Geography - Sustainable Development
Key staff: Dr Tim Acott and Dr Mike McGibbon
Understanding sustainability is a multifaceted concept that incorporates knowledge from a range of disciplines. Dr Acott and Dr McGibbon have been involved in sustainability research that explores both applied and conceptual topics. Their research draws on subject areas including urban studies, environmental sociology, environmental ethics and environmental politics.
Dr Acott is exploring the conceptual foundation of responsible tourism, in the context of post-natural hybrid discourses, as well as investigating the motivations and attitudes of climbers and mountaineers. He is also Director of the University of Greenwich Centre for Sustainability and is currently involved in a major European Interreg IVa proposal looking at the sustainability of fishing in the English Channel.
Dr McGibbon is working with the Medway Unitary Authority on the changing structure of the employment base in Medway.
Recent projects
- Implementation of Local Agenda 21, a globally implemented plan to achieve sustainable development in the 21st century with respect to environmental, economic and social issues.
- Developing methods to measure environmental attitudes using the New Environmental Paradigm Scale.
- Ecotourism in Nepal.
- Evaluating the opportunities and challenges in implementing a sustainable tourism branding scheme in the South Downs.
- Investigating the understanding of intrinsic value amongst major landowners in the UK.
- Conceptual reflections on what is meant by the term “environmental science”, with particular focus on hybrid geography.
- Environmental ethics and analysis of public participation in local planning.
Publications
Acott, T.G. (2006). Exploring Environmental Issues: An integrated approach by D. Kemp. Book review. Holocene, 16, 464pp.
Acott, T.G. and McGibbon, M.M.G. (2007). Environmental Science and sustainability: some critical thoughts. Environmental Sciences, 4, 199-207.
Acott, T. G. and Woodland, M. Sustainability and Local Tourism Branding in the South Downs. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15(6), 715-734.
Butler, W., and Acott, T. G. An Inquiry Concerning the Acceptance of Intrinsic Value Theories of Nature. Environmental Values, 16, 149-168.
Dalton, P., McGibbon, M.M. and Isaac, D.(2007). Changes in Employment Land in Medway 1999-2006. Medway Unitary Authority.
Kaswamila, A., Russell, A., and McGibbon, M. J. Impacts on Wildlife on Household Food Security and Income in North Eastern Tanzania. Human Dimensions of Wildlife. 12,391-404.