Staff Profile
Professor Rachel Franklin
Professor of Geographical Analysis
- Email: rachel.franklin@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: 0191 208 8004
- Personal Website: https://www.rachelfranklin.org
- Address: Room 3.45
Henry Daysh Building
Newcastle University
NE1 7RU
Background
I am Professor of Geographical Analysis in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) and the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, Head of Newcastle Data, Co-I for the EPSRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geospatial Systems, and the Academic Lead for Newcastle for the Alan Turing Institute. I am also currently the Group Lead for Liveability in the Science of Cities and Regions Programme at the Turing Institute. I joined Newcastle in 2018 as one of four chairs appointed to expand the university’s international, cross-disciplinary reputation in Spatial Analytics and Modeling (SAM@Newcastle).
My primary research focus is in spatial demography and the interplay between spatial analytics and demographic change, in particular quantifying patterns, sources and impacts of spatial inequality. I also maintain an ongoing interest in pedagogy, especially the teaching of methods. I have taught spatial analysis, GIS, and quantitative methods for well over a decade, with a pedagogic orientation towards policy applications and the social sciences and humanities, and am co-author of a recent textbook aimed at teaching GIS for the social sciences.
I am the current editor of the journal, Geographical Analysis. I also hold visiting academic appointments in Population Studies at Brown University and at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) in L’Aquila, Italy. I am a member of several journal editorial boards, including Population, Space and Place, Annals of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the Journal of Regional Science, and the Journal of Geographical Systems.
Prior to joining Newcastle University, I was for eight years (2010–2018) the Associate Director of the Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4) initiative at Brown University in the U.S. and also held an academic appointment in Population Studies. My academic career path has been distinctly non-traditional: I started as a Statistician/Demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau, later worked as Deputy Director of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), and also accomplished a lengthy stint as adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland.
I received my PhD in Geography from the University of Arizona (2004). My previous degrees are from Indiana University: BA (1994) in French and Political Science and MA (1996) in West European Studies.
For Prospective PhD Students:
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students in the following areas:
- Depopulation and shrinking cities
- Spatial inequality
- Smart cities
- Demographic change and internal migration
More about me:
Research
I am a population geographer with research interests in the sources and impacts of demographic change as it occurs at multiple spatial scales. Demography — age structure, migration patterns, or human capital stocks, for example — is at the core of most social science, health, or environmental challenges facing us. I work at the regional and local scales to understand how best to characterize or measure the populations of places; how location and scale are related to demographic change; and how migration, especially internal, affects demographic composition. I am especially interested in how we use data and statistics to understand what sorts of people are located where, how this changes over time, and what this means for our understanding of spatial inequality.
Data
Data is a key component of demographic and spatial research. Whether traditional (e.g., census or survey) or new and emerging (e.g., trajectory or sensor), we rely on data to characterise society, understand how it is evolving, and identify social and spatial inequalities. It is therefore imperative to understand data: sources, characteristics, and strengths and weaknesses. I've written about data here and here. I also head up the ESRC Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK) Strategic Advice Team, providing expert knowledge and insight to the ESRC on their £49 million investment into smart data infrastructure and services.
Spatial Inequality and the Smart City
Smart city technologies, particularly sensors, contribute to and reinforce socio-economic and spatial inequalities. Funded by the Alan Turing Institute, this project aims to identify who is affected by 'sensor deserts', ascertain coverage for vulnerable populations, and improve understanding of connections between urban mobility and sensor density and location. This work contributes to a growing body of research that highlights the potential risk of smart cities increasing rather than reducing inequality and quality of life, providing a blueprint to assist cities in better adoption of smart city technologies.
Depopulation and Shrinking Cities
Recent and ongoing projects address population loss or shrinkage at the local and regional scales in the United States. This research has focused in particular on the ways in which the degree of loss in any one time period may be mediated or exacerbated by the larger geographical and historical context; the demographic sources of population loss; spatial metrics for urban shrinkage; and the impacts of loss on inequality. These projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health in the United States. Other research focuses on the measurement of human capital stocks and the relationship between migration and human capital, including research on university student migration flows in the United States.
Beyond “Left Behind” Places
Funded by the ESRC and led by Danny MacKinnon in CURDS, this cross-national project involves 16 academic researchers and a range of non-academic partners in the UK, France and Germany. The aim of the project is to develop a new understanding of demographic and socio-economic change in peripheral regions, examining the circumstances and prospects of places and people currently categorised together as 'left behind'.
Teaching
I am not currently teaching.
Modules taught
Mapping the City (GEO3130). This module presents the study of cities from a spatial analytic perspective, drawing on theory and concepts from both urban and social geography. Major concepts in this module focus on urban development and change, the socio-demographic fabric of the city, and accessibility and spatial inequality, both at the scale of particular cities and at the scale of systems of cities. These concepts are engaged with through GIS, spatial analytics, and visualization, with the aim of developing enlightened producers and consumers of urban research, policy, and analytics. Specifically, the module covers principles of GIS, cartography, and spatial analytics through engagement with the key urban topics identified above.
Publications
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Articles
- Wu YT, Kitwiroon N, Beevers S, Barratt B, Brayne C, Cerin E, Franklin R, Houlden V, Woods B, Zied Abozied E, Prina M, Matthews F. The longitudinal associations between ambient air pollution exposure and dementia in the UK: results from the cognitive function and ageing study II and Wales. BMC Public Health 2024, 24, 1233.
- Sanderson R, Franklin R, MacKinnon D, Matthews J. Left out and invisible? : exploring social media representation of 'left behind places'. GeoJournal 2024, 89, 37.
- Sanderson R, Franklin R, MacKinnon D, Matthews J. Left behind and left out: Evaluating (dis)connections in the spatially focused migration network of England and Wales. Population, Space and Place 2024, 30(1), e2722.
- Franklin R. All Theories Are Wrong but Some Are Useful. Dialogues in Human Geography 2024. In Press.
- Houlden V, Robinson C, Franklin R, Rowe F, Pike A. ‘Left Behind’ neighbourhoods in England: Where they are and why they matter. The Geographical Journal 2024, epub ahead of print.
- Park G, Franklin R. The changing demography of hurricane at‐risk areas in the United States (1970–2018). Population, Space and Place 2023, 29(6), e2685.
- Franklin R. Quantitative Methods III: Strength in Numbers?. Progress in Human Geography 2023, 48(2).
- Franklin R. Quantitative methods II: Big theory. Progress in Human Geography 2023, 41(1), 178-186.
- Franklin RS, Delmelle EC, Andris C, Cheng T, Dodge S, Franklin J, Heppenstall A, Kwan M, Li W, McLafferty S, Miller JA, Munroe DK, Nelson T, Öner Ö, Pumain D, Stewart K, Tong D, Wentz EA. Making Space in Geographical Analysis. Geographical Analysis 2023, 55(2), 325-341.
- Pike A, Beal V, Cauchi-Duval N, Franklin R, Kinossian N, Lang T, Leibert T, MacKinnon D, Rousseau M, Royer J, Servillo L, Tomaney J, Velthuis S. ‘Left behind places’: a geographical etymology. Regional Studies 2024, 58(6), 1167-1179.
- Wu Y-T, Kingston A, Houlden V, Franklin R. The longitudinal associations between proximity to local grocery shops and functional ability in the very old living with and without multimorbidity: Results from the Newcastle 85+ study. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 2022, 101, 104703.
- Franklin RS. Quantitative methods I: Reckoning with uncertainty. Progress in Human Geography 2022, 46(2), 689-697.
- Robinson C, Franklin RS, Roberts J. Optimising for equity: Sensor coverage, networks and the responsive city. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 2022, 112(8), 2152-2173.
- Wallace R, Franklin R, Grant-Muller S, Heppenstall A, Houlden V. Estimating the social and spatial impacts of Covid mitigation strategies in United Kingdom regions: synthetic data and dashboards. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2022, rsac019.
- Franklin RS, Houlden V, Robinson C, Arribas-Bel D, Delmelle EC, Demsar U, Miller HJ, O'Sullivan D. Who Counts? Gender, Gatekeeping, and Quantitative Human Geography. The Professional Geographer 2021, 73(1), 48-61.
- Robinson C, Franklin RS. The sensor desert quandary: What does it mean (not) to count in the smart city?. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2021, 46(2), 238-254.
- Bagchi-Sen S, Franklin RS, Rogerson P, Seymour E. Urban inequality and the demographic transformation of shrinking cities: The role of the foreign born. Applied Geography 2020, 116, 102168.
- Franklin RS. I come to bury (population) growth, not to praise it. Spatial Economic Analysis 2020, 15(4), 359-373.
- Seymour E, Endsley KA, Franklin RS. Differential drivers of rent burden in growing and shrinking cities. Applied Geography 2020, 125, 102302.
- Franklin RS. The demographic burden of population loss in US cities, 2000–2010. Journal of Geographical Systems 2019, 23, 209-230.
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Authored Book
- Ballas D, Clarke G, Franklin RS, Newing A. GIS and the Social Sciences: Theory and Applications. London: Taylor and Francis, 2017.
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Edited Books
- Franklin RS, ed. Population, Place, and Spatial Interaction. Singapore: Springer, 2019.
- Franklin RS, van Leeuwen ES, Paez A, ed. Population Loss: The Role of Transportation and Other Issues. Academic Press, 2018.