As the crowdfunder for the first radical bookshop icon Newcastle for 40 years gets closer to the end I’m making the bold move of calling on all the academics I sort of vaguely know and also those I don’t to share the link for our crowdfunder: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/booksfromb...
Joe Blakey
@joeblakey.bsky.social
Lecturer, Geography UoM. Political Geographer interested in environmental knowledge politics, post-foundational political theories and aesthetics. Runner. Website: https://joeblakey.com Research: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/joe.blakey
Absolute shocker of a rights grab - academics may want to push back hard
FYI, Academia.edu has changed its terms of service to give an irrevocable worldwide license for anything uploaded to its site to be used for generative AI. I do not consent to this and have pulled all my papers.
📢 CfP RGS-IBG 2026: Post-Foundational Geography in a Turbulent and Polarised World Please see the below for an exciting session with @joeblakey.bsky.social and @matinakapsali.bsky.social We look forward to receiving your submissions! Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
Publication day! Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, shepherded by the inimitable @lpennywark.bsky.social, is officially out in the world with @uminnpress.bsky.social! Also, the press has a $10 deal on paperbacks using CODE MN93820 you don't want to miss! www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results: - AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2% - ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1% - ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
🌱 Work with nature in Greater Manchester? This Saturday, join @joeblakey.bsky.social & Mark Usher for a workshop exploring how nature is valued. 🗓️ 25 Oct 10am-12pm 📍 University Place, Oxford Rd, Mcr 🎟️ Free www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-you... @ukri.org #ESRCFestival #ValuingNature #NaturalCapital
Pleased to share the first two RGS-IBG Book Series titles to be published fully open access with @lsepress.bsky.social, available early 2026... @laurieparsons.bsky.social @jbrigstocke.bsky.social press.lse.ac.uk/books/coming...
🎉 Congrats to @niamhnelson-owens.bsky.social on the publication of 'Towards an affective post-foundational political geography', which brings together literature on affect and post-foundational geography. A fantastic achievement for paper no.1 and a wonderful contribution. doi.org/10.1177/0309...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
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doi.org
We're hosting a launch event for our edited book Aesthetics and the City on Wednesday 8th October 2025 at 3pm UK time. We would like to invite you to join us. The event is in-person (message for details) at UoM and online (sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aesthetics... ). Hope to see you there!
Another section from my #CriticalDecade presentation (see attached). Full transcript at climateuncensored.com/talk-at-the-...
I have a new paper out in Social & Cultural Geography titled: Making sense of ‘middle-age’: thinking from and through the middle. It presents a research agenda on the geographies of middle-age, and the value of thinking around the middle more generally. 🔗https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2025.2537686
Today marks the launch of our edited volume Aesthetics and the City. @amycbarron.bsky.social and I are thrilled to see this in print. We hope it’s of interest! Do let us know what you think. We are hosting a hybrid launch event in early October. 🔗More details: www.routledge.com/Aesthetics-a...
I have a chapter in the book on Cities and the Sixth Sense: The Aesthetics of Experimental Urbanism. The chapter looks at experimental architecture/urbanism projects on the US/Mexico border through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s politics of aesthetics. www.routledge.com/Aesthetics-a... #geosky
Aesthetics and the City
Aesthetics and the City engages aesthetics to explore the role of the city in urban experience. Drawing on diverse theories and global case studies, this edited collection examines how aesthetics rela...
routledge.com
So excited to see Aesthetics and the City in print. Congratulations to editors @joeblakey.bsky.social and @amycbarron.bsky.social. #geosky
🌍 Mark Usher and I are collaborating to bring professionals working on natural capital in Greater Manchester together for a workshop on Tues 22nd July (bringing together Mark's work on natural capital and my own on environmental accounting). Details below and register here: bit.ly/gmnaturalcap...
@joeblakey.bsky.social and I have an upcoming edited book... Aesthetics and the City explores how aesthetics relates to how cities and urban spaces are perceived, organised, and transformed. There's now a web page which lists the many fascinating contributions… 🔗 bit.ly/aestheticsandthecitybook
📚 @amycbarron.bsky.social and I have an upcoming edited book... Aesthetics and the City explores how aesthetics relates to how cities and urban spaces are perceived, organised, and transformed. There's now a web page which lists the many fascinating contributions… 🔗 bit.ly/aestheticsandthecitybook
A conversation between Andrea Borsari, Arshia Eghbali and I has been published in The Historical City book. Titled ‘The City Between Geography and Aesthetics’ it discusses the edited book @amycbarron.bsky.social and I have submitted on ‘Aesthetics and the City’. link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
The City Between Geography and Aesthetics: A Conversation with Joe Blakey
Joe Blakey is an environmental and political geographer, and Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Manchester. His work focuses on post-foundational political theories within Human Geograph...
link.springer.com
And to nobody's surprise, even the BBC's answer to this question is a big, unequivocal NO!
Electric planes, new fuel: Can Heathrow's third runway be green?
BBC Verify assesses whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves' three key climate claims about the runway add up.
bbc.co.uk
The first domino in what will surely be a cascade. The uni sector needs some radical new political impetus, and quickly www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Cardiff: University confirms plans to cut 400 jobs
Vice-chancellor Wendy Larner says
bbc.co.uk
Worth doing a bit of maths around the UK's 81% NDC announcement. It comes from the net-zero 2050 pathway, which assumes a typical UK citizen receives 3x more emission space than an 'equal per capita' share of the remaining 50% ≤ 1.5°C carbon budget. Colonialism continues unchecked & even celebrated.
Hi Everyone. This is the first post of the Cities Politics Economies Research Group from the Department of Geography, University of Manchester. www.seed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/re...
Cities, Politics and Economies (CPEG) - School of Environment, Education and Development - The University of Manchester
The Cities, Politics, and Economies Group brings together scholars working at the interface of urban, political and economic geography.
seed.manchester.ac.uk
'The pressure to produce and perform in the short term can come at the expense of scientific progress in the long term. A more critical stance towards metrics and rankings is essential if we want to enhance the quality and credibility of research.' www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/01/how-...
How Research Credibility Suffers in a Quantified Society - Social Science Space
To address research credibility issues, we must reform the role of metrics, rankings, and incentives in universities.
socialsciencespace.com
Thrilled to see our new paper published in Progress in Environmental Geography! With @saskapetrova.bsky.social and @stefanb23.bsky.social, this paper examined the concept of community within the contexts of community-based energy governance. Open access at journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Okay. It's out. Written with my colleague Jinsoo Lee not on Bluesky (yet) jacobin.com/2024/12/yoon...
South Korea’s Three-Hour Coup
Earlier today, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law. The short-lived coup was an act of desperation by a deeply unpopular right-wing leader and has only strengthened opposition to...
jacobin.com
Short article for a magazine up soon. But I'll just put it here that I've long followed the twist and turns of conservative politics in South Korea. You can find our attempt to chronicle Park's rollback of democracy (in retrospect not as audacious as Yoon, the very person who prosecuted her!)
Pursuing Post-democratisation: The Resilience of Politics by Public Security in Contemporary South Korea
This article analyses the disputed election of President Park Geun-hye and her administration’s confrontation of left-nationalist politicians and other social movements during her first year in off...
tandfonline.com
New article by @jamesgyke.bsky.social, Jamie Shutler, and me @gsiexeter.bsky.social, explaining why carbon offsetting should be removed from Net Zero plans. theconversation.com/we-have-offi...
We have officially advised our university to ditch carbon offsets – and focus on cutting emissions
Your organisation should probably ditch offsets too.
theconversation.com
Solidarity with colleagues at the University of Wollongong in geography, history, language, maths, environmental science, physics and public health. Entire units being cut, short sighted and devastating. Petition here: betteruniversities.work/uow-petition...
The very idea of so many incredible geography friends and colleagues at the University of Wollongong being in scope for possible redundancy next month is absolutely gut wrenching www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11... 1/5