Professor Nigel Walford

About

I studied Geography as an undergraduate in the interdisciplinary context of the University of Sussex in the 1970s and then gained my PhD from the University of London (Wye College) in 1981 where I worked on agricultural restructuring and rural change. Before joining Kingston University in 1989 I worked in the ESRC Data Archive at the University of Essex, where I was involved with a number of data dissemination and analysis projects, including acting as the national Census Officer. it was here that I developed my interest in Geographical Information Systems and Science and its application.

My research reflects a longstanding focus on quantitative analysis of geospatial data in relation to geodemographics, population ageing, spatial planning, agriculture and environmental monitoring. The organisations funding my research include the ESRC, Scottish Executive, Nuffield Foundation and In 2012 was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship by the British Academy.

 

Academic responsibilities

Professor of Applied GIS

Qualifications

  • 1974-77: BA (Hons) in Geography, University of Sussex
  • 1977-81: PhD in Wye College, University of London
  • 2003: Chartered Geographer, Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers)

Teaching and learning

Research

Three threads have continued throughout my research career surviving evolution and change in the specific projects in which I have been actively engaged. These threads relate to differentiation between rural and urban environments, population dynamics and migration and interaction between human and physical processes. Current projects concern

  • connecting the micro-scale demography of areas of London and Middlesex over a period of 100 years (1901-11 and 2001-11) for which I was awarded a British Academy Senior Research Fellowship
  • investigating and modelling the impact of war-time emergency measures on the agriculture and landscape of the South Downs
  • extending work on older people's adjustment to urban regeneration and renewal

I regularly present my research at international conferences and have well in excess of 120 research outputs (journal articles, chapters, books and international conference papers).

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Number of items: 67.

Article

Walford, Nigel (2023) Land use-land cover on the South Downs, England in the 1870s : a case study mapping and applying landscape metrics to the Ordnance Survey Parish Books of Reference. The Geographical Journal, ISSN (print) 0016-7398 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Negrini, Chiara and Walford, Nigel (2022) A stroll in the park, a view of water : quantifying older people’s interaction with ‘green’ and ‘blue’ spaces in urban areas. Applied Geography, 149, p. 102808. ISSN (print) 0143-6228

Walford, Nigel, Carson, Dean and Donnelly, Francis (2022) Celebrating census. Journal of Maps, ISSN (print) 1744-5647 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Yesuf, Gabriel U., Brown, Kerry A., Walford, Nigel S., Rakotoarisoa, Solofo E. and Rufino, Mariana C. (2021) Predicting range shifts for critically endangered plants : is habitat connectivity irrelevant or necessary? Biological Conservation, 256, p. 109033. ISSN (print) 0006-3207

Gant, Robert, Walford, Nigel and Terry, Philip (2021) Alcohol and personal security in the built environment : student engagement in the night-time economy of Kingston upon Thames, London, UK. London Journal, 46(2), pp. 187-213. ISSN (print) 0305-8034

Phillips, Judith, Walford, Nigel, Hockey, Ann and Sparks, Leigh (2021) Older people, town centres and the revival of the 'High Street'. Planning Theory & Practice, 22(1), pp. 11-26. ISSN (print) 1464-9357

Walford, Nigel Stephen (2020) Demographic and social context of deaths during the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, London : a reappraisal of Dr John Snow's investigation. Health & Place, 65, p. 102402. ISSN (print) 1353-8292

Walford, Nigel and Armitage, Richard (2020) Residential neighbourhood classification : an environmentally enhanced approach. Applied Geography, 121, p. 102219. ISSN (print) 0143-6228

Yesuf, Gabriel, Brown, Kerry A. and Walford, Nigel (2019) Assessing regional-scale variability in deforestation and forest degradation rates in a tropical biodiversity hotspot. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 5(4), pp. 346-359. ISSN (online) 2056-3485

Smith, Matthew, Walford, Nigel Stephen and Jimenez-Bescos, Carlos (2019) Using 3D modelling and game engine technologies for interactive exploration of cultural heritage : an evaluation of four game engines in relation to Roman archaeological heritage. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 14, e00113. ISSN (print) 2212-0548

Walford, Nigel Stephen (2019) Bringing historical British Population Census records into the 21st century : a method for geocoding households and individuals at their early-20th-century addresses. Population, Space and Place, 25(4), e2227. ISSN (print) 1544-8444

Smith, Matthew, Walford, Nigel Stephen and Jimenez-Bescos, Carlos (2018) Assessing the user response to differences in functionality when visualising 3D models of cultural heritage sites using the Technology Readiness Index. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 10, e00076. ISSN (print) 2212-0548

Walford, Nigel S., Phillips, Judith, Hockey, A. and Pratt, Susan (2017) Assessing the needs of older people in urban settings : integration of emotive, physiological and built environment data. Geo : Geography and Environment, 4(1), e00037. ISSN (online) 2054-4049

Walford, Nigel (2017) The changing nature of GIS and the provision of formal GIS education in the UK : a case study. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 41(3), pp. 310-326. ISSN (print) 0309-8265

Walford, Nigel and Kurek, Slawomir (2016) Outworking of the Second Demographic Transition: national trends and regional patterns of fertility change in Poland, and England and Wales, 2002-12. Population, Space and Place, 22(6), pp. 508-525. ISSN (print) 1544-8444

Lopes, Domingos Mendes, Walford, Nigel, Viana, Helda and Sette Jnr, Carlos Roberto (2016) A proposed methodology for the correction of the Leaf Area Index measured with a ceptometer for pinus and eucalyptus forests = Proposta de uma methodologia para a correcao do indice de area foliar medido pelo ceptometro em provoamentos de pinus e eucalyptus. Revista Arvore, 40(5), pp. 845-854. ISSN (print) 0100-6762

Lopes, Domingos, Nunes, Leonia, Walford, Nigel S, Aranha, Jose, Sette, Carlos Jr, Vianna, Helder and Hernandez, Carmen (2014) A simplified methodology for the correction of Leaf Area Index (LAI) measurements obtained by ceptometer with reference Pinus Portuguese forests. IForest – Biogeosciences and Forestry, 7, pp. 186-192.

Walford, Nigel (2013) The extent and impact of the 1940 and 1941 'plough-up' campaigns on farming across the South Downs, England. Journal of Rural Studies, 32, pp. 38-49. ISSN (print) 0743-0167

Walford, Nigel (2013) Development and design of a web-based interface to address geographical incompatibility in spatial units. Environment and Planning A, 45(7), pp. 1713-1733. ISSN (print) 0308-518X

Hockey, Ann, Phillips, Judith and Walford, Nigel (2013) Planning for an ageing society: voices from the planning profession. Planning Practice and Research, 28(5), pp. 527-543. ISSN (print) 0269-7459

Phillips, Judith, Walford, Nigel, Hockey, Ann, Foreman, Nigel and Lewis, Michael (2013) Older people and outdoor environments: Pedestrian anxieties and barriers in the use of familiar and unfamiliar spaces. Geoforum, 47, pp. 113-124. ISSN (print) 0016-7185

Shi, Shaozhong and Walford, Nigel (2012) Automated geoprocessing mechanism, processes and workflow for seamless online integration of geodata services and creating geoprocessing services. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 5(6), pp. 1659-1664. ISSN (print) 1939-1404

Sayce, Sarah, Walford, Nigel and Garside, Peter (2012) Residential development on gardens in England: their role in providing sustainable housing supply. Land Use Policy, 29(4), pp. 771-780. ISSN (print) 0264-8377

Taylor, Katherine J., Walford, Nigel, Short, Brian and Armitage, Richard (2012) Cautionary notes on linking the National Farm Survey with other records for investigating the agrarian history of Second World War Britain. Agricultural History Review, 60(1), pp. 77-96. ISSN (print) 0002-1490

Walford, Nigel S. and Hayles, Kelly N. (2012) Thirty years of geographical (in)consistency in the British Population Census: steps towards the harmonisation of small-area census statistical geography. Population, Space and Place, 18(3), pp. 295-313. ISSN (print) 1544-8444

Phillips, Judith, Walford, Nigel and Hockey, Ann (2011) How do unfamiliar environments convey meaning to older people? Urban dimensions of placelessness and attachment. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 6(2), pp. 73-102. ISSN (online) 1652-8670

Walford, Nigel, Samarasundera, Edgar, Phillips, Judith, Hockey, Ann and Foreman, Nigel (2011) Older people's navigation of urban areas as pedestrians: measuring quality of the built environment using oral narratives and virtual routes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100(1-2), pp. 163-168. ISSN (print) 0169-2046

Shi, S. and Walford, N. (2010) An automated internet geoinformation service for integrating online geoinformation services and generating quasi-realistic spatial population GIS maps. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 38(2), pp. 427-432. ISSN (print) 1682-1750

Taylor, Katherine J, Walford, Nigel and Short, Brian (2010) Assessing the land use of inter-war Britain: A comparison of the First Land Utilisation Survey field sheets and 1:63,360 scale maps. Applied Geography, 30(1), pp. 50-62. ISSN (print) 0143-6228

Lopes, DM, Aranha, JT, Walford, N, O'Brien, J and Lucas, N (2009) Accuracy of remote sensing data versus other sources of information for estimating net primary production in Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Pinus pinaster Ait. ecosystems in Portugal. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 35(1), pp. 37-53. ISSN (print) 1712-7971

Walford, N. S. and Kurek, S. (2008) A comparative analysis of population ageing in urban and rural areas of England and Wales, and Poland over the last three census intervals. Population, Space and Place, 14(5), pp. 365-386. ISSN (print) 1544-8444

Walford, N (2007) Book Review of: The experience of return migration: Caribbean perspectives. Geography, 92, p. 77. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, Nigel (2005) Book Review of: Multifunctional agriculture a new paradigm for European agriculture and rural development by G. Huylenbroeck and G. van Durand. Land Use Policy, 22(4), p. 387. ISSN (print) 0264-8377

Walford, N (2004) Book Review of: Contemporary Portugal: Dimensions of economic and political change. Geography, 89, p. 191. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, Nigel (2003) Productivism is allegedly dead, long live productivism. Evidence of continued productivist attitudes and decision-making in South-East England. Journal of Rural Studies, 19(4), pp. 491-502. ISSN (print) 0743-0167

Walford, Nigel (2002) Book Review of: Statistical methods for geography. Geography, 87, p. 374. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, Nigel (2002) Agricultural adjustment: adoption of and adaptation to policy reform measures by large-scale commercial farmers. Land Use Policy, 19(3), pp. 243-257. ISSN (print) 0264-8377

Walford, Nigel (2001) Reconstructing the small area geography of Mid-Wales for an analysis of population change 1961-95. International Journal of Population Geography, 7(5), pp. 311-338. ISSN (print) 1077-3495

Walford, N (2001) Book Review of: Agricultural policy in the European Union. European Urban and Regional Studies, 8(2), pp. 179-180.

Walford, Nigel (2001) Book Review of: Social investment and economic growth: a strategy to eradicate poverty by Patrick Watt. Geography, 86(1), p. 93. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, Nigel (1999) Book Review of: The doubly green revolution by Gordon Conway. Geography, 84(363), p. 187. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, Nigel (1999) 'Making more of maps': geography and geographical information systems. Geography, 84(363), pp. 129-138. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Gant, Robert and Walford, Nigel (1998) Telecommunications and disabled people: a rural perspective. Health & Place, 4(3), pp. 245-263. ISSN (print) 1353-8292

Walford, Nigel (1998) Book Review of: Agricultural restructuring and sustainability: a geographical perspective by Brian Ilbery, Quentin Chiotti and Timothy Richard (eds.). Geography, 83(360), p. 296. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

Walford, N (1997) Book Review of: The third revolution in the Chinese countryside - Garnaut,R, Shutian,G, Guonan,M. Geography, 82(355), pp. 191-192. ISSN (print) 0016-7487

WALFORD, N (1990) Book Review of: Elementary statistics for Geographers- Barber, G M. Area, 22(3), p. 311. ISSN (print) 0004-0894

Book

Walford, Nigel , Carson, Dean and Donnelly, Francis, eds. (2022) Celebrating census. Taylor & Francis. (Journal of Maps) ISSN (online) 1744-5647 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Smith, Darren , Finney, Nissa , Halfacree, Keith and Walford, Nigel, eds. (2015) Internal Migration: Geographical Perspectives and Processes. Farnham, U.K. : Ashgate. 250p. (International Population Studies) ISBN 9781472452467

Walford, Nigel and Ivison, Claire [Illustrator] (2011) Practical statistics for geographers and earth scientists. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley-Blackwell. 416p. ISBN 9780470849156

Sayce, Sarah, Garside, Peter, Harris, Charlotte, Vickers, Anthony, Villars, Nicola, Walford, Nigel and Clements, Billy (2010) Garden developments: understanding the issues - an investigation into residential development on gardens in England. London, U.K. : Communities and Local Government. 106p. ISBN 9781409821595

Walford, Nigel (2002) Geographical data: characteristics and sources. Chichester, UK : Wiley. 274p. ISBN 0471970859

Book Section

Phillips, Judith, Walford, Nigel, Hockey, Ann, Lewis, Mike and Foreman, Nigel (2018) Negotiating unfamiliar environments. In: Walker, Alan, (ed.) The new dynamics of ageing. Volume 2. Bristol, U.K : Policy Press. pp. 35-50. ISBN 9781447314790

Walford, Nigel (2018) Using GIS to transition from contemporary to historical geographical research : exploring rural land use change in southern England in the twentieth century. In: Gregory, Ian , DeBats, Don and Lafreniere, Don, (eds.) The Routledge companion to Spatial History. Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 394-413. (Routledge Companions) ISBN 9781138860148

Walford, Nigel (2018) Using contemporary and historical Census data to explore micro-scale population change in parts of London. In: Stillwell, John, (ed.) The Routledge handbook of census resources, methods and applications: unlocking the UK 2011 census. Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 435-450. (International population studies) ISBN 9781472475886

Walford, Nigel (2016) Using geographical information systems (GIS). In: Clifford, Nicholas , Cope, Meghan , Gillespie, Thomas and French, Shaun, (eds.) Key Methods in Geography. London, U.K. : Sage. pp. 665-683. ISBN 9781446298602

Walford, Nigel and Stockdale, Aileen (2015) Lifestyle and Internal Migration. In: Smith, Darren P. , Finney, Nissa , Halfacree, Keith and Walford, Nigel, (eds.) Internal Migration: Geographical Perspectives and Processes. Farnham, U.K. : Ashgate. pp. 99-111. (International Population Studies) ISBN 9781472452467

Vera-Sanso, P, Barrientos, A, Damodaran, L, Gilhooly, K, Goulding, A, Hennessey, C, Murray, M, Newman, A, Olphert, W, Tew, P, Thompson, J L, Victor, C and Walford, N (2014) Participation and Social Connectivity. In: Walker, A, (ed.) The New Science of Ageing. Bristol, UK : Policy Press. (The new dynamics of ageing) ISBN 9781447314660

Walford, Nigel S. (2008) Connecting the origins and destinations of migrants to Mid-Wales in recent decades. In: Diry, Jean-Paul, (ed.) Les Etrangers dans les Campagnes. Clermont-Ferand : Presse Universitaires Blaise Pascal. pp. 219-232. ISSN (print) 1242-7780 ISBN 9782845163737

Conference or Workshop Item

Walford, Nigel and Armitage, Richard (2018) Bringing the environment and green spaces into the classification of urban residential neighbourhoods and communities. In: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2018; 28 - 31 Aug 2018, Cardiff, Wales. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel and Armitage, Richard (2018) Exploring the use of an environmentally enhanced neighbourhood classification for characterising gentrification in urban landscape : a case study of Salford and Colchester. In: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2018; 28 - 31 Aug 2018, Cardiff, Wales. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel and Armitage, Richard (2016) Steps towards a ‘demographic-environmental-socio-economic’ classification of residential neighbourhoods. In: Royal Geographical Society (RGS) with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) Annual International Conference: Nexus Thinking; 30 Aug - 02 Sep 2016, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel (2016) Changing household composition and structure in selected local authorities of London and Middlesex during the first decade of the 20th century. In: European Social Science History Conference; 30 Mar - 02 Apr 2016, University of Valencia, Spain. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel (2016) A graduate from a Geography degree in the mid-1970s asks ‘what is GIS?’: coming to GIS by a circuitous route. In: Royal Geographical Society (RGS) with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) Annual International Conference: Nexus Thinking; 30 Aug - 02 Sep 2016, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel (2015) Reconstructing the agricultural landscape of the South Downs, England : an examination of the 1940 and 1941 World War II plough-up campaigns. In: GIS Research UK 2015 (GISRUK 2015); 15-17 Apr 2015, Leeds, U.K..

Walford, Nigel (2010) Targeting residential development on previously developed land: an unrealistic proposition for rural local planning authorities? In: Diversity and convergence: planning in a world of change : The UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference 2010; 07 - 09 Apr 2010, Chelmsford, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Walford, Nigel (2002) Diversification on large-scale, commercial farms in South East England. In: 4e colloque franco-britannique de Geographie rurale; 14 - 17 May 2002, Worcester, U.K..

Monograph

Sayce, Sarah, Walford, Nigel, Garside, Peter, Livingstone, David, Vickers, Tony and Jones, Alun (2008) National Land Use Database (NLUD): NLUD scoping study final report. (Project Report) London, U.K. : English Partnerships. 37 p.

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 06:56:24 2023 BST.