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This chapter interrogates the widespread belief that individual purchasing choices are the main force behind sustainability transitions. This myth rests on three assumptions: that consumers drive markets while businesses and governments merely react, that individuals are defined primarily as buyers and that deliberate consumer decisions can alone create sustainable demand. The chapter shows how th
Extreme heat is both a chronic and acute threat to the health and well-being of urban populations. The aim of this paper is to share experiences from using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to conduct research on extreme indoor heat, plus highlight the benefits of taking this more holistic approach. Research conducted in urban Ghana measured temperatures in homes and workplaces, eval
Small-scale artisanal fishery in Ghana has encountered unprecedented challenges in recent decades, including dwindling fish stocks. Correspondingly, the sector’s institutional landscape has evolved to comprise a diverse array of institutions. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in two fishing communities in Ghana, this paper examines the complex interplay between formal and informal institu
Extreme heat is a growing public health threat in tropical Africa, especially in Ghana where outdoor maximum daily temperatures (Tx) regularly exceed 35 °C. Vulnerability to heat is socially and economically differentiated, with pregnant women, young children, elderly people, and people with chronic health conditions most at risk. High proportions of these groups are found in hospitals, yet little
This chapter provides a critical review of geographical research on informal education. We trace how understandings of informal education have been enriched in recent years through geographical concepts and original research. We use this chapter to call on geographers to move from what have tended to be isolated studies of informal education in a national context – whether in the global North (pre
Urban infrastructure is crucial for livelihoods and economic growth, however, access remains fragmented. Such differential infrastructure provision within cities necessitates intra-urban comparison and a renewed commitment to re-thinking between and within neighborhoods in ways that do not universalize infrastructure geographies. This paper examines how electricity and water infrastructure affect
Brain drain has long been argued to be one of Africa’s key development challenges. This paper provides a more nuanced analysis of African career mobility through a focus on professionals in the creative industries, specifically Ghanaian fashion designers. Drawing on interviews with 31 fashion designers but focussing on the career geography of internationally renowned Kofi Ansah, we show how ‘brain
The neoliberal turn in the cultural and creative industries has led to two distinct bodies of work. Global North scholars focus on the tension between the emphasis on the creative industries as an engine of growth and the unequal access to the means of cultural production and consumption that neoliberalism presents. Global South scholars face a different reality; the increasing inability of govern
Contaminated vegetables grown and consumed in cities of the global South have adverse public health consequences. Through interviews with farmers, traders, consumers and institutional representatives, this article explores why stakeholders in the irrigated vegetable value chain in Accra continue unsafe practices. The multi-stakeholder data are analysed by combining a behavioural model with a frame
In low-and middle-income countries, inadequate sanitation results in faecal contamination of the water used by urban farmers for irrigation. Consumers of raw contaminated vegetables run the risk of developing diarrhoeal diseases and helminth infections, which are a leading cause of under-five mortality and impact the well-being and productivity of millions of adults. This review identifies the evi
Six years after signing the Peace Agreement between the FARC-EP and the Colombian government, the main rural transformations were delayed, while the violence figures show that peace had not materialized. Using an activist methodology, working in the Department of Cauca with rural communities, this article analyses three phases of the ‘territorial peace’ model: the local turn, characterized by the
Culture and creativity are active but often overlooked processes in contemporary urbanisation. This paper contributes to scholarship on the cultural and creative industries, as well as urban placemaking on the margins, by adopting a placemaking approach in which artists are positioned at the centre of the analysis. The focus is on why artists choose to be located away from national cultural hubs,
This paper proposes the concept ‘necropolitics of peacebuilding’ to analyse how contemporary geographies of peace and post-war violence are shaped by the articulation of race, space, politics and the coloniality of power. We explore how post-conflict programmes, plans and policies shape the uneven distribution of life and death, focussing in particular on the elimination of indigenous leaders. Dra
This paper examines how extreme weather events affect the mobility of low-income urban residents in Ghana. Bringing together scholarship on extreme weather and mobilities, it explores the differential impact of flooding on their everyday lives as they navigate the cities of Accra and Tamale. A range of qualitative methods were drawn on, including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions
This chapter summarizes the processes that are responsible for cosmogenic radionuclide variations in ice cores and the results that can be inferred from these records. The chapter starts with the production in the atmosphere caused by the influx of galactic cosmic ray particles and its modulation by the solar and geomagnetic field. Subsequently, the geochemical behavior of cosmogenic radionuclides
This paper proposes a novel political pedagogic approach to conducting engaged research. Drawing critically on elements of Participatory Action Research and popular education, this approach - Engaged Pedagogic Research (EPR) - generates processes of collective co-learning and empowerment for local communities and activist researchers. Central to conducting EPR are five processes: generating situat
The Colombian Peace Agreement signed in 2016 was saluted internationally by scholars, policy makers and practitioners for encompassing the concept of territorial peace as a means of ensuring local participation in the strengthening of state institutions. Based on engaged research conducted in the Department of Cauca and Bogotá between 2017 and 2020, we critically analyse territorial peace, explori
The concept of bricolage has primarily been used in exploring how entrepreneurs in the formal sector, in addition to social entrepreneurs, mobilise resources in developing their businesses. Little is known, however, about the bricolage experiences of young informal entrepreneurs in the rapidly changing, technologically driven mobile telephony sector. Drawing on qualitative field research with youn
