Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Welcome to the Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability and Resilience Institute at the University of Southampton!
This podcast explores the greatest and most wicked problem that is sustainability, whilst looking at how we are collectively addressing this critical global challenge.
Sustainability needs to be addressed by understanding how the economy, society, culture, politics and environment intersect, and this is the focus that informs each episode of the Meliora podcast.
In each episode, host Professor Simon Kemp and guest hosts are joined by a variety of guests, including academics, students, staff, researchers, alumni, community groups and business leaders.
The aim of the podcast is to shine a light on the vast range of topics surrounding sustainability and to allow listeners to learn about the critical challenges we face, as well as how they can be part of the solution. We also ensure our fantastic students have the opportunity to share their brilliant work with the world.
Podcast host: Professor Simon Kemp, Deputy Director of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute, University of Southampton
Podcast editors: Lily Killner, Sophie Green, Libby Kale, Jack Dinham, Ellie Howell, School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton
Podcast communications: Hannah Parish, Alexander Ayerst, Maya Stevens, University of Southampton
Please do get in touch to discuss this podcast and any of the issues we raise by emailing sri@soton.ac.uk
Follow us on instagram and X: @meliorapodcast
Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Darius Printer: Left Behind Places as an Explanation for Geographies of Political Discontent - explaining right-wing populism rising trends
Darius Printer, BA Geography, joins us to discuss his research project "Left Behind Places as an Explanation for Geographies of Political Discontent - explaining right-wing populism rising trends"
Abstract
My Thesis is about mapping political discontent in the UK through the rise of RUK. Using ArcGIS I plotted left-behind neighbourhoods identified by the OSCII study in 2019 who were concerned with the most deprived areas in the UK in order to allocate the Stronger Towns Fund of £2 billion in the most deprived areas in the UK. My Thesis used electoral data to compare these left behind neighbourhoods to areas of high Right-Wing Populism (RWP) to identify patterns between deprivation and political discontent in the UK. Findings show a strong relationship between economic deprivation being a key driver for RWP rises through political discontent mostly in the North-East and East of England due to de-industrialisation or coastal communities experiencing long-term economic grievances. Through using economic and cultural explanations for RWP in these areas my study's application is to reduce inequalities between regions in the UK by identifying the reasons for political discontent in those neighbourhoods. Identifying the most Left-Behind neighbourhoods that require the most regional economic development and links to SDG 10, 8 & 11.
Episode Guest: Darius Printer, BA Geography
Episode Host: Prof Simon Kemp
Producer and Editor: Jack Dinham
