What is Area to physical and environmental geography?

Abstract

Geographers are uniquely positioned to help understand and address many of the global challenges that exist today. Geographers were key contributors to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2021), which reiterates that humans have changed our climate, stating that while a crisis can’t be averted, some of the worst effects might be mitigated. Geographers will play a role in the UN Climate Change Conference, which meets in Glasgow in November 2021 with the urgent business of trying to deliver mitigations and adaptations to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees as per the Paris Agreement. Geographers continue to play an important role in monitoring, modelling, and mitigating of deadly floods, such as those seen across Europe in July 2021. While at face value you might assume that in the few examples above we are referring to physical and environmental geographers, in fact we are very much thinking more broadly across the roles of physical, human, and environmental geography in coming together to address these environmental and societal challenges. To address these global issues, to make genuine and applied advances that support communities, geographers need to work together across our discipline and beyond to ask and answer pressing questions and to build and sustain safe and inclusive research and teaching cultures. And where better to communicate these important advances than within the pages of Area? In answering the question posed in the title of this editorial, it is important for us to note what we are not. We know that Area is not Nature or Science. We know that Area is not the go-to outlet for physical or environmental geographical studies that follow the traditional empirical scientific methods. This is largely down to the well-established fact that physical and environmental geographers are increasingly specialised (Viles, 2001), identifying as hydrologists, geomorphologists, quaternary scientists, spatial analysts, environmental scientists… etc. and publish in the plethora of journals covering these sub-disciplines. But alongside these more specialised research identities, we are also all geographers. And Area is a journal for the whole of geography. It is really well-read across the discipline, and a go-to when people from all career stages want to explore the interactions and the questions that geography is grappling with. This is as true for physical and environmental geography as it is for any other part of the discipline. As a previous editorial notes: “Area has provided an important opportunity for physical and environmental geographers to highlight key changes to debates, and data and methods used within the discipline” (Kraftl et al., 2018, p. 437), whether that be in: models and geographical information science; quaternary environmental change; soil science; biogeography and ecosystems; hazards, disasters, and risk; landscape systems; water science; climate change; society–environment relations; resources and environmental management. There are some excellent recent papers that highlight contributions in these spaces, for example, the exploration of emerging hybrid urban landforms (Dixon et al., 2017), the provocative characterisation of the coastal management of dunes as “dune gardening” (Cooper & Jackson, 2021), and discussion around the role of public participation in river management (Buletti Mitchell & Ejderyan, 2021). The latter study touches on ideas explored by Lane (2019) in relation to critical physical geography and the integrative study of human–environment interactions, an area around which we would welcome further submissions. In addition, we would encourage contributions that highlight the potential benefits of adopting new technology and methods, including data analysis and processing techniques. In these dynamic spaces, at the cutting edge of physical and environmental geography, Area might just be the best-kept secret as an outlet for setting the agenda and advancing the contemporary debates. We want Area to be an outlet that captures the passion and enthusiasm that physical and environmental geographers have for their subjects. We are offering a space to break the traditional mould. Area offers flexibility around questions that might arise from research that are a little bit more provocative, opinionated, cross-disciplinary, and agenda-setting. Research in the geographical domain, and in cognate areas, is increasingly drawing on expertise across disciplines, asking new and exciting questions, and tackling challenges in novel ways. Some of these conversations and research might feel like they do not belong in traditional journals. Area papers are up to 5,000 words long, so short in comparison with others in many traditional science-based journals. Whilst rigorous, they are punchy, can be opinionated, thought-provoking, and importantly advance/contribute to debates within and beyond Geography. Area papers can also be even shorter commentaries, or be contributions to our section on ethics. We also have the option for special sections with a physical or environmental geography focus or crossing disciplinary boundaries. We know that geographers working at the intersections of human, physical, and environmental geography need an outlet for interdisciplinary conversations, to test ideas, and to test ideas and communicate with each other. We encourage you to talk with your colleagues – we started this editorial with a wide-ranging conversation around our backgrounds and interests, talking about how our work had evolved. Sharing the challenges and difficulties as well as the synergies in our differing roles within geography led to a mutual identification of opportunities for us to continue our discussions. One of Area’s roles is as a space to publish these more reflective elements (Harrison et al., 2004), that are increasingly becoming an everyday part of our practice. Physical and environmental geography colleagues typically work within large and often international teams; we might consider connecting here with the wider research context and culture. Where is the considered discussion and debate and sharing of best practice in relation to equality, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in research and fieldwork (e.g., Lawrence & Dowey, 2021), something that cross-disciplinary groups such as TIGERSTEMM1 are advocating and which form an increasingly important part of the research funding landscape. We’ve written this editorial as something of a showcase of what Area can offer those working across physical and environmental geography and beyond. We want to nurture a way of thinking across the discipline and outside of conventional boundaries, and we look forward to continuing conversations in the pages of Area. We want you to join us in shaping how this space evolves and how Area can become an important conduit for communicating these ideas and debates within geography. That is the exciting part for us. In the spirit of this editorial, this autumn we arranged a virtual discussion session and Area special section focusing on a Classic Revisited: “Muddy glee” (see Bracken & Mawdsley, 2004). This highly influential piece was co-authored by a human geographer and physical geographer and delivered a timely opinion relating to women undertaking physical geography fieldwork. A refreshing paper at the time, we feel that now is the right moment to revisit this classic with a broader remit around diversity in fieldwork in mind, much in the same way as we want to encourage you to think more broadly about Area.