This week we had our first ever Python Coding Dojo! Around 25 current and former undergraduate students, PhDs and staff got together for evening of coding, pizza and fun. Continue reading
Author Archives: Levente Feher
Understanding Gentrification through ML
Although it has taken rather a long time to see the light of day, our just-published paper is one of the reasons I love my job: drawing on a mix of data science and deep geographical knowledge, we look at the role that new Machine Learning (ML) techniques – normally seen as just a ‘black box’ for making predictions – can play in helping us to develop a deeper understanding of gentrification and neighbourhood change. For those of a ‘TL;DR’ nature (or without the privilege of an institutional subscription!), we wanted to share some of our key ideas in a more accessible format. Continue reading
Geography & Computers: Past, present, and future
I’m really pleased to share a piece that Dani Arribas-Bel and I recently co-authored in Geography Compass on the sometimes fraught relationship between (human) geography and computers, and advocating for the creation of a Geographic Data Science. For those of a ‘TL; DR’ nature (or without the privilege of an institutional subscription!), we wanted to share some of our key ideas in a more accessible format.
DIVISION OR DEVELOPMENT? MISSING LINK #12: A NEW ROAD THROUGH KIBERA
DIVISION OR DEVELOPMENT? MISSING LINK #12: A NEW ROAD THROUGH KIBERA
“Hatupingi maendeleo lakini tunataka usawa na haki idumishwe.”
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MoDS: Mapping Knowledge with Data Science (MSc + PhD Studentship)
Although we had some great responses to our initial call, we’re still looking for the ‘right’ candidate for this fully-funded studentship that is open to both undergraduate finalists as well as completing Masters students. The project involves the application of data science techniques (text-mining, topic modelling, graph analysis) to a large, rich data set of 450,000+ PhD theses in order to understand the evolving geography of academic knowledge production: how are groundbreaking ideas produced and circulated, and how does researcher mobility and institutional capacity shape this process?
We’re looking for a great candidate (see ‘pathways’ below) with a demonstrable interest in interdisciplinary research – you will be working in collaboration with the British Library at the intersection between geography, computer science, and the humanities, and this will present unique challenges (and opportunities!) that call for resourcefulness, curiosity, and intellectual excellence. Continue reading
Urban Risk or Resilience? Opportunities for Improving Informal Settlements in Urban Africa
Urban Risk or Resilience? Opportunities for Improving Informal Settlements in Urban Africa
“Most risk in African cities is not catastrophic. It’s not even episodic, but it is every day,” said Mark Pelling, a professor at King’s College, London, at a recent event on urban risk and resilience in sub-Saharan Africa. With rates of rural-to-urban migration reaching record highs, more than half of the urban residents in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal settlements, where they lack basic infrastructure and access to critical resources. Integrated projects like Pelling’s Urban ARK seek to build more resilient communities in cities and informal settlements.
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Urban ARK at IPCC Cities and Climate Change Conference, Edmonton
Urban ARK at IPCC Cities and Climate Change Conference, Edmonton
Several Urban ARK partners contributed to this event, including Mark Pelling (KCL and Urban ARK PI) David Dodman (IIED) (who sat on the organising committee) Hayley Leck (KCL) Lorena Pasquini and Jessica Lee (UCT), Shuaib Lwasa (Makerere University) and Mark Ojal (Nairobi Risk Partnership). The team helped to emphasise the importance and specific needs and opportunities offered by cities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mark Pelling presented a short statement as part of a plenary on science-policy interactions, the transcript for this is presented below:
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