Paper featured in NAUDL argument kit

I was thrilled to find out that my 2010 intervention paper in Antipode on US hegemony and the Obama administration (Volume 42, No. 2 pp. 242-247) has been included in the US National Association for Urban Debate Leagues argument and research kits, under the 2010-11 resolution: “The United States federal government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following: South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey”. The particular kit in which it features on ‘primacy disadvantage’ can be downloaded here. Given the current debates on academic impact and the REF in the UK academy, it is good to know that my work is out there being read and debated, and is challenging the next generation of critical scholars. However, unfortunately I doubt that the REF will have any place for this valuable form of ‘impact’.

Emerging World Cities in a Global System: The Challenges and Opportunities of New Urbanisation

On 19th January I will be giving a lecture for the North Staffordshire branch of the Geographical Association on Emerging World Cities. Please see the flyer below for details.

Click here for the lecture flyer.

Global Media Cities in Transnational Media Networks

I have recently finished a paper with Michael Hoyler of Loughborough University on Global Media Cities in Transnational Media networks, which has been posted on the GaWC website.

The paper considers an alternative dimension of world city network formation, driven by transnational media corporations rather than advanced producer services. Through an empirical analysis of the office networks of media corporations, the paper measures the integration of global media cities into the world city network. An interlocking network model is employed to determine the connectedness of cities within media networks, and a multivariate analysis used to identify six media fields articulated through particular cities. The results of the analysis demonstrate that a number of key cities are anchoring transnational media networks most intensively within the Pacific Rim region.

The World According to iTunes

The latest version of my paper entitled ‘The World According to iTunes: Mapping Urban Networks of Music Production’ can be found on the GaWC website.

The paper presents a social network analysis which explores and maps relational urban networks of production within the global recorded music industry. Within the analysis recorded music albums are viewed as temporary market-based projects that bring together teams of skilled creative workers in recording studios across the globe. New tools and techniques for networking studios in geographically distant locations give mobile musically creative workers the ability to coordinate musical recordings on a global scale, resulting in new relational geographies of music production. An innovative approach is taken to the social network analysis to assess the connectedness of cities and determine the centrality and power of cities within networks of production for three major Anglophone digital music markets. The end result is a mapping of the relational urban networks of music production as indicated through the interdependencies between projects, studios and local urban agglomerations.

Many thanks also to the writers at the excellent Geography Directions blog for yet another mention – this time on my earlier research on non-scalar networks of knowledge and learning in London’s music industry.

PhD Studentships in the Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration at Staffordshire University

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ABC188/phd-studentships-in-the-institute-for-environment-sustainability-and-regeneration-at-staffordshire-university/

Applications are invited from candidates who either hold, or expect to achieve, a good honours degree in a relevant discipline to study for a PhD in Staffordshire University’s Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration. Studentships are currently being offered to support work in any of the following areas:

     Natural hazard and risk in Iceland

     Supervisors: Professor Fiona Tweed and Professor Gordon Walker (Lancaster University)

     Environmental Risks and Urban Sustainability: an Indian perspective

     Supervisors: Dr Janet Wright, Derek Pratts and Professor T.V. Kumaran (Madras University, Chennai)

     Tourism and urban regeneration in creative cities

     Supervisors: Professor Stephen Williams and Allan Watson

      Incorporation of industrial waste by-products in building materials

      Supervisors: Dr Janet Wright and Professor Mike Anderson

      Urban decline in British post-industrial cities: an alternative reading based upon the work of Jane Jacobs

      Supervisors: Allan Watson and Professor Stephen Williams

Studentships are available from September 2010 and will provide three year funding, to include a maintenance grant of £13,000, fees at UK/EU rates, and support for equipment costs, fieldwork and conference attendance.

Further information on the project areas may be accessed through the IESR website at www.staffs.ac.uk/iesr or by contacting the IESR Administrator – Mrs Christine Dover – on 01782 294110 or by e-mail to c.j.dover@staffs.ac.uk

Applicants are requested to submit a full curriculum vitae (which should include the contact details for two referees) and an outline project proposal of no more than 750 words, to the IESR Administrator by Friday June 18^th 2010. Interviews are likely to be held during the week beginning June 28^th 2010.

Forthcoming title from GaWC: Global Urban Analysis – A Survey of Cities in Globalization

Due out in October 2010 is “Global Urban Analysis: A survey of cities in Globalization, published by Earthscan. Produced by researchers of the Globalisation and World Cities research group, it represents  a comprehensive survey of cities in globalization covering global, world-regional, and national scales of analysis.

My contribution to this volume is a chapter on ‘Media Centres in the World Economy’, co-written with Michael Hoyler of Loughbrough University.

The book is available for pre-order from the Earthscan website.

New BIS economics paper highlights the music industry as one of Britains most successful business sectors

In March 2010 a new BIS (Department for Business Innovation and Skills) economics paper (No.6) was published focusing on the role of governance in some of Britain’s most successful business sectors. Amongst the sectors highlighted is the British Entertainment Business, including film, music and videogames production. The report references my own work on knowledge networks in London’s recorded music industry (Watson 2008).

The report can be downloaded from:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/economics-and-statistics/docs/10-781-bis-economics-paper-06

Below are the details of my paper on London’s recorded music industry, published in Area in 2008:

Watson, A (2008) “Global music city: knowledge and geographical proximity in London’s recorded music industry” Area 40 (1) 12–23

Saskia Sassen lecture at Nottingam Contemporary

On the 19th May, Saskia Sassen will be giving a lecture at the new Nottingham Contemporary art gallery, entitled ‘A Time of Unstable Meanings’. Tickets are free and can be booked through the following link:

http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/event/saskia-sassen

PhD Opportunies at the Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration, Staffordshire University

Applications are invited from candidates who either hold, or expect to achieve, a good honours degree in a relevant discipline to study for a PhD in Staffordshire University’s Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration, based in the Department of Geography. The studentships on offer include work in the following areas of urban geography:

Urban decline in British post-industrial cities: alternative readings based upon the work of Jane Jacobs

Supervisors: Allan Watson and Professor Stephen Williams

External advisor: Professor Peter Taylor (Loughborough University)

Tourism and urban regeneration in creative cities

Supervisors: Professor Stephen Williams and Allan Watson

Studentships are available from September 2010 and will provide three year funding, to include a maintenance grant of £13,000, fees at UK/EU rates, and support for equipment costs, fieldwork and conference attendance.

Further information on the project areas will shortly be available on the IESR website at www.staffs.ac.uk/iesr. Applicants are requested to submit a full curriculum vitae (which should include the contact details for two referees) and an outline project proposal of no more than 750 words, to the IESR Administrator Mrs Christine Dover (c.j.dover@staffs.ac.uk) by Friday June 18^th 2010. Interviews are likely to be held during the week beginning June 28^th 2010.

For an informal discussion on these opportunities and ideas for project proposals, please contact Allan Watson (a.watson@staffs.ac.uk) and Professor Stephen Williams (steve.williams@staffs.ac.uk).

Richard Florida on Music Scenes and Music Clusters

http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2010/04/21/music-scenes-music-clusters/