缅北禁地

Hello! My name is Rob and I'm an urban and social geographer interested in how cities are governed in relation to sensory and embodied experiences. I have been working at 缅北禁地 since September 2015, having previously been at Durham University where I obtained my PhD in 2012. 

My current research focuses on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project called 'Urban Sensory Pollutants in Singapore and Johor Bahru' (2025-2028). Through research in Singapore and Johor Baru, this project opens a new interdisciplinary agenda crossing social and natural sciences to study urban sensory pollutants (eg light, noise, smell). In collaboration with my physical geography colleague Nick Cutler and an ecologist who we will hire as a Research Associate, we will analyse the impacts of urban sensory pollutants on humans and non-humans, establishing the harms of different pollutants and how they interact with each other. My interest in this project comes from the paradox in which the senses are problematic both when they are highly 'polluting' but also where there is sensory over-sanitization (that is, where cities become too dark, too quiet, etc). As such, I want the project also explores the politics of when and how sensory stimuli become labelled or not as ‘pollutants’.

My previous work has been centred on the sensory and the night, and my 2018 book,The Nocturnal City, was published by Routledge. I have carried out research exploring the night-time economy in the UK, changing artificial lighting technologies and the Nuit Debout protest movement in France. In addition, I have published conceptual work on the idea of 'atmospheres', as well as on ecosophical theories in geography, focusing on the work of Felix Guattari in particular.

I have shared my expertise with media such as BBC Radio 4's , the , , and even in stand-up comedy form at the 缅北禁地 Bright Club.

 Google scholar:

Summary

Potential PhD student? Then please get in touch if you're interested in any projects on the night, time and society, affect/non-representational theory and public space, social theory in geography....

My current research focuses on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project called 'Urban Sensory Pollutants in Singapore and Johor Bahru' (2025-2028). Through research in Singapore and Johor Baru, this project opens a new interdisciplinary agenda crossing social and natural sciences to study urban sensory pollutants (eg light, noise, smell). In collaboration with my physical geography colleague Nick Cutler and an ecologist who we will hire as a Research Associate, we will analyse the impacts of urban sensory pollutants on humans and non-humans, establishing the harms of different pollutants and how they interact with each other. My interest in this project comes from the paradox in which the senses are problematic both when they are highly 'polluting' but also where there is sensory over-sanitization (that is, where cities become too dark, too quiet, etc). As such, I want the project also explores the politics of when and how sensory stimuli become labelled or not as ‘pollutants’.

My previous work has been centred on the sensory and the night, and my 2018 book,The Nocturnal City, was published by Routledge. I have carried out research exploring the night-time economy in the UK, changing artificial lighting technologies and the Nuit Debout protest movement in France. In addition, I have published conceptual work on the idea of 'atmospheres', as well as on ecosophical theories in geography, focusing on the work of Felix Guattari in particular.

• Articles

  • Shaw R. . Area 2025, 57(4), e70025.
  • Shaw R, Blazek M. . Critical Studies in Education 2023, 65(3), 276-293.
  • Shaw Robert. . Progress in Human Geography 2022, 46(5), 1149-1164.
  • Shaw R, Richardson MJ. . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2022, 40(2), 351-368.
  • Shaw R. . Journal of Energy History/Revue d'histoire de l'énergie 2021, 5.
  • Kumar A, Shaw R. . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2020, 45(1), 155-167.
  • Shaw R. . City 2019, 23(2), 277-280.
  • Shaw Robert. . Political Geography 2017, 59, 117-125.
  • Shaw R. . Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 2017, 99(2), 128-142.
  • Shaw Robert. . Geography Compass 2016, 9(12), 637-647.
  • Shaw R. . Theory, Culture and Society 2015, 32(7-8), 151-171.
  • Shaw R. . Urban Studies 2015, 52(3), 456-470.
  • Shaw R. . Environment and Planning A 2014, 46(9), 2228-2242.
  • Shaw R. . Cultural Geographies 2014, 22(4), 585-600.
  • Shaw R. . Geoforum 2014, 51(1), 87-95.
  • Shaw R. . Geography Compass 2010, 4(7), 893-903.

• Authored Book

  • Shaw R. . London: Routledge, 2018.

• Book Chapters

  • Shaw R. . In: Brunn, S, ed. Geography of Time, Place, Movement and Networks. Springer, 2024, pp.215-227.
  • Shaw R. . In: Dunn, Nick Edensor, Tim, ed. Rethinking Darkness: Cultures, Histories, Practices. London: Routledge, 2020.
  • Shaw R. . In: Schroer, S; Schmitt, S, ed. Exploring Atmospheres Ethnographically. Oxford: Routledge, 2018, pp.30-44.
  • Shaw R. . In: Strang, V; Edensor, T; Puckering, J, ed. From the Lighthouse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Light. London: Routledge, 2018, pp.177-179.
  • Shaw R. . In: Strang, V; Edensor, T; Puckering, J, ed. From the Lighthouse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Light. London: Routledge, 2018, pp.201-204.
  • Shaw R. . In: Graham, S McFarlane, C, ed. Infrastructural Lives: Urban Infrastructure in Context. Routledge, 2015, pp.174-196.

• Editorial

  • Shaw R, Taylor Aiken G. . Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 2017, 99(2), 107-113.