Cultural Geography Blog

RIP the CIA Factbook.... welcome to the GATW Factbook!

2026-06-07T17:14:50.317+01:00

The CIA Factbook: a gazetteer of facts about each country in the world, is no longer maintained or updated.

The redoubtable Richard Allaway has stepped into the void and created a website where you can still access key facts about countries. This is designed for IB students in particular, but would be useful for anyone.

Head for Richard's website on the link above.

Look for a section called 'The Shed'.

The Shed is where new ideas for alltheway.education get built and tested. Some are rough prototypes; the ones that work graduate into the main projects.

Pick a country to see lots of data about it.

You can also compare up to 6 countries on indicators which you choose.

If you try it and have feedback, get in touch with Richard, and the tool may well become a permanent part of the support that Richard gives to iGCSE and IB geography teachers.

Goodways - a new travel option

2026-06-05T13:00:19.804+01:00

A new project from some of the team behind Slow Ways, and spearheaded once again by Dan Raven Ellison.

Goodways is a new app to make it easier for everyone to enjoy Good Ways for walking, running, cycling, wheeling, horse-riding, skating, swimming, paddling, pushchairs and wheelchairs – whatever your ability or interests.

Watch the video below and Dan will tell you more about the project, which is just getting started.

This early version of the website has been crowdfunded and now the team are looking for people to help build a community which will develop a non-profit app to share the goodways to get around communities across the country.

As the website says:

Want an app and community you can trust – one that makes it easier to find and enjoy the best routes, whatever your interests, abilities or needs?

So do we. Let’s team up and make it happen.

We’re for community and not for profit. Joining Good Ways is not the same as signing up to a corporate app. You’ll be making a social investment that has the potential to improve people’s lives.

In return for your support you’ll get great routes, influence and the perks below.

Connected to a charity, community group, council, school, library or other nonprofit? Find out about membership for nonprofits here.

Want to join as a member but can’t afford it? Apply for a year’s membership funded by another member of the Good Ways community. These memberships are limited and there is a waiting list.

This is your chance to get involved with this new community and ensure that people in your own local area are aware of some healthier and safer options for travelling around and spending time outside.

This could be a great opportunity for a geography department to take the lead in mapping routes in the school catchment area with the aid of pupils: those little alleys and paths which make travelling between places that much easier but which not everyone might know about.

Sugar - a 30 year wait was worth it...

2026-05-25T21:33:48.710+01:00

A cross posting from my World of Music blog - please check it out if you haven't already.

Sugar were one of the best bands of the 90s.

On Saturday night. I went to see them play live for the first time as a three-piece. I've seen Bob Mould perform several times: solo and in a trio, but Sugar didn't play very often in the UK. This was the first time they'd played in the UK for over 30 years and they got a great reception from a packed crowd - many of them a similar age to me. This was my first time at the O2 Forum, a converted cinema, and it was flipping hot! I had a seat upstairs which was preferable to standing up for four hours.

I first heard these songs when I was in my 20s and now I'm in my 60s....

Here's a few shots from a very hot and sweaty gig at the O2 Forum, Kentish Town last night. 24 songs in 90 minutes... and lots of distortion.

Images: Alan Parkinson

I had all their albums - there weren't many - and many CD singles too with extra tracks.

Copper Blue is the classic.

Released in 1992, and featuring songs such as 'Hoover Dam'.

They released 'FUEL', and 'B-Sides' and then a short EP album called 'Beaster', which was particularly ferocious.

I loved the fact they played 'Gee Angel' last night too, from FUEL.

And from Beaster they played 'J C Auto'.

I'd actually bought some ear protection for this gig - the first time I've ever worn any, but I already have a bit of tinnitus and could do without it getting a lot worse.

I bought some Loop hearing protection, and after the first three songs (from Copper Blue) I needed to put them in and I have to say that they made a real difference. The sound was sharpened (and the volume reduced 10-15 dB) and they certainly improved the experience. They are recommended.

There were some excellent limited edition posters for sale as well.

Here's Tilted from 'Beaster'.

The setlist is here.

I shall add some reviews once I find some.

Jay Cox posted some awesome videos - thanks for sharing on Facebook!

And here's a review in 'The Guardian'

Mould, arguably, is the man who brought melody to American hardcore punk, and Sugar continued his desire for big tunes and searing guitars. When he plays alone, it can be hard sometimes to pick out the melodies behind the trebly sheets of guitar, but the ballast of the rhythm section holds the tunes in place, and the pop smarts of If I Can’t Change Your Mind and Gee Angel burst out of the PA.

Music related CPD

2026-05-05T20:41:26.232+01:00

A cross-posting from my World of Music blog. Head over there and check it out right now!

I mentioned earlier in the blog that John Wilkinson was a key inspiration in the development of this blog, and he has now developed a new online PTI course which may be of interest.

This online course will explore how Britpop can be used as a lens to examine the socio-economic, political, and cultural landscape of 1990s Britain. It will consider how music reflects identity, lived experience, and sense of place, while addressing the challenge of maintaining academic rigour when using music in Geography.

Participants will learn how to use music as a focused and effective stimulus for discussion, grounded in the cultural zeitgeist of the 1990s, and aligned with the Key Stage 5 Changing Places curriculum.

Aims of the course:

Apply the nexus of music, sport and politics to explore the socio-economic, political and cultural landscape of 1990s Britain
Examine how Britpop reflects cultural identity, lived experience, and sense of place

This course is for:

Teachers delivering Changing Places at Key Stage 5
Teachers seeking to enrich their teaching of place, identity and cultural geography
Teachers interested in using cultural material (e.g. music) to deepen geographical thinking

The guest speaker is Miranda Sawyer. Miranda is an English journalist and broadcaster. Besides her features and radio criticism for the ‘Observer’, her writing has appeared in ‘GQ’, ‘Vogue’ and the ‘Guardian’. She is a regular arts critic in print, on television and on radio. She broadcasts on Radio 4 and for The Culture Show (BBC TV) and was the host of the popular podcast, Papercut. She is on the board of Tate Members, the South London Gallery and Sound Women.

Her latest book, Uncommon People, was published in 2024.

It's a good book. I got it out of the library and a review is forthcoming in a future post.

Book using this link.

Free for PTI Unlimited schools & PTI member departments.

Just £20+VAT for non-members.

UNDRR pick up on Coastcraft

2026-05-04T17:05:06.470+01:00

I noticed this on LinkedIn yesterday. A project I helped to create the teacher pack for has been picked up and publicised by the UN Office for Disaster Risk reduction.

There is a link to a PreventionWeb article by Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda who played the game.

Some lovely feedback on the game.

I played the game for a few hours and found that the mechanics of Minecraft lent themselves very well to understanding the principles of environmental management.

If you do a bad job, the sea encroaches on the terrain and certain infrastructure is lost (for instance, a car park or toilets). These dynamics add to the immersive experience of the game. They also really nail the realities of future climate change in a way that is potentially far more relevant and digestible than scientific models and projections.

In making the decisions, you get to move around the map to chat with key people about the potential impact of going ahead with a decision and any other factors. You are limited by how much you can spend. Some decisions, like relocating the lifeguard hut, are very expensive (costing 75% of your total funds), while nature-based management, such as sand dune protection, costs nothing. Through this players are actively introduced to decision-making and the implications of their actions.

Throughout the game, there is a major emphasis on balancing the economic, social and environmental impact. You are able to fast-forward to 2040 and then again to 2060 to see what your decision-making looks like down the line.

CoastCraft has managed to capture the politics of coastal management in an immersive experience. This is an impressive achievement, showing gameplay can be relevant and educational and still fun.

Go here to play the game, which won the BETT Award for best secondary digital product.

New Peter Gabriel single

2026-05-02T20:04:37.387+01:00

A cross-posting from my World of Music blog.

As with his i/O project, Peter Gabriel is releasing one new single each year on the date of the full moon. This was released earlier in the week and is one of the best so far from his new project. It's a hopeful song of how everyone needs to stand up for positive change.

From the lyrics:

A million mothers looking forward
They're all looking out ahead
In the haze they can make out a planet
Alive, or was it dead?
Moving out in so many directions
The inhabitants have lost their nerve
And servants of the people
Have forgotten how to serve

This is not the way we want to live
It's not the way it has to be
This is not the way we want to live
It's not the way it has to be

Peter says of the song:

“I had originally thought about trying to create some music for The Elders.org, who are an extraordinary group of people. Their currency is not based on military power, economic power or political power, but just the moral authority they have from having lived extraordinary, selfless lives.

That's something which I wanted to talk about, write about and encourage, because it's pretty dark out there in lots of places and I think we need people who can just nudge both us and our leaders and keep alive some basic values of justice, compassion and democracy – a hope that can help us start envisioning a just, peaceful and fairer world. I think people generally respond much better to positive pictures of what’s coming than they do when they are bombarded and scared by negative ones.

We are much more likely to engage if we feel hope. Right now, we don't see so many positive visions of the future, at least they're not being projected so strongly as the negative, so I think it's really important that we start looking for visions to which we can aspire and looking for people who can provide that.

The beautiful artwork is by Shirin Neshat.

Earth Matters: Soil and Art

2026-04-29T16:31:46.611+01:00

Earth Matters is an exhibition that marks 300 years since the birth of James Hutton, the Edinburgh-born geologist, farmer and thinker who revolutionised our understanding of Earth’s creation and the ground beneath us.

Inspired by Hutton and subsequent trailblazers, over 30 artists delve into this living ecosystem to reveal its brilliance, beauty and fragility.

A video preview:

Soil is one of the most powerful agents for supporting life and storing carbon. It is dynamic, complex, alive with fungi, bacteria, and other organisms. And it has been a medium for art down the centuries and around the world.

Cristina's Cartography Substack: Neverland

2026-04-29T16:30:10.264+01:00

Via another Substack, I was directed to Cristina's Substack: Imaginary Geographies.

A recent post has some great maps of children's dreams, including Peter Pan's Neverland. Imaginary geographies like this are always fascinating.

IAPS Geography Conference 2026

2026-04-13T12:14:15.140+01:00

This will be held at Beeston Hall school on the North Norfolk Coast on the 21st of May 2026.

Booking details are here.

It's shaping up to be

GeoNight 2026 - come and join me

2026-04-10T15:02:00.001+01:00

Tonight is the latest edition of an annual international event called GeoNight.

Hundreds of sessions will take place today all over the world.

There are only 2 events in the UK. One is being hosted at the Royal Geographical Society and mine will be broadcast live from my bedroom...

It's a version of the session that Matt Podbury and I did at the GA Conference on Wednesday the 8th of April - exploring the development of my World of Music blog for this year and ideas for the curriculum.

Please come along, and if you can't, please at least fill in the Google Form that goes with the blog.

Link and details are here.

So this made me smile... eventually...

2026-04-06T15:42:00.003+01:00

A new image of Earth from Space

2026-04-03T17:20:00.000+01:00

Via Artemis II.

Chippy Tea?

2026-03-27T16:20:00.003+00:00

Growing up in Yorkshire, Friday was generally "chippy tea" night.

We were lucky to have some decent chippies in the village where I grew up. My parents' house was at one stage about 2 minutes walk from the XL Chippy which was decent and did scallop fish cakes - which any northerner will tell you is NOT a fishcake.

I checked on Street View and it's now a seafood restaurant upstairs.

Image: Alan Parkinson

I've got a reasonable collection of food-related books that reference the cultural importance of fish and chips as part of our identity, but also a meal that we owe to migrants: Portuguese and Jewish amongst others, as well as the arrival of the potato from South America and the risks taken by fishing boats in the waters around Iceland or even further north.

It's worth exploring the story of Fish and Chips.

I've produced a resource on this topic, which I've shared previously elsewhere.

It needed a little update for the 2026 situation.... and I've now completed that.

Fish and Chips - Have They Had Their Chips - 2026 by Alan Parkinson

There's an associated sheet here.

Fish and Chips by Alan Parkinson

A new resource which includes more details on the enquiry around this topic will be released in a few months' time as well.

Happy Finland

2026-03-26T19:26:06.389+00:00

Last Friday was World Happiness Day....

And the World Happiness ratings for 2026 were revealed - and once again the Nordic countries are the happiest in the world, taking 5 of the top 6 slots, with just Costa Rica sneaking into the mix.

This BBC Travel piece explores what makes the Nordic countries so happy.

Iceland has gone up to 2nd place as well, which is good news.

Links with the Discover the World Education resource on the Happy Nordics.

It was not such good news for the UK.

Norwich: a fine city

2026-03-21T15:45:41.630+00:00

Norwich has taken top spot in the Sunday Times' best place to live in the UK list for 2026.

My daughter lives there, and it's one of the places that I am considering with my wife for where to retire to. So don't tell everyone how nice it is... too late...

Here's a BBC article suggesting seven reasons why it's such a good place to live.

Here's a Radio Norfolk clip on BBC Sounds.

'Don't Steal this Book'

2026-03-10T18:00:02.148+00:00

A new book I contributed to was published today, but it's a different kind of book.

The book is called 'Don't Steal this Book' and was handed out at the London Book Fair.

The UK government must not legalise book theft to benefit AI companies.

AI companies are building their products by copying millions of books without permission or payment.

The UK government is considering legalising this large-scale theft. We urge them to rule this out. AI companies should pay for books, like everyone else.

If they don’t, this is what we’ll be left with: empty pages, writers without pay, and readers deprived of the next book they’ll love.

From the Guardian article above:

About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before the UK government is due to issue an assessment on the economic cost of proposed changes in copyright law.

The organiser of the book, Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, said the AI industry was “built on stolen work … taken without permission or payment”.

He added: “This is not a victimless crime – generative AI competes with the people whose work it is trained on, robbing them of their livelihoods. The government must protect the UK’s creatives, and refuse to legalise the theft of creative work by AI companies.”

Several of my books have been stolen by AI, including 'Why Study Geography'.

GeogPod #101: The GeoWizard

2026-03-08T11:48:00.004+00:00

GeogPod episode #101 features the GeoWizard: Tom Davies.

He sets himself geographical challenges, and has a YouTube channel and a Patreon page to help fund his adventures.

They discuss how Tom became interested in geography and his first video upload playing the internet game GeoGuessr that started his channel.

They go on to talk about the inspiration behind his current ‘straight line mission’ that challenges Tom to travel by foot in a straight line experiencing place in a unique way. Tom encourages young people to go outside and explore in their local area.

Music for Airports and the birth of ambient music

2026-02-21T11:38:00.001+00:00

A cross posting from my World of Music blog.

A lot of music is written about particular places.

Airports, in the work of Marc Augé are "non places".

Non places are described as follows:

Non-place is a neologism coined by the French anthropologist Marc Augé to refer to anthropological spaces of transience where human beings remain anonymous, and that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as "places" in their anthropological definition.

Examples of non-places would be motorways, hotel rooms, airports and shopping malls. The term was introduced by Marc Augé in his work Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, although it bears a strong resemblance to earlier concepts introduced by Edward Relph in Place and Placelessness

Source: Wikipedia

An article on its creation. Some quotes taken from that article.

In 1978, Brian Eno released "Ambient 1: Music for Airports", a quietly radical album that redefined the role of music in public and private space. The album was born out of frustration: after spending hours waiting at Cologne Bonn Airport, Eno found himself irritated by its sterile, uninspired atmosphere. Rather than simply complaining, he reimagined what sound in such a setting could be—composing an album "designed for airports" but meant to function in many contexts.

At the time, ambient music was more a concept than a genre, mostly existing in contrast to the formulaic "muzak" of elevators and lobbies.

Eno’s approach was intentionally different. He didn’t want to stimulate or distract. Instead, he wanted to create space: for thought, for calm, for uncertainty.

As he put it in the liner notes, ambient music:

“must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”

Each of the four tracks on 'Music for Airports' unfolds slowly, with a ghostly serenity:

“1/1,” the opening piece, features tape-looped piano patterns that feel both deliberate and weightless.

“2/1” stands out for its non-vibrato vocal loops, which Eno called “uncannily lifeless”—intimating not peace, but the eerie absence of human presence.

“2/2,” created using an ARP 2600 synthesiser and layered with multiple echoes, is lush, slow-moving, and quietly immersive.

What makes "Music for Airports" so enduring is its conceptual clarity. Eno wasn’t just crafting background sound—he was rejecting the idea that music must entertain or dominate.

Over four decades later, "Music for Airports" still feels timeless. It’s not only a foundational work in ambient music, but a philosophical statement about how we listen—and why sometimes, the most profound sounds are the ones that ask the least of us.

It is part of a series of ambient albums.

The full album can be heard below:

Brian Eno is an interesting musician and polymath who has dipped into a huge number of projects over the decades, and collaborated with a wide array of musicians with different musical styles.

He played for some years with the band 'Roxy Music'. He is a producer and musician, as well as involving himself with a whole range of art projects.

This excellent London Review of Books review by Ian Penman of two biographies contains a large amount of detail about his life, and his projects, some of which have been criticised. It is well worth reading!

Eno also provided "enossification" to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - adding to the sonic palette of the album - which has been blogged elsewhere.

Here, he explains how the idea of ambient music came about.

Eno's influence can be heard on other music which has already, or will be, featured on the blog, including David Bowie's 'Berlin Trilogy'.

We will return to this album later on the blog, as Carl Lee has also written about this set of albums and what they mean to him in another of his excellent blog posts.

What are your favourite ambient music pieces and artists?

Let me know in the comments.

Noise from Iceland

2026-02-16T20:35:00.003+00:00

A cross posting from my Fieldnotes from Iceland blog.

I like this project very much.

It's beautifully put together, and provides a different dimension to the country.

The creator has interviewed people for the project.

Here's one exchange:

Kaśka Paluch:
What does Iceland sound like to you? If you had to choose just one sound that defines it?

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir:
Wind. Definitely wind. I live by the ocean, and wind is the constant background noise. And the sound of waves too, though that depends a lot on the wind. But those two things—wind and the ocean—define the soundscape here for me.

Kaśka Paluch is a musicologist, music journalist, sound artist, and educator, and the creator of Noise From Iceland—the first-ever sound map of Iceland. Originally from Zakopane, Poland, she studied musicology at Jagiellonian University and has published in Onet.pl, Tygodnik Powszechny, Noisey, LAIF, and Presto.

Click the blue circles to hear the recorded sounds e.g. Solheimajökull.

The sound was recorded at the glacier's face. The lake was just defrosting, and the crushed pieces of ice bumping against each other made a sound like wind chimes.

There's also a Spotify playlist...

I might try recording some of my own sounds on my next visit. This is a project which you could ask students to complete while in the country.

Another everyday masterpiece: 'Small Prophets'

2026-02-14T11:17:00.002+00:00

Monday this week saw the appearance on iPlayer (and BBC One) of the new offering from Mackenzie Crook. He had already cast his magic with 'Detectorists' and an updating of 'Worzel Gummidge' and this is his latest series: "Small Prophets".

It's a magic realist wonder.

It's a quotidian masterpiece.

It's built from small observations of suburban lives, and people's lives intersecting (or not).

It's nostalgic and sad - built around memories, and people who have disappeared. Unanswered questions, and a chance to have them answered.

Set aside 3 hours and immerse yourself in it...

Image copyright: BBC

GeoLincs - 18th March - see you there?

2026-02-14T10:12:00.002+00:00

Via LinkedIn from Aidan Hesslewood, who is a fellow moderator on the GA's Secondary Geography Quality Mark moderation team.

The second Geolincs session of this academic year is approaching, and we have Richard Bustin and Alan Parkinson coming along to share lots of important ideas: Wednesday 18th March, from 1400-1700 (light refreshments included) at Spalding Grammar School.

I’m really excited to welcome Alan back to the branch (he last spoke in 2015) and to Richard for the first time, and I hope you can join us for a stimulating afternoon of geography curriculum discussion, particularly in light of upcoming reforms. This session will be suitable for all: student teachers, teachers, subject leads, and senior leaders.

Feel free to message me here if you'd like to come along.

Geolincs (the GA branch for South Lincs and surrounding counties) aims to sustain excellence in geography education in Lincolnshire and the surrounding counties. It is a non-profit network that provides opportunities for professional growth and events are completely free to attend.

It endeavours to:
· Explore and develop teaching expertise and subject knowledge
· Share ideas through participation and networking
· Provide a forum for debate and discussion

Here's the title slide from my presentation. Hope to see some of you there.

The Stranger's Case.

2026-02-14T10:11:00.002+00:00

Watch this from around 20 minutes in in particular - although it's all worth your time...

A-Z - what does your algorithm suggest?

2026-02-01T14:51:00.003+00:00

A cross posting from my World of Music blog.

Calling all geographers...

As February has 28 days, I'm going to do an A-Z for the next 26 days after this, and then a summary to complete the month.

As I am using Spotify to compile a play list of all the songs that I mention during the year, I'm going to let the 'algorithm' choose which musical acts appear here. Most of them are bands that I listen to frequently enough for them to rise to the top, but that's not the case for all letters of the alphabet. Each day I will focus on the music of a different band and their connections to 'place' and other aspects.

As always, any songs that I feature here will be added to the playlist which I've been putting together and will add to through the year ahead.

I'd be interested to hear what bands you would choose for each of the letters of the alphabet as we work through the month ahead.

This sort of curation of the music we are presented with is explored in the book 'Filterworld'.

There may be some other posts as well on some of the days if there are important anniversaries to mark.

Image: Steve Hackett playing live in Cambridge - by Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.

Try it out yourself, and let me know what your Spotify suggestions are in the Google Form below....

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Out of field thinking

2026-01-27T18:48:00.005+00:00

A cross posting from my World of Music blog.

One of the aspects of the work I will be doing over the next year on this blog is to engage with research from "out of field".

All teachers should engage with subject specific research to add complexity and nuance to their thinking.

If the sources of information that is used for planning resources is limited, then the resources that are presented to students will not stretch them, or offer opportunities to show what they know first.

I got started on this with a piece by John Schofield and Ron Wright.

PDF download is here.

I will return to Sheffield later in the blog, when I start a series of posts about cities which have a particular "sonic heritage".

Reading / sources:

John Schofield & Ron Wright (2021): Sonic Heritage, Identity and Musicmaking in Sheffield, “Steel City”, Heritage & Society, DOI: 10.1080/2159032X.2021.1968227

'The Bone Temple'

2026-01-24T19:30:00.003+00:00

I've just been to see the 4th instalment of a film sequence which started with '28 Days Later'.

It's an 18 certificate.

It returned us to the UK post virus and the story of Spike, who had just met the 'Jimmy' gang.

Details of the film here.

Here's the trailer for the film....

Spoilers in this review here.