The Limits of a New Spatial Science of Emotions

About this Talk

This talk describes the Centre for Urban Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham, its cross disciplinary approach to understanding city life, and the community-engaged research projects we run. It then examines everyday “problems of living” by looking at how emotions are governed at national and city scales and through technologies that try to sense and respond to feelings. I explore how a new way of studying emotions in cities is forming, show where that approach falls short, and suggest clearer concepts and methods for combining psychology, neuroscience and human geography. The goal is to push toward a practical, critique driven research agenda that better captures how emotions shape and are shaped by urban life.

About the Speaker

Jessica Pykett is Professor of Social and Political Geography and Co-Director of the Centre for Urban Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is the author of 8 books including Brain Culture: Shaping Policy through Neuroscience (Policy Press, 2015) and Governing Global Emotions: Technology and the New Science of Feeling (Princeton University Press, 2026). Her widely published research has looked at how neuroscientific and behavioural research is influencing policy and governance – from public health, architecture and urban design to economic theory, education and workplace training. She is currently Principal Investigator on the ESRC Ethics and Expertise Beyond Times of Crisis project and Co-Investigator at the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures and NERC WMAdapt: Maximizing Adaptation to Climate Change in the West Midlands and beyond.