Research interests
My main research interest is in 'Community in a Global Age' (whether cultural, moral, or political community). This places me somewhere between the sub-disciplines of cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. To date, this interest has led to research in the following areas:
Globalisation, transnationalism, mobility, tourism
Consumption, ethics, politics
Municipal internationalism, urban policy mobilities, comparative urbanism, local governance
Popular understandings of politics, political engagement and disengagement, citizenship.
Research projects
2000-04 - Writing mobility: British working holiday makers in Australia (PhD research funded by the ESRC)
2003-06 - Governing the subjects and spaces of ethical consumption (with Clive Barnett, Paul Cloke, and Alice Malpass; funded under the ESRC/AHRB Cultures of Consumption programme)
2007-09 - Producing proximities: Town twinning in Britain since 1945 (funded by the Nuffield Foundation) Town Twinning Project Website
2009 - The international development activities of local authorities in England and Wales (funded by the Local Government Alliance for International Development)
2014-16 - Popular understandings of politics in Britain, 1937-2014 (with Gerry Stoker and Will Jennings; funded by the ESRC) Popular understandings of politics in Britain
2020-22 - Learning to live with risk and responsibility: Understanding popular responses to COVID-19 (with Clive Barnett; funded by the British Academy) Learning to live with risk and responsibility website.
PhD students (co-supervised)
- Sean Kennedy, 'The international activities of British cities during the twentieth century', finished July 2014 (with Steven Pinch)
- Emma Waight, 'Second-hand retailing/consumption and the economic cycle', finished February 2016 (with Kate Boyer)
- Elaine Rust, 'The economic impacts of cultural events on town centures', finished November 2017 (with Neil Wrigley)
- Bilal Gorentas, 'Nationalism at the border between Turkey and Iran', finished February 2017 (with Ulrike Hanna Meinhof)
- Roger Tyers, 'Nudging people to offset their carbon emissions', finished December 2016 (with Milena Buchs)
- Ying Wang, 'Social cohesion and neighbourhood governance in urban China', finished January 2020 (with Tom Kemeny and Graham Moon)
- Peipei Chen, 'Artists, local economic development, and political contestation in rural China', finished January 2021 (with Brian Hracs)
- Khaleda Brophy-Harmer, 'Representing everyday life using Mass Observation's COVID-19 collections', started September 2021 (with Eve Colpus)
Prospective students with ideas for PhD projects in any of my research areas should feel encouraged to contact me for an informal chat.
Research group
Economy, Society and Governance
Research project(s)
Dr Nick ClarkeGeography and Environmental Science
University of Southampton
University Road,
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Room Number : 44/2011
