Policy Press

Social Geography and Urban Studies

We publish a wide range of topical titles in this subject area. Have a browse through the different categories on the left to get a flavour of what is covered.

We are particularly well-known for our atlases on social geography and inequality which have featured widely in the media – look out for The human atlas of Europe and People and places in 2016.

Showing 49-60 of 110 items.

Health Divides

Where You Live Can Kill You

Clare Bambra examines the social, environmental, economic and political causes of health inequalities, how they have evolved over time and what they are like today. Revealing gaps in life expectancy of up to 25 years between places just a few miles apart, this important book demonstrates that where you live can kill you.

Policy Press

Health in Hard Times

Austerity and Health Inequalities

Edited by Clare Bambra

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book is a vital review of the impact of austerity on the wellbeing of the UK. Case studies from Stockton-on-Tees, home to some of the starkest health divides, are combined with a review of the repercussions of budget cuts and welfare reforms to show the vast inequalities in health in the UK today.

Policy Press

Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities

Inclusive Community Development

This book charts Gypsies Romany and Travellers community activism, and the community and voluntary organisations which support them. It describes the communities' struggle for rights against a backdrop of intersectional discrimination across Europe.

Policy Press

Home zones

A planning and design handbook

Home zones (areas where cars travel slowly and space has been created for children and environmental improvement) are a common feature of the urban landscape. This handbook explains how to plan and design a home zone in an existing street or as part of a new residential area, including advice and illustrations derived from recent home zone schemes.

Policy Press

How to Build Houses and Save the Countryside

Focusing on house building and conservation politics in England, Spiers uses his considerable experience and extensive research to demonstrate why the current model doesn’t work, and why there needs to be both planning reform and a more active role for the state, including local government.

Policy Press

How to Save Our Town Centres

A Radical Agenda for the Future of High Streets

Written in an engaging and accessible style, How to save our town centres asks whether the internet has killed our high streets and how the relationship between people and places is changing, how business is done and who benefits, and how the use and ownership of land affects us all.

Policy Press

The Human Atlas of Europe

A Continent United in Diversity

Written by leading international authors, this timely atlas explores Europe’s society, culture, economy, politics and environment using state of the art mapping techniques. It addresses fundamental questions around social cohesion and sustainable growth as Europe negotiates the UK’s exit while continuing through the economic crisis.

Policy Press

Identity in Britain

A cradle-to-grave atlas

Danny Dorling and Bethan Thomas have brought together this outstanding atlas to provide us with a unique visual picture of identity and geography combined. "Identity in Britain" explores our changing identities as we progress from infancy to old age and tells the story of the myriad geographies of life in Britain.

Policy Press

Infrastructure in Africa

Lessons for Future Development

This book presents a comprehensive exploration of the state of infrastructure in Africa and provides an integrated analysis of the challenges the sector faces, based on extensive fieldwork across the continent, providing an important resource for researchers, students, policymakers and NGOs.

Policy Press

Invisible Britain

Portraits of Hope and Resilience

Edited by Paul Sng

A photographic ethnography book that features the stories and portraits of individuals across the UK who have been impacted by social issues such as austerity, Brexit, deindustrialisation, nationalism and cuts to public services.

Policy Press

Jigsaw cities

Big places, small spaces

This new book explores Britain's intensely urban and increasingly global communities as interlocking pieces of a complex jigsaw; they are hard to see apart yet they are deeply unequal. 

Jigsaw Cities examines these issues using Birmingham, Britain's second city, as a model of pioneering urban order and as a victim of brutal Modernist planning.

Policy Press

Justice and Fairness in the City

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities

This book examines the theory and practice of justice in and of the city through a multi-disciplinary collaboration, which draws on a wide range of expertise. It will be a valuable resource for academic researchers and students across a range of disciplines including urban and environmental studies.

Policy Press