Duncan Smith

Great update on urban populations around the world in a user-friendly #GIS. Perfect for #geographyteacher Spoiler alert: It's Jakarta, Dhaka, Tokyo (2025)

Yes that's right, it's a consistent urban definition for the entire globe. This results in lots of changes, including Jakarta and Dhaka being the world's largest agglomerations

Very useful, since all cities defined by "contiguous areas of high density urban land (above 1,500 persons per km2)"

World City Population Map Update with the New World Urbanization Prospects 2025 The interactive map of world city populations – – has been updated with the newest release of the UN World Urbanization Prospects (WUP), the leading dataset for understanding global urb…

WUP 2025 measures Jakarta and Dhaka as the world's largest urban agglomerations- citygeographics.org/2025/11/19/w...
This is due to the new methodology defining cities using contiguous areas of urban density using GHSL data. You can find out more about UN WUP 2025 here- www.un.org/development/...

World City Populations Interactive Map 1975-2050 An interactive map of city populations across the globe, exploring the changes between 1975 and 2050. Identify the world's fastest growing cities and regions, and urbanisation cycles of growth and dec...

I've updated the World City Population interactive map with the new UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025 data. The WUP 2025 has a new methodology resulting in substantial changes to population estimates for the world's largest urban agglomerations- luminocity3d.org/WorldCity/

Last week I presented my doctoral study about digital participation in Jakarta at 4th Digital Geographies Conference in Lisbon. My presentation was included in Special Session 5 - Putting Information into Spatial Structures: Approaches in Localising Information and Knowledge.

ENHANCE: Enhancing Sustainable Travel in Regional Cities and Outer Metropolitan Areas This ESRC-funded project explores how 15-minute city principles can be adapted to support sustainable travel in regional towns and outer metropolitan areas across Europe.

These measures are weighted by centrality, so the roads that cyclists want to use to reach typical destinations count for more than infrequently used routes. See working paper. This research is part of the ENHANCE project, @casaucl.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res...

In the overall combined score, Hackney, Islington, Hammersmith & Lewisham are the best Inner boroughs; and Waltham Forest, Richmond and Haringey are the best Outer. Kensington & Chelsea is the worst Inner borough, while there are lots of car-dependent poorly performing Outer London boroughs-

The second perspective is Level of Traffic Stress, which measures general road conditions for cycling such as speed limits and road type. Low speed Inner London boroughs with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and similar infrastructure do best here, such as Hackney and Islington-

We combine two perspectives on cycle networks. The first is infrastructure, measuring the presence and quality of cycle lanes, with priority to physically segregated lanes. Outer London boroughs that have invested in cycling do well in this measure (Waltham Forest, Richmond)-

Improving Indicators of Urban Cycle Network Quality: a Case Study of London Boroughs Increasing levels of cycling is a key part of the transport strategies of many global cities with the potential for significant health and sustainability benefits. Many urban cycle networks are how…

Which London boroughs are the best for cycling? We’ve been working on developing new open data indicators of cycle network quality-
citygeographics.org/2025/11/07/d...

The entrance to AAG 2025 venue in Detroit

Dhimas is presenting his doctoral study in Social Media Geopolitics session

It’s been long overdue (~1 month!) but I presented my initial findings in Social Media Geopolitics session at #AAG2025 in Detroit last month—all thanks to @casaucl.bsky.social Doctoral Student Conference Fund. My study revolves on digital participation in Jakarta, using government-app called Qlue.

Important report on the planning system from @msingerhobbs.bsky.social

Too many homes are being built that lack good transport links and lock in costly car dependence.

We need more and better planning to guide development and ensure homes and infrastructure are built in the right places.

An organised action by the East End Trades Guild to stop the eviction of the Transport for London tenant Len Maloney, November 2024.

In the next Economic Geography Network Seminar, Deivi Norberg (UCL/QMUL) shares her research into how small businesses have used community organising to resist rising commercial rents & displacement.

🗓️ 17:00, Mon 09 December
📍 CASA Seminar Room 106/107

www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/cas...

The housing crisis - Centre for Cities The UK doesn’t have a national housing crisis, but there is a housing crisis in our most unaffordable cities. How can homes be built where they are needed?

NEW REPORTS | Restarting housebuilding🏘️

These new reports focus on private and public housebuilding, using local-level data from the last 80 years to analyse the reforms needed to meet the government's 1.5m housebuilding target.

Read the full reports👇
www.centreforcities.org/housing/

Daily Mirror news story by Graham Hiscott, 'This land is *their* land...' Subtitle, 'Quarter of our farms owned by just 2,500 toffs and fatcats'. Comment piece by Guy Shrubsole, 'Aristos and stars must pay their faire share'.

REVEALED: Just 2,500 farms own a QUARTER of the farmland in England

Startling new stats I obtained from DEFRA & shared with @mirror.co.uk show how unequal land ownership is in this country

Large landowners must pay their fair share of tax
🧵 1/

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Today I ventured south to Glen Shee, in search of hilltop sunshine. Turns out my choice of hill, Creag Leacach, was right on the dividing line between fog and sun. This made for spectacular cloudscapes throughout the day, changing every few minutes 🙂

The MSc in Connected Environments YouTube video by The Bartlett, UCL Faculty of the Built Environment

We have a new promo for the MSc Connected Enivonments :) @casaucl.bsky.social youtu.be/JrhGCrtiXNw?... #IoT #MSc #UCL #Making #Arduino #STEM #Urban #3DPrinting #AI #TheBartlett

Bits #4K Review – @billhuntbits.bsky.social reviews Akira Kurosawa’s legendary epic SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) in a lovely new #UltraHD release from @criterion.bsky.social !
thedigitalbits.com/item/seven-s...

Thanks to @frogo.bsky.social for this! go.bsky.app/Bue7EXj

🚀 Job Alert!!! 🚀 The first in a series of long term posts within the SDRUK Geographic Data Service which will launch next year -this one is based in London - https://buff.ly/4fSyChU and builds on the work that we have done over the past ten years as part of the CDRC.

A short thread on the data used in the NEF report on car dependency by me and Emmet Kiberd, released yesterday. The report looks at the exact locations of all new homes in England, and shows that they are being built in increasingly car dependent areas. 1/4

Super useful list of planning and housing accounts to follow on bluesky by @barneystringer.bsky.social -

Glad to see this published! @citygeographics.bsky.social’s working paper inspired our @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis and report on car dependency, also released today 👏🏼

Histogram plot for showing the distribution of new homes with regards to Car Dependency Index in 5 subsequent time periods, starting 2009-11 and finishing 2021-2023. Each period, car dependency of new homes increases.

Highlights from the @neweconomics.bsky.social report on car dependency. The report shows that new homes in England are increasingly located in car dependent areas with poor transport infrastructure. The triangle in the figure indicates car dependency of median home from each period. 1/6

New open access paper - can we develop London's Green Belt sustainably to tackle the housing crisis? Analysis using EPC and travel sustainability data -
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @casaucl.bsky.social