So, what is population geography?
July 23rd, 2018
PGRG Blog #12
Kate Botterill
Sophie Cranston
We are delighted to announce a series of exciting sessions sponsored by the PGRG at the 2018 RGS-IBG annual conference in Cardiff. A question PGRG members are often asked is what is population geography? People often mistake population geography for demography, the statistical analysis of changing structures of human populations. However, PGRG at the 2018 RGS-IBG in Cardiff illustrates the diverse questions and methodologies that population geographers grapple with.
Sessions begin on
Tuesday 28th August with a pre-conference workshop on Austerity politics and the changing landscapes of inequality, jointly organised by PGRG and SCGRG. The workshop brings together academics, activists, policymakers and practitioners working to understand and tackle the effects of austerity across the UK. Research has shown that austerity has widened social inequalities, constrained socio-spatial mobilities and produced new injustices with disproportionate effects for women, particularly Black and Minority Ethnic women, low to middle-income and young families. While some may see ‘light at the end of the austerity tunnel’, there will be longer term impacts of rolling back and 
making do. The contributors in this session will examine how austerity is a process that connects to and intensifies existing structural inequalities. Austerity reflects broader political and economic transformations across the globe, including Brexit, yet is also lived, felt and mediated, everyday, in families and through relationships.
Full details of the programme can be found here: https://www.rgs.org/RGS/media/RGS-Media-Library/Research/Austerity-Politics-final-programme.pdf
If you would like to register for the event without attending the rest of the conference, please email ac2018@rgs.org Registration fees: £30 / £10 (with concession)
As part of the wider conference, PGRG has sponsored 9 sessions. On Wednesday we kick off with questions on ‘Housing landscapes and the lifecourse,’ convened by Rory Coulter (University College London, UK) and Michael Thomas (University of Groningen, The Netherlands). This session questions the role that housing plays in inequalities at both a micro and macro scale. On Thursday we have two double sessions. The first of these, ‘Interrogating relationships between spatial and social mobility,’ organized by Marta Bivand Erdal (Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway), looks at the role that spatial mobility plays in social mobility, furthering our understanding of migration and development. ‘Landscapes of Education—Migration and Mobility’ convened by Suzanne Beech (Ulster University, UK) and Johanna Waters (University College London, UK), explores the diversity of research that looks at the movement of people for educational purposes. Friday sees another two double sessions. First, the ‘Landscapes of Gentrification’ convened by Darren Smith (Loughborough University, UK) and
Martin Phillips (University of Leicester, UK) examines and compares gentrification processes in different rural and urban landscapes. The ‘Geographies of Migrant Politics,’ organized by Sophie Cranston (Loughborough University, UK) and Elizabeth Mavroudi (Loughborough University, UK) question how migrant’s practice politics across time and space.
We will also hold our AGM on Wednesday the 29th of August at 18.45 in the Main Building – Beverton Lecture Theatre. Come along to meet us and get involved in the work that we do!
Events Officers of the PGRG Committee –
Dr Kate Botterill
Lecturer in Human Geography
Edinburgh Napier University
Dr. Sophie Cranston
Lecturer in Human Geography
Loughborough University