Projects
MA in Activism and Social Change
(www.activismsocialchange.org.uk)
Along with with other colleagues at the University of Leeds, I run this innovative and original interdisciplinary course, which brings together the worlds of academia and radical social campaigning. It is led by academics working and researching with social movement organisations and communities struggling for autonomy (i.e. the belief in society organised collectively through the practice of self-management, mutual aid and direct democracy).
Trapese Popular Education Collective
I am a member of the Trapese Collective. TRAPESE stands for ‘Taking Radical Action through Popular Education and Sustainable Everything!’ . Trapese is a Popular Education Collective which offers workshops and training aimed at inspiring and promoting action for changing our world.
Handbook for Change: website of the book
With Trapese I co-edited ‘Do It Yourself - A Handbook for Changing Our World’. It was published by Pluto Press under a Creative Commons licence in 2007. It contains chapters on topics from health to media, and is a ‘Radical Guide to Ethical and Sustainable Living’
Antipode Journal of Radical Geography
(http://www.antipode-online.net/)
I am a member of the editorial collective of Antipode, a radical journal of Geography. It was formed back in the heady days of 1969 and the journal’s aim is still critical scholarship which can contribute to radical social change. Our website aims to further the radical spirit of the ‘Antipode project’ – which is still alive and strong in the pages of the journal.
The journal aim is to foster and spread the dissenting traditions of those on the Left within Geography and beyond. It hopes to inform, inspire and engage those who read it, bringing together academics, activists, policy makers, students and others in urgent and critical conversations about how our futures could and should be.
The Common Place Social Centre
I am involved in the Common Place, an autonomous, radical social centre in Leeds. Its aim is to create a place in the city centre in which together people can enjoy a sense of community, affordable entertainment and food; a non-commercial place to relax, talk, be creative, meet people and find information on political campaigns, issues and actions.
The Common Place is run horizontally and voluntarily. This means without leaders and hierarchies and by everyone, for everyone. Nobody gets paid, and nobody is making any profit. There is no ‘executive’: the fortnightly members’ meetings on Thursdays are the main decision making body. This reflects the kind of society we want to live in – it’s all about self-organisation and mutual aid.
Autonomous Geographies Research Project
(www.autonomousgeographies.org)
Autonomous Geographies was a two year action research project which I co-managed between 2005 and 2007 between the University of Leeds and the University of Leicester, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project has now officially ended and has been judged ‘Outstanding’ by the ESRC’s evaluation panel.
The term ‘autonomous geographies’ is used to define those spaces where there is a desire to constitute non-capitalist, collective forms of politics, identity and citizenship, which are created through a combination of resistance and creation, and the questioning and challenging of dominant laws and social norms. The website contains projects reports, downloads and case studies.
Who runs Cities? Research Project
I am involved in an Action Research project in the School of Geography, along with Corporate Watch and with financial and research support from local trade unions.
The emergence of Leeds as an economic powerhouse in Britain in the past decade has been nothing short of spectacular. The second largest metropolitan district in England, Leeds is now the leading financial and legal centre outside London. In the last 20 years, more jobs have been created in Leeds than in any other UK city outside London, and it is expected to provide 45% of employment growth in the region over the next 10 years. But beneath this comprehensive transformation of Leeds from industrial town to thriving metropolis, a dramatic restructuring of power, ownership and wealth is taking place prompting citizens to ask: ‘who is really running Leeds?’ The projects seeks to answer this question.
Oblong Resource Centre
I am a Trustee of Oblong, a community resource centre in Woodhouse, Leeds. Oblong encourages people to start up and get involved in different group projects and workshops. The centre promotes collective working, skill sharing and cooperation.
LILAC: Low Impact Living Affordable Community
I am one of the founding members of LILAC and we aim to build a member-led eco-housing neighbourhood right in the heart of inner city Leeds. It will have a low impact on the environment and be built to the highest ecological standards, will be affordable, will maximise social interaction between its residents, and will make a positive contribution to its surrounding community. Get in touch via the webiste if you are interested.
Love it share it
I am a Director of ‘Love It Share It’, a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC). We aim to create an open source forum for ideas, debate and action.
We want to create new scenarios and visions for how Leeds could be in the future. It takes as a starting point that Leeds is at an important crossroads. The city has made some good choices and some poor ones - and there is not wholesale agreement about the current direction of travel. Many people feel excluded and that they have little ownership over decisions that are made about the future of the city.
City: a journal of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action
(http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1360-4813&linktype=1)
Along with Bob Catterall, founder, I am senior deputy editor of City, a journal of provocative, cutting-edge and committed insights into the contemporary urban world. We record and analyse ‘the city’, cities and their futures, and urbanization from multiple perspectives including: the information and digital revolutions; war and imperialism; neoliberalism and gentrification; environment and sustainability; resistance and social movements; regeneration; resurgence and revanchism; race; class and gender; multi-culturalism; and post-colonialism.
Cities and Social Justice Research Cluster
(http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/justice)
At the University of Leeds, I head up the Cities and Social Justice (CSJ) Research Cluster. We are a group of about 20 academics, researchers and post-graduates and the key question to which we seek answers is how to articulate and promote ways of living in cities that are more socially and ecologically just. As a cluster, we have a reputation for distinctive and cutting-edge work which draws on diverse theoretical perspectives but that also has a clear normative approach to what constitutes a more socially just city. Our work is both historical and contemporary; it is empirically grounded, drawing on action-oriented, engaged and participatory forms of research which aim to create knowledge in collaboration with those inside and outside the University. Our aim is to be politically engaged and policy relevant, and have a real impact on policy, and contemporary social issues and debates at a variety of scales. We believe that the city is an ongoing creation and an unfinished story in which interventions can be made to create more socially and ecologically just urban futures.
Welcome to my website
