence which can be used in identifying, understanding and explaining cognitive mapping theories. This paper examines the role of computer cartography and spatial analysis in cognitive mapping research and the most appropriate approach to their implementation. The possible contribution of Geographical Information Systems (GISs) is investigated and the development and implementation o/two stand-alone specialised packages, CMAP and MiniGAS£ are outlined.
Levels of co-operation between government bodies, semi-state agencies, community groups and private industry in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are increasing rapidly with respect to issues such as coordinated infrastructure... more
Levels of co-operation between government bodies, semi-state agencies, community groups and private industry in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are increasing rapidly with respect to issues such as coordinated infrastructure planning, health care, trade and enterprise, as well as peace and reconciliation. These initiatives require joined-up thinking and detailed rationales for their formation and funding, which in turn are dependent on evidence-based arguments. However, at present, providing consistent, coherent and reliable evidence on a cross-border basis for use at different scales is extremely difficult due to issues of data interoperability across the jurisdictions. In other words, data are often incompatible and therefore difficult to compare. Addressing issues of data interoperability is crucial to successful cross-border, evidence-based initiatives.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine funding models for Open Access (OA) digital data repositories whose costs are not wholly core funded. Whilst such repositories are free to access, they are not without significant cost to... more
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine funding models for Open Access (OA) digital data repositories whose costs are not wholly core funded. Whilst such repositories are free to access, they are not without significant cost to build and maintain and the lack of both full core costs and a direct funding stream through payment-for-use poses a considerable financial challenge, placing their future and the digital collections they hold at risk. Design/methodology/approach – The authors document 14 different potential funding streams for OA digital data repositories, grouped into six classes (institutional, philanthropy, research, audience, service, volunteer), drawing on the ongoing experiences of seeking a sustainable funding for the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). Findings – There is no straight forward solution to funding OA digital data repositories that are not wholly core funded, with a number of general and specific challenges facing each repository, and each funding model having strengths and weaknesses. The proposed DRI solution is the adoption of a blended approach that seeks to ameliorate cyclical effects across funding streams by generating income from a number of sources rather than overly relying on a single one, though it is still reliant on significant state core funding to be viable. Practical implications – The detailing of potential funding streams offers practical financial solutions to other OA digital data repositories which are seeking a means to become financially sustainable in the absence of full core funding. Originality/value – The review assesses and provides concrete advice with respect to potential funding streams in order to help repository owners address the financing conundrum they face.
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Geographers have long debated for whom and for what ends academics should research and publish, how geographical knowledge is produced, and the use and value of such knowledges. This paper contributes to these debates through a discussion... more
Geographers have long debated for whom and for what ends academics should research and publish, how geographical knowledge is produced, and the use and value of such knowledges. This paper contributes to these debates through a discussion of an ongoing project concerning the financial crisis in Ireland and its legacy of 'ghost estates'. The analysis is framed with respect to Michael Burawoy's taxonomy of forms of scholarly knowledge production and details the use of 10 forms of writing praxis, aimed at engaging a variety of audiences. The paper demonstrates that the classes in Burawoy's taxonomy are far from mutually exclusive, and illustrates how geographical scholarship can make an impact in a variety of registers.
In this paper, we argue that new social media produces new forms of public geography and digital praxis in which the relationship between reader and writer is radically altered and which enables geographers to engage in timely... more
In this paper, we argue that new social media produces new forms of public geography and digital praxis in which the relationship between reader and writer is radically altered and which enables geographers to engage in timely conversation and debate with the public on unfolding issues, and provides new avenues to connect with older forms of broadcast media. Social media can strengthen geographers engagement with the existing fourth estate and forge new relationships with an emerging fifth estate – dynamic, responsive and empowered publics. We illustrate such potentials by drawing on our own experiences of contributing to IrelandAfterNAMA, a collective blog that provides critical analysis of the present crisis in Ireland which has established a regular readership and has led to significant media work (over 500 newspaper articles and radio and television interviews). Such public geography projects are not without their challenges and pitfalls, not least because they alter and challenge the ways in which academics work, communicate and are assessed. Nevertheless, we believe that at the very least their quotidian practices enact what Macgilchrist and B} ohmig (2012: 97) term 'minimal politics', creating 'tiny fissures in the mediascape' that inform and engage with wider publics in ways that academic articles rarely do and work to challenge hegemonic formations.
Kitchin, R. (2015) Positivistic geography.  In Aitken, S. and Valentine, G. (eds) Approaches in Human Geography, 2nd edition.  Sage, London, pp. 23-34.
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Kitchin, R. (2014) Explanation/Understanding.  In Cloke, P., Crang, P., and Goodwin, M. (Eds)  Introducing Human Geographies.  Arnold, London. pp. 117-129
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Hubbard, P. and Kitchin, R. (2010) Why key thinkers?  In Hubbard, P. and Kitchin, R. (Eds) Key Thinkers on Space and Place, 2nd Ed.  Sage, London. pp. 1-17.
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Kitchin, R. (2009) Space. In Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (Eds) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography.  Elsevier, Oxford. volume 10, pp. 268-275.
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This commentary considers the perceived hegemonic status of Anglo-American Geography and the role of the English language as the lingua franca of academia. The first half of the paper outlines in brief the hegemonic status of... more
This commentary considers the perceived hegemonic status of Anglo-American Geography and the role of the English language as the lingua franca of academia. The first half of the paper outlines in brief the hegemonic status of Anglo-American Geography, the structures and practices of the global knowledge economy and Anglo-American Geography itself that help sustain and reproduce its hegemony, and the disciplining effects of this hegemonic status on geography practised elsewhere. The second half examines how Anglo-American norms and the hegemonic status of English as a global lingua franca are being, and might be further, challenged, resisted, subverted and reshaped through discursive and practical interventions aimed at disrupting and destabilizing them. By focusing on how the history of the discipline is constructed, and the protocols of publishing and organizing conferences, how geography can be transformed to open it up to a plurality of (non-Anglo-American) voices, different ways of 'doing' geography, and alternative ways of valuing forms of geographical enterprise, are considered.
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Hearne, R., Kitchin, R. and O’Callaghan, C. (2014) Spatial justice and housing in Ireland.  In Kearns, G., Meredith, D. and Morrissey, J. (eds) Spatial Justice and the Irish Crisis.  Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. pp. 57-77.
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In the wake of the global financial crisis, and as Europe's financial and fiscal woes continue, Ireland's beleaguered economy has attracted a great deal of scrutiny, with much made of the country's status as one of the PIIGS and the fact... more
In the wake of the global financial crisis, and as Europe's financial and fiscal woes continue, Ireland's beleaguered economy has attracted a great deal of scrutiny, with much made of the country's status as one of the PIIGS and the fact that it was bailed out by the troika of the IMF, EU and ECB in November 2010. Whilst most attention has been directed at Ireland's banks and the strategy of the Irish government in managing the crisis, substantial interest (both nationally and internationally) has been focused on the property sector and in particular the phenomenon of so-called 'ghost estates' (or, in official terms, unfinished estates). As of October 2011 there were 2,846 such estates in Ireland, and they have come to visibly symbolize the collapse of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger' economy. In this essay, we examine the unfinished estates phenomenon, placing them within the context of Ireland's property boom during the Celtic Tiger years, and conceptualize them as 'new ruins' created through the search for a spatial fix by speculative capitalism in a time of neoliberalism. We detail the characteristics and geography of such estates, the various problems afflicting the estates and their residents, and the Irish government's response to those problems. In the final section we examine the estates as exemplars of new ruins, the remainder and reminder of Celtic Tiger excess.
This paper argues that the global economic recession provides an instructive point to reconsider recent theorisations of post-politics for two reasons. First, theories of the post-political can help us to understand the current neoliberal... more
This paper argues that the global economic recession provides an instructive point to reconsider recent theorisations of post-politics for two reasons. First, theories of the post-political can help us to understand the current neoliberal impasse, and second, current transformations provide us with an empirical basis to test the limits of these explanatory frameworks. While the resurgence of neoliberal policies, evidenced through the state-sponsored rescue of the financial sector and the introduction of harsh austerity measures in many countries, appear to confirm post-politics, various protest movements have testified to a concurrent re-politicisation of the economy. Furthermore, crises constitute periods of disruption to the discursive and symbolic order, which open a space for hegemonic struggle, however fleeting. We focus our analysis on Ireland's 'ghost estates' e residential developments left abandoned or unfinished after the property crash e and their treatment within mainstream print media. We argue that in the context of crash, the 'ghost estate' functioned as an 'empty signifier' through which hegemonic struggles over how to narrate, and thus re-inscribe, the event of the crisis were staged. We explore the double role played by 'ghost estates': firstly, as an opening for politics, and secondly, as a vehicle used to discursively contain the crisis through a neoliberal narrative of 'excess'. We argue that our analysis offers an instructive example of how post-politicisation occurs as a process that is always contingent, contextual, and partial, and reliant on the cooption and coproduction of existing cultural signifiers with emergent narrations of crisis.
In this paper we provide an account of the property-led boom and bust which has brought Ireland to the point of bankruptcy. Our account details the pivotal role which neoliberal policy played in guiding the course of the country's recent... more
In this paper we provide an account of the property-led boom and bust which has brought Ireland to the point of bankruptcy. Our account details the pivotal role which neoliberal policy played in guiding the course of the country's recent history, but also heightens awareness of the how the Irish case might, in turn, instruct and illuminate mappings and explanations of neoliberalism's concrete histories and geographies. To this end, we begin by scrutinising the terms and conditions under which the Irish state might usefully be regarded as neoliberal. Attention is then given to uncovering the causes of the Irish property bubble, the housing oversupply it created, and the proposed solution to this oversupply. In the conclusion we draw attention to the contributions which our case study might make to the wider literature of critical human geographies of neoliberalism, forwarding three concepts which emerge from the Irish story which may have wider resonance, and might constitute a useful fl eshing out of theoretical framings of concrete and particular neoliberalisms: path amplifi cation, neoliberalism's topologies and topographies, and accumulation by repossession.
ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore successive waves of neoliberalization in Ireland. We contend that neoliberalization remained largely “invisible” during the Celtic Tiger because a property bubble permitted a period of debt-driven... more
ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore successive waves of neoliberalization in Ireland. We contend that neoliberalization remained largely “invisible” during the Celtic Tiger because a property bubble permitted a period of debt-driven growth, but was revealed and politicized by the crisis. Mobilizing the ideas of topology and topography, we explore the relationships which unfolded between the “financialization” of the global economy and the two twin pillars of the Irish crisis narrative: property and debt. We conclude that there is a need for future studies to consider how neoliberalism, financialization and uneven development are being reshaped by geographically situated responses to the crisis.
One of the most fundamental but overlooked questions in shaping a national territorial-development strategy is how to manage spatial development in regions that have not been selected for new growth. The Irish National Spatial Strategy... more
One of the most fundamental but overlooked questions in shaping a national territorial-development strategy is how to manage spatial development in regions that have not been selected for new growth. The Irish National Spatial Strategy (NSS) is ostensibly a policy exercise in spatial selectivity where clear choices have been made as to where to target future population growth. The failure of policy to implement the NSS to date can be largely attributed to the difficult political process in practice of identifying 'winners' and 'losers'. In order to achieve the public consensus required for effective implementation, a revised strategy will need to pay greater attention to the residual regions. This will require a greater societal acceptance that population growth cannot occur everywhere, and that population decline and stagnation may become the normal pathway for some regions. This paper explores planning governance models of how to manage decline, drawing on the emerging international research agenda of 'shrinkage planning' and 'degrowth', and how this might be applied in the Irish context. In so doing, the paper provides policymakers with the genesis of a new conceptual toolbox and opens up new research questions as to how to proactively design and accommodate depopulation.
Crowley, U. and Kitchin, R. (2015) Academic ‘truth’ and perpetuation of negative attitudes and intolerance towards Travellers in Contemporary Ireland, in Honohan, I. and Rougier, N. (eds) Tolerance in Ireland North and South. Manchester... more
Crowley, U. and Kitchin, R. (2015) Academic ‘truth’ and perpetuation of negative attitudes and intolerance towards Travellers in Contemporary Ireland, in Honohan, I. and Rougier, N. (eds) Tolerance in Ireland North and South. Manchester University Press, pp. 153-170.
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Kitchin, R. (2015) Housing, in Gleeson, J. (ed) The Atlas of the Island of Ireland.  AIRO/ICLRD, Belfast.  pp. 63-76.
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... Inclusion in Dublin City A Joint Initiative of Dublin City Partnership/Dublin City Development Board Justin Gleeson, Rob Kitchin, Brendan Bartley, Caroline Treacy NIRSA, NUI Maynooth, March 2009 Page 2. New Ways of Mapping Social... more
... Inclusion in Dublin City A Joint Initiative of Dublin City Partnership/Dublin City Development Board Justin Gleeson, Rob Kitchin, Brendan Bartley, Caroline Treacy NIRSA, NUI Maynooth, March 2009 Page 2. New Ways of Mapping Social Inclusion in Dublin City Foreword ...
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In this paper we examine the role of law in shaping the socio-spatial lives of citizens through an examination of the changing nature of governmentality with respect to Travellers in Ireland between 1998 and 2003. Undertaking an analysis... more
In this paper we examine the role of law in shaping the socio-spatial lives of citizens through an examination of the changing nature of governmentality with respect to Travellers in Ireland between 1998 and 2003. Undertaking an analysis of the policy process, new legislation, the Citizen Traveller campaign, media reports, and interviews with politicians, police and Travellers, we document how the Irish government attempted during this period to shift its strategy of dealing with the 'Traveller problem' from a regulationist form of citizenship designed to force Travellers to adopt a sedentary lifestyle, to active citizenship that offered Travellers recognition, rewards and rights in return for managed nomadism or sedentary conformism. However, rather than leading to the emancipation and empowerment the Irish government envisaged, we detail how failings by both the government and Travellers in implementing reform has perpetuated the original situation and paradoxically led to new legislation that further criminalizes Traveller lifestyle and strengthened the government's mandate to forcibly manage Travellers' lives.
... MacLaughlin, J.(1994), Ireland: The Emigrant Nursery and the World Economy (Cork: Cork University Press). McAleese, M.(2007),'The Changing Faces of Ireland–Migration and Multiculturalism', address to the British Council, 14... more
... MacLaughlin, J.(1994), Ireland: The Emigrant Nursery and the World Economy (Cork: Cork University Press). McAleese, M.(2007),'The Changing Faces of Ireland–Migration and Multiculturalism', address to the British Council, 14 March,< http://www. ireland. ...
In this article we examine the mode of governmentality constructed in Ireland with regard to the regulation and disciplining of sexuality in the post-independence era up to the writing of the Constitution (1922–1937). Drawing on the... more
In this article we examine the mode of governmentality constructed in Ireland with regard to the regulation and disciplining of sexuality in the post-independence era up to the writing of the Constitution (1922–1937). Drawing on the writings of Michel Foucault, we document how Ireland became an intense site of applied, national bio-politics with a panoply of government commissions and legislation, accompanied by new sites of reform (Magdalene Asylums and Mother and Baby Homes), which together were designed to mould and police the sexual practices of its citizens and create a sanitised moral landscape. Whilst a thoroughly gendered project, with nearly all legislation and sites of reform targeting women, we contend it was also a highly spatialised endeavour. The modes and practices of governmentality produced a dense spatialised grid of discipline, reform and self-regulation, seeking to produce 'decent' women inhabiting virtuous spaces by limiting access to work and public spaces, confining women to an unsullied (marital) home, and threatening new sites of reformation, emigration or ostracisation. Introduction In this article we undertake a Foucaultian analysis of changing the sexual landscape of Ireland in the period between independence (1922) and the ratification of the Constitution (1937). This period was a time of formative nation building as the newly independent Ireland, free of British intervention, sought to define Irishness and the national moral character. Several commissions examined the moral conduct of the nation and reported on how Irish social behaviour should be disciplined and a number of new pieces of legislation were enacted, designed to give the state and its various bodies the power to intervene into the sexual lives of its citizens (see Table 1). Following Foucault, we would argue that during this period there was a 'political, economic, and technical incitement to talk about sex' – an explosion of discussion about sex (including both social and criminal acts) accompanied by tactics to regulate sexual conduct. Whilst sexual conduct was the focus of regulation prior to independence, during this period we would contend there was an intensification and deepening of the disciplining regime as the state built for itself new institutionalised power, at the same time bolstering the power of the Catholic Church and heads of family to regulate subjects. The Catholic Church had increasingly sought to shape sexual morality from the mid-eighteenth century through the pulpit and schooling, 'using discourses of sin, shame, guilt and familism as a means of disciplining, enacted through the confessional, penance, censorship and marriage' (Kitchin and Lysaght 2004, 196). In the face of political disillusion after the civil war and perceived social and moral decay, it joined forces with the newly formed Cosgrave 1 government to produce 'a mutually reinforcing
In this paper, a rationale for a participatory approach to mapping is detailed , and its utility illustrated through the detailed reporting of a project concerned with mapping disabled access to the built environment. In this project,... more
In this paper, a rationale for a participatory approach to mapping is detailed , and its utility illustrated through the detailed reporting of a project concerned with mapping disabled access to the built environment. In this project, disabled people worked with university researchers at all phases of the research process, from formulation to data collection to end product, to create a detailed access map of their local town. The process of participatory research was found to be a rewarding and empowering experience for the disabled participants. Moreover the resulting map provides a significant resource for local disabled residents and has been important politically, being used to successfully lobby for changes to the local environment.
The GA supports primary and secondary geography teachers through teaching resources,geography journals, CPD events, Barnaby Bear, Worldwise and more. ...
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The debate in disability studies has centred on the arguments of a group of mainly British sociologists, Barnes (1992), Oliver (1992, 1999), Stone and Priestley (1996), and Zarb (1992) (also see collections edited by Rioux and Bach 1994... more
The debate in disability studies has centred on the arguments of a group of mainly British sociologists, Barnes (1992), Oliver (1992, 1999), Stone and Priestley (1996), and Zarb (1992) (also see collections edited by Rioux and Bach 1994 and Barnes and Mercer ...
Kitchin, R., Boyle, M. and Ancien, D. (2013) Ireland’s diaspora strategy: diaspora for development.  In Gilmartin, M. and White, A. (Eds) Migrations: Ireland in a Global World.  Manchester University Press. pp. 80-97
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Page 1. Canadians Abroad Project A Diaspora Strategy for Canada? Enriching Debate through Heightening Awareness of International Practice Mark Boyle and Rob Kitchin Department of Geography and National Institute for Regional and Spatial... more
Page 1. Canadians Abroad Project A Diaspora Strategy for Canada? Enriching Debate through Heightening Awareness of International Practice Mark Boyle and Rob Kitchin Department of Geography and National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) ...
... Towards an Irish Diaspora Strategy: A Position Paper Mark Boyle Rob Kitchin NIR SA ... Towards an Irish Diaspora Strategy A Position Paper Prof. Mark Boyle 1 and Prof. Rob Kitchin 2 1. Professor of Geography, Department of Geography,... more
... Towards an Irish Diaspora Strategy: A Position Paper Mark Boyle Rob Kitchin NIR SA ... Towards an Irish Diaspora Strategy A Position Paper Prof. Mark Boyle 1 and Prof. Rob Kitchin 2 1. Professor of Geography, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland ...
Page 1. Exploring Diaspora Strategies: Lessons for Ireland Delphine Ancien, Mark Boyle and Rob Kitchin NIRSA, NUI Maynooth June 2009 1. Context 2. What does Ireland presently do? 3. How might these programmes be extended and augmented? ...
The workshop was supported by funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Cycle 4. The report reflects the authors' views and not necessary those of the... more
The workshop was supported by funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Cycle 4. The report reflects the authors' views and not necessary those of the workshop sponsors. ... Whilst migration has long been a ...
... point in time. Shallow slogans might lead to short ter For more information h r Delphine Ancien: delphine.ancien@nuim.ie June 2009 Contact Prof. Mark Boyle: mark.g.boyle@nuim.ie Prof. Rob Kitchin: rob.kitchin@nuim.ie D
It is often implicitly assumed by researchers that their readers understand what cognitive map and cognitive mapping are, and their justification for study. This paper differs in this respect by explaining explicitly the 'what' and 'why'... more
It is often implicitly assumed by researchers that their readers understand what cognitive map and cognitive mapping are, and their justification for study. This paper differs in this respect by explaining explicitly the 'what' and 'why' questions often asked, demonstrating cognitive mapping's multidisciplinary research worth. First, it examines questions concerning what cognitive maps are, the confusion inherent from the use of the term 'map', and the usage and reasons for alternative expressions. Second, it examines the theoretical applications or conceptual research, concerning cognitive maps role in the influencing and explaining spatial behaviour; spatial choice and decision making; wayiinding and orientation; and the cognitive maps utility and role as a mnemonic and metaphorical devise; a shaper of world and local attitudes and perspectives; and for creating and coping with imaginary worlds. Third, it discusses cognitive mapping's practical and applied worth, concerning the planning of suitable living environments; advertising; crime solving; search and rescue, geographical educational issues, cartography and remote sensing; and in the designing and understanding computer interfaces and databases, especially Geographical Information Systems (GISs).
Thirteen tests designed to measure aspects of configurational knowledge were compared and contrasted using a repeated measures, multi-data collection and multi-data analysis approach. Respondents consisted of 279 first-year undergraduates... more
Thirteen tests designed to measure aspects of configurational knowledge were compared and contrasted using a repeated measures, multi-data collection and multi-data analysis approach. Respondents consisted of 279 first-year undergraduates newly resident to the study area (Swansea, Wales). Respondents completed four tests, drawn from four different groupings which were consistent in nature. Tests were varied in spatial cue-ing (the amount of information supplied) and location cueing (the amount of information requested). In addition, the data produced were subjected to systematic filtering (a set number of places were removed from the analysis) and data-defined filtering (guesses and unfamiliar places were removed from the analysis). It is demonstrated that tests produce differing results and that task demands explain the variances. It is recommended that multiple, mutually supportive tests should be used to assess individuals' configurational knowledge.
This article examines the development of conceptual schemata of environment-behaviour interaction since behavioural geography's inception in the late 1960s. Although these schemata have developed since then, they have remained naive and... more
This article examines the development of conceptual schemata of environment-behaviour interaction since behavioural geography's inception in the late 1960s. Although these schemata have developed since then, they have remained naive and in many cases conceptually weak, lacking psychological 'depth'. It is argued that this is one of the prime reasons why behavioural geography failed to achieve academic 'take-off. Ways to increase the integrity of cognitive mapping research are examined by developing and implementing an integrative conceptual schema. This schema draws together five contemporary theories concerning cognitive map knowledge's content, structure and form, the learning strategies used to acquire such knowledge and the processes of spatial thought, and interweaves them with basic transactional theory to produce a more detailed schema of spatial thought and behaviour. It is argued that this schema, by combining contemporary theories into a more complete whole, advances transactionalism by explicitly detailing the mental processes that are used in environment-behaviour interaction. This provides a theory which is framed in cognition and human agency, and which is reactive to environmental, societal and cultural contexts. As such, it provides a new theoretical framework for future cognitive mapping research, raising new questions and providing testable hypotheses. In addition, the schema explicitly illustrates how geographical and psychological theory and practice can be combined to provide an integrative framework for cognitive mapping research.
Research by both geographers and psychologists suggests that there are differences in females' and males' everyday geographic and spatial knowledge. These differences in knowledge have been attributed to variances in biology and hormonal... more
Research by both geographers and psychologists suggests that there are differences in females' and males' everyday geographic and spatial knowledge. These differences in knowledge have been attributed to variances in biology and hormonal levels; differences in social status, culture and education; and differences in the ability to answer questions and think about geographic space. This paper examines these theories and explores the everyday geographic knowledge of females and males using both quantitative exercises and qualitative interviews. In contrast to most studies, only a few minor differences were found between females' and males' knowledge, their ability to answer the questions set and the strategies of spatial thought employed and it is suggested that any differences found between the sexes in other studies are due to socio-cultural factors reinforcing gender stereotypes. KEY WORDS: sex differences, cognitive map knowledge, spatial ability. T IS WIDELY REPORTED, in both the geography (e.g. Matthews, 1986) and psychology (e.g. Herman and Siegel, 1978) literature, that males and females differ in both their local geographic knowledge and in the ability to remember, comprehend, manipulate and communicate spatial concepts such as relative positioning. Many researchers suggest that this difference in knowledge and spatial ability is present across the lifespan (e.g. Kirasic et al., 1992) with differences starting to appear as young as four years old (Siegel and Schadler, 1977). For example, Lord (1941) found that males were more accurate than females in reconstructing an automobile journey and the locations passed. Herman and Siegel (1978) reported that boys were significantly better at reconstructing the layout of a large-scale town model at both second and fifth grade, although no difference was found at kindergarten level. Siegel and Schadler (1977) found that four and a half to six year-old boys were better at constructing a three-dimensional model of their classroom. Hart (1979) discovered boys' models of the area they lived in to be better organized both relationally and metrically. Bettis (1974) tested the geographic knowledge of 1700 fifth-grade children about the state they lived in, by asking the children to interpret graphs and maps, name places and identify features. Boys outperformed girls on 42 of the 0016-7398/96/0003-0273/$00.20/0 questions and were equal on three (Harris, 1981). Beatty and Troster (1987), using 1800 undergraduates , found that males consistently outperformed women on tests of geographical knowledge, but females learnt new maps just as rapidly as males. Matthews (1986) using 166, six to 11 year-old children performing three tests (sketch map and interpretation of a map and aerial photograph) found differences in the quantitative accretion of environmental knowledge and the qualitative externalization about a place. By 11, boys' maps were more differentiated , broader in conception, more detailed and demonstrated greater mapping ability than the girls' maps. Kirasic et al., (1992) have shown a difference in the ability of elderly women to learn about novel environments from slides. Females and males differing in their knowledge and their ability to process spatial information raises two important questions. First, in terms of geographic education and assessing a student's capability on tasks requiring spatial skills, are females being unfairly disadvantaged by taking the same tests as males? If so, do we need to implement changes to remedy the balance between the sexes? Self and Golledge (1994) suggest that this may be the case if we want to redress the ratio of females to males in scientific or technical careers where spatial abilities
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In this paper we discuss the relations between cognitive maps, spatial abilities and human wayfinding, particularly in the context of traveling without the use of sight. Initially we discuss the nature of cognitive maps and the process of... more
In this paper we discuss the relations between cognitive maps, spatial abilities and human wayfinding, particularly in the context of traveling without the use of sight. Initially we discuss the nature of cognitive maps and the process of cognitive mapping as mechanisms for ...
Cognitive Mapping Cognitive Mapping is a comprehensive account of all facets of cognitive mapping research. This book provides an overview of the historical genesis of the subject area, a description of the current states-of-play, and... more
Cognitive Mapping Cognitive Mapping is a comprehensive account of all facets of cognitive mapping research. This book provides an overview of the historical genesis of the subject area, a description of the current states-of-play, and a'map' of what future research should investigate. Each ...
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Cognitive mapping involves the description of the way individuals store and process geographic information. Typically, cognitive mapping data are derived from individual responses and then analyzed in one of three ways: (1) the individual... more
Cognitive mapping involves the description of the way individuals store and process geographic information. Typically, cognitive mapping data are derived from individual responses and then analyzed in one of three ways: (1) the individual data sets are analyzed separately and only pooled for comparison (disaggregation); (2) the individual data sets are averaged and then analyzed (collective aggregation); or (3) the individual data sets are analyzed and the results averaged (individual aggregation). This paper compares the latter two aggregation strategies for analyzing cognitive mapping data using data collected in a large-scale study of students' configurational knowledge of the city of Swansea in the United Kingdom. It is contended that the aggregation strategy adopted will have a fundamental effect upon the conclusions drawn from a study.
The authors explore the effects of spatial and locational cueing upon the aggregated results of cognitive mapping data. Using four experimental data sets they demonstrate that locational cueing introduces random error into the analysis... more
The authors explore the effects of spatial and locational cueing upon the aggregated results of cognitive mapping data. Using four experimental data sets they demonstrate that locational cueing introduces random error into the analysis and that spatial cueing increases the relative and absolute accuracy of spatial products (external representations of spatial knowledge). These effects are consistent regardless of whether individual or place cognition is assessed. As such, location and spatial cueing compromise both construct and convergent validity, and the integrity of the conclusions from previous studies on cognitive mapping are brought into question. It is suggested that a multidata collection, multidata analysis approach should be adopted to highlight and compensate for these methodological weaknesses. 1 Introduction Cognitive mapping involves the description of the way individuals store and process geographic information. To gain and examine such knowledge, researchers use carefully controlled experiments to measure factors such as distance and direction estimates, the relative and absolute location of places, and wayfinding ability. In general, geographers traditionally try to discover the amount of information known and the factors that affect what is learnt and remembered. Psychologists, on the other hand, tend to study the processes used in thinking about geographically based tasks and how our knowledge is stored (its structure) and in what form (for example, images or words) (Kitchin, 1994a). Typically, cognitive mapping data are derived from individual responses and then analyzed in one of three ways: (1) the individual data sets are analyzed separately (disaggregation); (2) the individual data sets are averaged and then analyzed (collective aggregation); and (3) the individual data sets are analyzed and the results averaged (individual aggregation). The relative advantages and disadvantages of these aggrega-tion strategies are discussed elsewhere (Kitchin and Fotheringham, 1997). In this paper we concentrate on exploring the effects of spatial and locational cueing on aggregated studies of cognitive mapping. Spatial cueing refers to the amount of spatial information provided to the respondent. For example, an exercise in which respondents are asked to locate towns and cities has high spatial cueing when many spatial cues, such as the coastline or a road network, are provided to the respondents. Locational cueing refers to the number of designated places a respondent has to locate in an exercise. High locational cueing occurs when a respondent is given a set of specific places to locate: low locational cueing occurs when the respondent has an unconstrained choice of which places to locate. An understanding of the role of these methodological nuances is particularly important if we are to increase the construct and convergent validity of cognitive
GIS, with their predominantly visual communication of spatial information, may appear to have little to offer people with visual impairments or blindness. However, because GIS store and manage the spatial relations between objects,... more
GIS, with their predominantly visual communication of spatial information, may appear to have little to offer people with visual impairments or blindness. However, because GIS store and manage the spatial relations between objects, alternative, non-visual ways to communicate this information can be utilized. As such, modified GIS could provide people with visual impairments access to detailed spatial information that would aid spatiallearoiog, orientation, and spatial choice and decision making. In this paper, we explore the ways that GIS have been, and might be, adapted for use by people with visual impairments or blindness. We review current developments, report upon a small experimental study that compares the ability of GIS-based and various adaptive technologies to communicate spatial information using non-visual media, and provide an agenda for future research. We argue that adapted 'GIS hold much promise for implicitly improving the quality of life for visually impaired people by increasing mobility and independence.
?his article is an assessment of a variety of techniques used by researchers in the fields of geography, psychology, urban planning, and cognitive science to collect and analyze data on how people with visual impairment or blindness... more
?his article is an assessment of a variety of techniques used by researchers in the fields of geography, psychology, urban planning, and cognitive science to collect and analyze data on how people with visual impairment or blindness learn, understand, and think about geographic space. The authors concluded that these techniques and their results need to be used cautiously. They also made recommendations for increasing the validity of future studies, including the use of multiple, mutually supportive tests; larger sample sizes, and movement from the laboratory to real-world environments.
In this paper (he transformed spaces of visually impaired and blind people is explored through a detailed analysis of interview transcripts with twenty seven visually impaired people living in or around Belfast. Data were collected using... more
In this paper (he transformed spaces of visually impaired and blind people is explored through a detailed analysis of interview transcripts with twenty seven visually impaired people living in or around Belfast. Data were collected using a structured open-ended interview and were analysed within NUDIST , a qualitative data analysis package. Analysis revealed that visually impaired people become spatially confused (e.g. lost or disorientated) for two primary reasons. "Self-produced" confusion is spatial confusion caused by the misperception/miscognition of a route (e.g. miscounting intersections). "Situational" confusion is spatial confusion caused by a permanent or temporary localised occurrences such as road works, vehicles parked on pavements, and street furniture. Both types of spatial confusion were found to induce feelings of fear and anxiety, leading to a loss of self-confidence, embarrassment and frustration, which in turn led to less independent travel and exploration, and constrained patterns of spatial behaviour. Respondents detailed a number of strategies for coping with spatial confusion. In addition, they assessed methods to make Belfast more navigable including environmental modifications and orientation and mobility aids.
One of the fundamental human needs is the need to know the world around us. and to be able to freely navigate within this environment. Visually impaired and blind individuals experience a different world from those that are sighted, and... more
One of the fundamental human needs is the need to know the world around us. and to be able to freely navigate within this environment. Visually impaired and blind individuals experience a different world from those that are sighted, and yet their spatial understanding of this ...
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While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there... more
While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices as to how the smart city as a whole unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland, and examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to progressively frame and mobilise an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of 'Smart Dublin', a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin's smart city initiatives. We argue that Smart Dublin has on the one hand sought to corral smart city initiatives within a common framework, and on the other has acted to boost the city-region's smart city activities, especially with respect to economic development. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.
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... We are grateful to Michael Marshall Smith for his Foreword, David M. Smith for making it possible, Martin Dodge and CASA for providing meeting space, and Tristan Palmer for editorial support and his enthusiasm for the project. Page... more
... We are grateful to Michael Marshall Smith for his Foreword, David M. Smith for making it possible, Martin Dodge and CASA for providing meeting space, and Tristan Palmer for editorial support and his enthusiasm for the project. Page 13. ...
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In this article, we examine the imaginative geographies of the new millennium through a critical reading of cyberfiction. This fiction, we argue, through its use of estrangement and defamiliarization, and its destabilization of the... more
In this article, we examine the imaginative geographies of the new millennium through a critical reading of cyberfiction. This fiction, we argue, through its use of estrangement and defamiliarization, and its destabilization of the foundational assumptions of modernism, provides a cognitive space in which to contemplate future spatialities given the present postmodern condition – a cognitive space which is already providing an imaginal sphere in which present-day individual and institutional thought and practice are partially shaped. Using a detailed reading of 34 novels and four collections of short stories, we illustrate the utility of this cognitive space, and its appropriation, through an exploration of fictional visions of postmodern urbanism in the early twenty-first century. We assess the viability and utility of these visions by comparing them to academic analyses of the sociospatial processes shaping present-day urban form and spatiality.
Writing fiction is a creative act. It involves the production of a narrative that tells a fictional story. Much fiction is derivative of stories that have preceded it, and although much of it is clichéd, shallow, and uninspired, there is... more
Writing fiction is a creative act. It involves the production of a narrative that tells a fictional story. Much fiction is derivative of stories that have preceded it, and although much of it is clichéd, shallow, and uninspired, there is a steady stream of new works that continue to push boundaries with respect to style, substance, and foci. They are
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