Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Dr Jessica Hagen-Zanker @j-hagen-zanker.bsky.social · 12d

It’s party conference season – and bombastic statements on immigration are at the top of playlists.

I for one am tired of hearing the same old emotionally charged promises that just don’t relate to reality. You too?

Here are five things you should be hearing about immigration, but won’t be.

ODI Global @odi.global · 12d

It's party conference season in the UK – and immigration will again be one of the big talking points.

In a new blog, @j-hagen-zanker.bsky.social highlights 5 realities about migration repeatedly evidenced by research which we won't be hearing from politicians.

Five things you should be hearing about immigration, but won’t be

Realities about migration and displacement that you won't hear from politicians during party conference season in the UK.

odi.org

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Sean Fox @seanurban.bsky.social · 19d

🌍📢 Call for Papers!! Urban Studies seeks submissions for a special issue on Climate Urbanism, Resilience & Justice — exploring how cities confront the climate crisis, risk, & inequality. @urbanstudiesjournal.com @acuto.bsky.social
www.urbanstudiesjournal.com/callforpaper...

Climate Urbanism, Resilience, and Justice - Urban Studies

Urban Studies Journal Call for Papers is now open: Climate Urbanism, Resilience and Justice. Submission deadline: 31 January 2026.

www.urbanstudiesjournal.com

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Claus Pörtner @clausportner.bsky.social · Aug 19

New in Demography: ‘How Is Fertility Behavior in Africa Different?’ Using DHS/MICS data, SSA–other-region fertility gaps rise through primary school and narrow at higher schooling; little difference among women with secondary+. doi.org/10.1215/0070... @readdemography.bsky.social @seattleu.edu

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Sean Fox @seanurban.bsky.social · Aug 27

Really enjoyed taking part in this conversation with Divya Gupta & Gregory Randolph on #urbanization and #inequality in India on the In Common Podcast: www.incommonpodcast.org/podcast/136-...

136: Urbanization and Inequality with Sean Fox and Gregory Randolph

In this episode, Divya speaks with Sean Fox and Gregory Randolph about urbanization and how it is unfolding amid global shocks and affecting inequality. Sean Fox is a Professor of Geography and Globa

www.incommonpodcast.org

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Andrew Carter @andrewcities.bsky.social · May 27

Deadline is June 1st (23.59).

Andrew Carter @andrewcities.bsky.social · May 8

For the first time in (at least) 15 years @centreforcities.bsky.social is looking for a brilliant individual to be the our next Director of Research & Policy. If you fancy it check out the details on our website www.centreforcities.org/about/career...

Director of Policy and Research - Centre for Cities

Title: Director of Policy and Research Location: London (3 or 4 days in the office with flexibility). Full-time remote position will not be offered.

www.centreforcities.org

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · May 22

"oral contraceptives may be lowering all-cause mortality in women: either through the modification of mortality risk at all ages or, possibly, by modifying aging rates and mortality rate doubling times through the synthetic modification of adaptive pathways" www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Reproductive milestones and oral contraceptive timing predict late-life mortality - npj Women's Health

npj Women's Health - Reproductive milestones and oral contraceptive timing predict late-life mortality

www.nature.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Apr 29

This is interesting — a recent study of mode share (the % share of transportation trips by car, transit, walking, biking etc) relative to city size and income levels in almost 800 cities in 61 countries. Interesting results. HT @davidzipper.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Graphic showing where various cities are placed relative to whether everyone walks their cycles, everyone uses public transit, or everyone drives.

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Centre for Cities @centreforcities.bsky.social · Apr 29

BRIEFING | The myth of “left behind”

❓How should government respond to the political discontent signalled by the vote to leave the European Union and the more recent rise of Reform UK?

buff.ly/g8K7EDQ 👇

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Nuno Palma @nunopgpalma.bsky.social · Apr 7

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲
New paper by K. Karaman, A. Henriques, & myself. Contrary to conventional wisdom we find that constrained government & state capacity were not systematically related. England stood out for combining both which helps explain its take-off

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Catrin Einhorn @catrineinhorn.bsky.social · Mar 27

From state legislatures to community groups, from tribal lands to city parks to postage-stamp backyards, people are doing quiet, vital work to confront climate change and biodiversity loss. All year, @carabuckley.bsky.social and I will be writing about these efforts.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

50 States, 50 Fixes

A series about local solutions, and the people behind them, to environmental problems.

www.nytimes.com

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ESRC Centre for Population Change and Connecting Generations @cpc-cg.bsky.social · Mar 27

Andy Tatem & Jessica Espey @worldpop-uos.bsky.social report on the growing global crisis in #population data in @theconversation.com. Please share across your networks 📨

"When people vanish from data, they vanish from policy... causing political underrepresentation & inadequate resource allocation"

Global population data is in crisis – here’s why that matters

When certain groups of people are systematically undercounted, they become invisible to policymakers.

theconversation.com

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NBER @nber.org · Mar 27

Sewer access shapes developing world cities. New research shows effects on population density as large as for highways, but little on demographics, from Sean E. McCulloch, Matthew P. Schaelling, Matthew Turner, and Toru Kitagawa https://www.nber.org/papers/w33597

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Mar 25

Nice article on population projections, making the point that one problem with population panics is that it’s incredibly difficult to predict population trends. Implementing drastic policy solutions on the basis of long-term population projections is therefore not a good idea

The mysterious statisticians shaping how we think about fertility

Experts were wrong about overpopulation before. Could they be wrong about underpopulation now?

www.vox.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Mar 23

My semi-regular reminder of a really important reality about cities, density, services and taxes.

Any questions?

Graphic recently cleaned up by @kathrynmathias.bsky.social. #CityMakingMath

Venn diagram of low taxes, low density and stable services. The overlap in the centre is a scenario that doesn’t exist

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Sean Fox @seanurban.bsky.social · Mar 21

Szechuan feast?

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Emma Edwards @cllremmaedwards.bsky.social · Mar 19

We got two in our ward and they got snapped up so quickly. I hope the combine authority take note of this and work hard to get more installed. Think how much space is dedicated to people parking cars in our streets, and how quickly a handful of cycle spots get snapped up when hangers are put in.

Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · Mar 19

People want secure and accessible cycle parking at home or as close to it as they can get. We need many more of these hangers in Bristol.

Recent research from Sustrans addresses inequality in who has access to secure cycle parking and benefits of providing it: www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/res...

Bristol bike storage hangars almost fully booked in 90 minutes

The hangars, which provide spaces for bicycles, are becoming a common sight on residential roads.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Sean Fox @seanurban.bsky.social · Mar 18

Nice to see our paper on integrating social vulnerability into global flood risk mapping hit the top 25 Social & Human Behavior Articles of 2024! @naturecomms.bsky.social www.nature.com/collections/...

Top 25 Social Science & Human Behavior Articles of 2024

Browse the 25 most downloaded Nature Communications articles in social science and human behavior published in 2024

www.nature.com

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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · Mar 11

Hey all, I started a substack, as I belive is a legal requirement for middle aged men. Warning: contains science, snark, light swearing. All free, for now. open.substack.com/pub/arutherf...

Punctuated equilibrium

Here we go. I have finally joined Substack. Science, history, politics, and possibly some pop culture.

open.substack.com

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · Mar 7

NEW: The actions of Trump and Vance in recent weeks highlight something under-appreciated.

The American right is now ideologically closer to countries like Russia, Turkey and in some senses China, than to the rest of the west (even the conservative west).

My column: www.ft.com/content/3046...

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Alice Evans @draliceevans.bsky.social · Feb 23

The demographic crisis has huge implications for economic dynamism, pensions & the welfare state

But currently this discourse is dominated by speculations, frustrations & nasty slurs.

I’ve been interviewing people all over the world.

This is what I’m finding 👇

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · Feb 20

In many ways it's fitting that the showdown between monarchy and democracy ends up being over NYC congestion pricing.

Cities are where the power of kings were first challenged, and few things are more fundamental to government than control of public space.

The cameras are staying on!

A cartoon with a sign that looks like a classic NYC no parking sign but is modified to say "No King Any Time", above a cartoon showing a cybertruck with a crown on it running over speed bumps and sawhorse barricades labeled Congress, Executive Branch, and Courts. It is stopped in front of bollards with a Congestion Pricing sign above it. In the background on the left is the Washington DC skyline with tire tracks coming out of a building. On the right behind the congestion pricing sign are the Statue of Liberty in front of the Jersey City skyline, an NYC walkup apartment with a bodega, people on bikes and walking, the Manhattan skyline, a subway train, and a bus in a bus only lane, and Pizza Rat.

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Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · Feb 14

FANTASTIC

ICPSR at U Mich is coordinating the archiving of at-risk federal data (all of it?)

You can upload data you have & search for data you don’t have

www.datalumos.org/datalumos/

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Kai Arzheimer @kai-arzheimer.com · Feb 14

This is very interesting and more data-driven than you might think from the title. Also comes up with an actual idea what centre-left parties could do to build a new coalition. No idea if this would work, but at least it's something constructive #farright #Germany #btw25

The German left has lost its monopoly on class consciousness

The German radical right has mobilised around a working class identity that pits hard-working “maker...

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Sean Fox @seanurban.bsky.social · Feb 11

Wow - excellent news! Congratulations!

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Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · Feb 7

👏

“After one year of the zone, nitrogen dioxide from traffic was lower, GP visits for respiratory illnesses were down by 25% and those for heart problems decreased by 24%”

Bradford clean air zone saves NHS over £30,000 a month in first year

After one year of the zone, which is the second largest in England, GP visits for respiratory illnesses were down by a quarter

www.theguardian.com

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