Gary Higgs

WISERD Co-Director University of South Wales

gary.higgs@southwales.ac.uk 01443483619

Gary’s current research projects include; GIS-based analysis in accessibility modelling; applications of GIS in medical geography; use of GIS and visualisation techniques in emergency planning; applying GIS techniques in collaborative environments and in particular the use of GIS in public participation arenas as part of decision support system frameworks; investigating the use of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) in combination with multi-criteria decision analysis in the siting of facilities such as wind farms and landfill sites; investigating patterns of environmental (in) justice in the UK; researching the use of GIS in social science applications in Wales and associated capacity building.

Gary Higgs Bio

Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Inequalities, civic loss and well-being uses innovative methods, including app-based surveys of spatial mobility and data linkages, to compare place-based and individual measures of accessibility, and explore how changing patterns of civic loss and gain relate to measures of health and well-being. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages…

Research Team: Andrew Price (University of South Wales), Gary Higgs (University of South Wales), Mitch Langford (University of South Wales)

Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes

Overview The study carried out analysis of existing secondary sources of quantitative data in order to investigate levels of social capital within communities in relation to changing levels of provision of key public services. The study built on research conducted in Phase 1 of WISERD on the use of enhanced two step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) techniques to examine…

Research Team: Gary Higgs (University of South Wales), Mitch Langford (University of South Wales), Nicholas Page (Cardiff University), Scott Orford (Cardiff University)

Connected Communities: ICT Use and Connectivity of Minority Communities in Wales

Researchers from the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods, Swansea University, Cardiff University, and the University of Glamorgan will conduct a systematic research review in order to gain an understanding of the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on changing cultures and patterns of connectivity within and between minority communities…

Research Team: Gary Higgs (University of South Wales), Ian Stafford (Cardiff University), Panayiota Tsatsou (University of Leicester), Richard Fry (Swansea University), Robert Berry (University of Gloucestershire)

Journal Articles

Spatial and temporal access to warm spaces during the winter of 2022/2023

It is estimated that over half a million people visited one network of ‘warm rooms’ during the winter of 2022 in the UK, a figure that may rise to 2.5 million people if other networks are considered. As well as offering a means to try to limit exposure to cold temperatures and reduce household energy costs,…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care | August 2023

Journal Articles

Quantifying disparities in access to recreational opportunities by alternative modes of transport

The paper draws upon open-source technologies to present methods of incorporating multiple travel modes into GIS analyses of cumulative opportunity and proximity-based metrics of accessibility. Two case studies are undertaken. The first uses isochrone analysis to evaluate national access to sport facilities expected to appeal to a broad range of ages and abilities. Predictably, urban…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | March 2023

Reports and Briefings

Mapping active travel variations in access to key services in Wales

Introduction Events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the importance of local neighbourhoods as people were encouraged wherever possible to work from home, the physical and mental health benefits of active means of travel were promoted, and communities became more reliant on services in their local areas. At the same time governments around the…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being | November 2022

Journal Articles

Investigating the impact of bank branch closures on access to financial services in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

There is a longstanding policy interest in understanding the impacts of changes in access to public and private services in rural areas. To date much of the empirical analysis concerning changing patterns of accessibility has been predicated on assumptions regarding the mode of transport used to access such facilities. The availability of new and open…

Civil Society, Inequalities, Localities | October 2022

Journal Articles

Combining Temporal and Multi-Modal Approaches to Better Measure Accessibility to Banking Services

The UK, as elsewhere, has seen an accelerating trend of bank branch closures and reduced opening hours since the early 2000s. The reasons given by the banks are well rehearsed, but the impact assessments they provide to justify such programs and signpost alternatives have been widely criticized as being inadequate. This is particularly so for…

Localities | June 2022

Other

Access all areas or missing the bus? Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on Welsh bus services

Academics at the University of South Wales, affiliated to WISERD, have looked at how the pandemic has affected bus service levels across Wales. Their guest article details how the most deprived areas – where people most depend on bus services – have been hardest hit.

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | April 2022

Journal Articles

Towards an understanding of inequalities in accessing residential and nursing home provision: The role of geographical approaches

Suggestions of the existence of so-called ‘social care deserts’ in England in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the potential impact of geographical inequalities on the availability of residential, nursing and domiciliary care. To date, much of this analysis has been conducted at spatially aggregated scales such as that of…

Civil Society, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being | February 2022

Applied Spacial Analysis and Policy cover

Journal Articles

Understanding Spatial Variations in Accessibility to Banks Using Variable Floating Catchment Area Techniques

Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy: Contemporary Applications for Spatially Integrated Social Science 14(3) pp 449-472 In response to changing consumer habits driven by the advance of online services and mobile apps, substantial reductions in the provision of bank branches have been widely documented over the last decade. Such closures have economic consequences for the sustainability of…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being | September 2021

Image of the Journal of Civil Society cover page

Journal Articles

Exploring the relationship between local volunteering opportunities and the propensity to volunteer using a nationally representative survey of adults in Wales

Journal of Civil Society 17(2) pp 101-118 This study explored the respective importance of compositional (individual) and contextual (neighbourhood) factors associated with the propensity to engage in formal volunteering among a nationally representative sample of adults in Wales, UK. To date, while certain contextual characteristics of local communities have been found to be associated with the…

Civil Society | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | July 2021

Journal Articles

Computing geographical access to services: The design of a client–server solution that incorporates multiple transport modes

Transactions in GIS, 25(4) pp 1849-1867 This study describes the design and implementation of a web‐based infrastructure built on open‐source components to enable the computation of accessibility scores. It can be adapted to any form of service provision that is represented as geo‐located points. The solution aims to extend previous attempts to measure and analyse…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being | March 2021

Presentation

The Design and Development of a client-server based tool to Compute Accessibility to Sporting Facilities in Wales

Presented by the authors at GIS Research UK Conference 2020 This paper draws on a new database of gymnastics facilities, the use of Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) techniques, to measure potential accessibility for both private and public transport networks using a web-based tool to collect the network distances for the transport. Plans to incorporate…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being | July 2020

Journal Articles

Exploring spatiotemporal variations in public library provision following a prolonged period of economic austerity: A GIS approach

Area 52(2) pp 342-353 This paper demonstrates the applicability of GIS tools for investigating the implications of changes in public service provision following a prolonged period of economic austerity in the UK. Using the example of geographical accessibility to public library service points in Wales, levels of provision are estimated for two cross‐sections in time to…

Civil Society, Inequalities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | June 2020

Journal Articles

Using Geographic Information Systems to investigate variations in accessibility to ‘extended hours’ primary healthcare provision

There are ongoing policy concerns surrounding the difficulty in obtaining timely appointments to primary healthcare services and the potential impact on, for example, attendance at accident and emergency services and potential health outcomes. Using the case study of potential access to primary healthcare services in Wales, Geographic Information System (GIS)‐based tools that permit a consideration…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | June 2019

Journal Articles

Investigating spatial variations in access to childcare provision using network-based Geographic Information System models

A “flagship” policy outlined in the current Welsh Government’s 2016 Programme for Government aims to provide 30 hours of free early education and childcare per week to the working parents of three‐ and four‐year‐olds. However, in common with many other countries, there is currently a lack of detail regarding existing levels of childcare provision that can act as…

Civil Society, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | July 2018

Journal Articles

An exploratory analysis of spatial variations in organ donation registration rates in Wales prior to the implementation of the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013

Spatial variations in rates of registered organ donors have not been studied in the UK at detailed spatial scales despite some evidence of national and regional differences. By drawing on the findings from the existing literature, this study examines associations between small-area variations in rates of new registrants to the UK organ donor register (ODR)…

Civil Society, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | May 2018

Journal Articles

An evaluation of alternative measures of accessibility for investigating potential ‘deprivation amplification’ in service provision

Studies examining potential social inequities in resource distribution have tended to adopt relatively unsophisticated measures of service supply such as those derived from proximity measures or counts of facilities within given time/distance thresholds. Often such measures do not take into account potential demand for services and the implications this has for understanding socio-spatial patterns in…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | April 2018

Image of the Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy journal cover

Journal Articles

Measuring spatial accessibility to services within indices of multiple deprivation: implications of applying an enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) approach

Approaches to calculating spatial accessibility within existing indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) methodologies are based on ‘traditional’ accessibility metrics and tend not to adopt more recent methodological enhancements. In particular, the last decade has seen a relatively large body of studies that have applied floating catchment area (FCA) methods that account for both service supply…

Civil Society, Inequalities, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | December 2017

Cover of Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

Journal Articles

Assessing the Impacts of Changing Public Service Provision on Geographical Accessibility: an examination of public library provision in Pembrokeshire, South Wales

Public libraries make an important contribution to the wellbeing of local people often acting as community hubs by reducing the isolation felt by vulnerable members of society through promoting social interaction and supporting the wider needs of local communities. However, access to libraries is threatened in Wales, as elsewhere in the UK, by uncertainty stemming…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | July 2017

Journal Articles

Modelling spatial access to General Practitioner surgeries: Does public transport availability matter?

Existing approaches investigating access to primary health care tend to use relatively crude measures that compare supply to demand ratios for administrative units or use GIS to calculate straight-line or network distances to the nearest facility. The latter however largely assume access is via private modes of transport. The aim of this paper is to…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | May 2017

Journal Articles

Investigating geospatial data usability from a health geography perspective using sensitivity analysis: The example of potential accessibility to primary healthcare

Network distance and travel times are two popular methods of measuring potential geographic accessibility and networks are also used in gravity model-based approaches such as floating catchment area (FCA) techniques. Although some research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the representation of demand- (population) or supply- (destinations) side characteristics within such models, there…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Localities | April 2017

Journal Articles

The application of network-based GIS tools to investigate spatial variations in the provision of sporting facilities

Methods whereby access to facilities can be captured in order to support national policies geared towards promoting sports participation and help plan the provision of local facilities are urgently needed. Objective measures derived from the use of Geographical Information Systems can be used to gain an understanding of spatial variations in the location and quality…

Civil Society, Education, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | January 2017

Journal Articles

Using routine activity theory to inform a conceptual understanding of the geography of fire events

The cost of fire events can be devastating in human, emotional and financial terms. There is a growing realisation that geographical techniques can be used in cross-disciplinary approaches to gain an understanding of potential causation factors associated with such events. Despite this, the theoretical frameworks within which such research efforts are often couched have received…

Localities | July 2016

Journal Articles

Multi-modal two-step floating catchment area analysis of primary health care accessibility

Two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) techniques are popular for measuring potential geographical accessibility to health care services. This paper proposes methodological enhancements to increase the sophistication of the 2SFCA methodology by incorporating both public and private transport modes using dedicated network datasets. The proposed model yields separate accessibility scores for each modal group at each…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | February 2016

Journal Articles

Book Review: Quantitative Methods and Socio-Economic Applications in GIS

Introduction Having reviewed the first edition of this book for another journal (Higgs 2008), I was particularly interested in how some of the original materials had been updated in this edition to reflect new approaches and developments in GIS that have come to the fore in the interim period. The addition of the term “Socio-economic”…

Data & Methods, Localities | November 2015

Books and Book Chapters

Wales: a statistical perspective

Wales is often regarded as being a uniform country, but, as has been highlighted in the previous chapter, it is very diverse with distinct geographical differences in population and other socio-economic and cultural characteristics. This chapter reveals and discusses some of these differences through official statistics presented at a variety of spatial scales with the…

Localities | August 2015

Journal Articles

Accessibility to sport facilities in Wales: A GIS-based analysis of socio-economic variations in provision

Previous studies concerned with investigating the relationship between levels of physical activity and aspects of the built environment have often led to inconsistent and mixed findings concerning associations between the availability of recreational or sport facilities and area socio-economic status. Further complications may arise when analysis is conducted separately for access to either publicly available…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | May 2015

Journal Articles

Measuring Access to Primary Health Care using Two-Step Floating Catchment Areas and a Public/Private Multi-modal Transport Network

Floating catchment area (FCA) models are widely promoted as a technique to measure potential accessibility in a range of health applications. Since their initial formulation in the early 2000s a number of enhancements have been proposed to better measure accessibility. Encouraged by the growing availability of road network data, and a realisation of the inherent…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | January 2015

Journal Articles

Book Review: Towers, Turbines and Transmission Lines: Impacts on Property Value

Introduction Opponents of wind farms and other contested infrastructure developments often base their arguments against such developments in terms of impacts on, for example, landscape aesthetics, tourism potential, health concerns and property values in the areas surrounding such developments. With regard to the latter, there is a relatively small evidence base on which to judge…

Civil Society, Localities | September 2014

Journal Articles

Editorial: Special issue on spatial analytical approaches in urban fire management

Introduction Urban fires are an important public health and safety concern. Despite the fact we no longer suffer single fire events with the scale of the great fires of Rome, London or Constantinople, worldwide we continue to experience in excess of 300,000 fire-related deaths per annum. The vast majority of these fire deaths occur in…

Localities | November 2013

Journal Articles

Book Review: Crime Modeling and Mapping using Geospatial Technologies

There are a number of texts and edited collections given over to the use of spatial techniques in analysing, modelling and mapping crime data. Such efforts are reinforced by several well-established national (and international) conference series that focus on the use of GIS in analysing crime data as well as themed sessions in major geography…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | September 2013

Journal Articles

Investigating the validity of rural-urban distinctions in the impacts of changing service provision: The example of postal service reconfiguration in Wales

There has been a longstanding interest in the impacts of socio-spatial variations in accessibility to public and private services in both urban and rural contexts. Previous studies have found that rural communities are often disproportionately impacted in accessibility terms by changes in service configuration. The aim of this study is to examine such claims in…

Civil Society, Localities | April 2013

Journal Articles

Using Floating Catchment Analysis (FCA) techniques to examine intra-urban variations in accassibility to public transport oportunities: the example of Cardiff, Wales

A relatively large literature base exists on the use of GIS to measure accessibility in transport studies. Often such research efforts have been conducted as part of wider studies of social exclusion to public transport opportunities. This paper aims to explore the use of floating catchment analysis (FCA) techniques to measure access to public transport…

Civil Society, Localities | August 2012

Journal Articles

Book Review: The SAGE Handbook of GIS and Society

Recent developments in mapping and distributing geographical data using accessible Web 2.0 technologies and practices (such as Google EarthTM, WikiMapia and OpenStreetMap) as well as developments in user-generated online content through web-based and mobile technologies have raised the public profile of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in societal applications. There are numerous high-profile world-wide examples of…

Localities | July 2012

Journal Articles

The WISERD Geoportal: A tool for the discovery, analysis and visualisation of socio-economic (meta-) data for Wales

The Wales Institute of Socio-Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) is an interdisciplinary, cross-institutional academic research group based in Wales, UK. One of the key objectives of WISERD is to develop a spatial framework that enhances a researcher’s ability to discover socio-economic research data relating to Wales with the aim of encouraging collaborative research and…

Data & Methods | WISERD DataPortal | April 2012

Journal Articles

Investigating the implications of using alternative GIS-based techniques to measure accessibility to green space

A large body of research has examined relationships between accessibility to green space and a variety of health outcomes with many researchers finding benefits in terms of levels of physical activity and relationships with levels of obesity, mental health, and other health conditions. Such studies often use spatial analytical techniques to examine relationships between distance…

Data & Methods, Localities | April 2012

Journal Articles

Book Review: GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management

Introduction As evidenced by a burgeoning literature base in the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of studies that have demonstrated the use of geospatial technologies in a range of health application areas. Notwithstanding such research efforts the jury is arguably still out on whether this has led to…

Localities | December 2011

Journal Articles

Gauging levels of public acceptance to the use of visualisation tools in promoting public participation; a case study of wind farm planning in South Wales, UK

There is an increasing interest in the use of IT-based tools to encourage public participation in environmental decision making. Typically, this has involved the development of (predominantly prototype) systems applied in workshop scenarios with those stakeholders with an immediate interest in the planning issue in hand. Increasingly, however, the Internet is being used to explore…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | November 2011

Journal Articles

Measuring transit system accessibility using a modified two-step floating catchment technique

Previous research has drawn attention to the importance of measuring accessibility to public transit services for transport planning and decision-making purposes and to the use of GIS to produce accessibility maps. Existing measures have been criticised for their lack of sophistication and reliance on simple operations such as Euclidean buffering. This article introduces an accessibility…

Data & Methods, Localities | November 2011

Reports and Briefings

ICT use and connectivity of minority communities in Wales

The team has produced a literature review report to conceptually frame and analytically ground the project. This report presents the findings of a preliminary review of the literature in the areas of digital divides, community connectivity and minority communities. It also introduces literature regarding digital divides in the context of Wales in order to contextualise…

Civil Society, Localities | Connected Communities: ICT Use and Connectivity of Minority Communities in Wales | June 2011

Journal Articles

Web-based GIS approaches to enhance public participation in wind farm planning

Planning information pertaining to the potential visual impacts of proposed construction developments is particularly important in the case of wind farm planning, given the high levels of concern amongst members of the public regarding the perceived negative visual impacts of wind turbines on the landscape. Previous research has highlighted the shortcomings associated with traditional visualization…

Data & Methods, Localities | April 2011

Journal Articles

Book Review: Geospatial Techniques in Urban Hazard and Disaster Analysis

Excerpt The primary focus of this volume is on the use of spatial technologies in urban hazard and disaster issues, concentrating on their use in four stages in the disaster management process: response, recovery, preparation, and mitigation. … the editors of this volume have provided an extremely useful addition to the literature in this area…

Localities | April 2011

Reports and Briefings

An evaluation of online GIS-based landscape and visual impact assessment tools and their potential for enhancing public participation: the example of wind farm planning in Wales

Effective information communication and public participation in the planning process are important elements for facilitating successful environmental decision-making. Previous research has demonstrated the importance of these factors for delivering benefits to a wide range of stakeholders in the planning system by increasing the transparency and efficiency of the planning process. Planning information relating to the…

Data & Methods | November 2010

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers journal cover

Journal Articles

Accessibility and public service provision: Evaluating the impacts of the Post Office Network Change Programme in the UK

The importance of public service provision and accessibility in shaping government policies aimed at enhancing social inclusion and ensuring social justice in the UK is well founded. The capabilities of GIS for generating information to address such concerns have facilitated a widespread interest in measuring and analysing accessibility to public services. Previous studies have drawn…

Civil Society, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes | October 2010

Journal Articles

An audit of smoking behaviours among patients attending two general dental practices in South Wales: An awareness raising exercise for the dental team and patients

Aims This audit aimed to quantify the number of smokers attending two general dental practices. It also aimed to establish the demographic characteristics of these smokers in terms of age, gender and deprivation status, and to raise the awareness of practice staff about smoking cessation. Methods Data were collected from consecutive patients (aged over 16…

Civil Society, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care | April 2010

Journal Articles

Fire incidence in metropolitan areas: A comparative study of Brisbane (Australia) and Cardiff (United Kingdom)

In their previous research, they applied spatial statistics and regression analysis to explore the relationships between the types of socio-economic factors that are associated with different fire incident types for an area of South Wales, UK. In this paper, this analysis is extended by using a comparative approach applying regression analysis to examine intra-urban trends…

Localities | March 2010

Journal Articles

Building a Geo-portal for Enhancing Collaborative Socio-Economic Research in Wales using Open Source Technology

The Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) is a major new collaborative socio‐economic research programme involving five higher education institutions in Wales. This paper introduces the work of the WISERD data integration team and describes their plans for the development of an online geo‐portal. Their aim is to support WISERD…

Data & Methods | WISERD DataPortal | January 2010

Reports and Briefings

The use of GIS-derived accessibility measures in mixed methods research: a research agenda

This paper aims to review the state of play of GIS use in measuring accessibility to services drawing on work in areas such as health, public services, transport and environmental justice. The first section describes what is meant by ‘accessibility’ in the context of our research. To date this has predominantly been concerned with measures…

Data & Methods | January 2010

Journal Articles

Investigating the association between weather conditions, calendar events and socio-economic patterns with trends in fire incidence: An Australian case study

Fires in urban areas can cause significant economic, physical and psychological damage. Despite this, there has been a comparative lack of research into the spatial and temporal analysis of fire incidence in urban contexts. In this paper, we redress this gap through an exploration of the association of fire incidence to weather, calendar events and…

Localities | December 2009

Journal Articles

GIScience, Environmental Justice, & Estimating Populations at Risk: The Case of Landfills in Wales

There has been a notable increase in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in studies of environmental (in)justice in the last two decades. Whilst the potential of such techniques is increasingly being recognised, there remain some key research challenges facing researchers interested in wider notions of environmental justice (EJ). One avenue of research concerns…

Localities | October 2009

Journal Articles

The Role of GIS for Health Utilization Studies: Literature Review

There have been a plethora of studies investigating access issues in relation to health services but until recently a relative lack of research on geographical factors that may be influencing utilisation patterns. This paper includes a timely review on what is known from existing studies, a description of the main methodological concerns highlighted by such…

Data & Methods, Inequalities | February 2009

Journal Articles

The Influence of Weather on Local Geographical Patterns of Police Calls for Service

The effect of weather elements on the incidence of different types of crime has been the focus of a number of research studies. However, the detailed geographical dimension of this relationship has been largely ignored. The aim of this paper is to broaden the research on weather and crime to consider the effect of weather…

Civil Society, Localities | January 2009

News

Monitoring access to warm spaces

17th November 2023 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A recently published paper by Dr Andrew Price and Professors Gary Higgs and Mitchel Langford at the University of South Wales has drawn attention to geographical variations in access to warm spaces in Wales. Warm spaces provide an opportunity to help households try to minimise the impact of rising energy bills in the winter months…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Blog

Offering a sporting chance: new techniques could help plan the provision of recreation facilities to improve participation

26th April 2023 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

Our previous studies examining variation in access to sporting facilities in relation to socio-economic patterns in Wales have been predicated on an assumption of private travel as the means of transport. We are now including travel distances and times for alternative modes of transport as part of our accessibility calculations. These are derived from an…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

News

Mode of transport influences access to recreational opportunities

18th January 2023 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A new WISERD paper by Andrew Price, Mitchel Langford and Gary Higgs at the University of South Wales has recently been published in the journal, Case Studies on Transport Policy. Using sports facility data from Sport Wales and open-source data on green spaces, the team examine variations in potential access to recreational opportunities by different…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

News

WISERD researchers create new website to examine access to key services in Wales

10th November 2022 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A prototype website has been developed by WISERD researchers based at the GIS Research Centre at the University of South Wales (USW) which examines access to key services in Wales. This is part of an ongoing research programme investigating geographical access to services in Wales. The website allows users to see indicators of accessibility to…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

News

New paper highlights the need to consider transport options

25th August 2022 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A recent paper by Professor Gary Higgs, Dr Andrew Price and Dr Mitchel Langford of WISERD and the GIS Research Centre published in the Journal of Rural Studies has highlighted the need to consider the transport options available to access services for those dependent on public transport. By drawing on a spatial analysis of the…

Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities

News

New article published on measuring accessibility to banking services

9th August 2022 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A new, open access journal article on measuring accessibility to banking services by Dr Mitchel Langford, Andrew Price and Professor Gary Higgs from the University of South Wales, has been published in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. The article demonstrates how accessibility can be measured to bank branches by different times of day and…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Blog

Deprived areas hit hardest by changes in access to bus services during the pandemic

8th April 2022 | Andrew Price, Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

Public transport was severely impacted during COVID-19 as people’s daily mobility patterns changed. This led to a substantial drop in demand as many workers were instructed to work from home and social distancing measures were introduced on existing services. Department for Transport statistics show a decline from 91 to 26 million passenger journeys on local…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

News

Investigating geographical inequalities in access to residential and nursing home provision

28th February 2022 | Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

A new WISERD paper draws attention to how geographical approaches can contribute to an understanding of inequalities in access to nursing and residential care places in Wales. This research has been carried out by WISERD co-directors, Professor Gary Higgs and Dr Mitchel Langford, along with WISERD Associate, Professor Mark Llewellyn, Director of the Welsh Institute…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Blog

Is there a geography of volunteering in Wales?

13th August 2021 | Gary Higgs

In Wales as elsewhere, the role of volunteers has been brought to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic as people offered their services to help address the needs of vulnerable groups within their communities. Concerns surrounding the sustainability of such volunteering efforts have drawn attention to the types of infrastructure that could help facilitate and…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Localities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Blog

Monitoring inequalities in physical activity opportunities in a post-COVID Wales

18th March 2021 | Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

Local authorities in Wales have had to make difficult decisions to close or rationalise a wide range of services in response to changes in the incidence of COVID-19. This has had major impacts for those sectors of the community most dependent on various forms of service provision. Where there have been partial closures involving changes…

Civil Society, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities | Inequalities, civic loss and well-being

Blog

Are banks doing enough to model the impact of branch closures on communities?

17th July 2020 | Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

We have long become accustomed to the concerns expressed in the letter pages of local newspapers or on various online forums from those members of the public forced (if fortunate to have access to a car) to drive greater distances, or to make alternative and more costly arrangements, to access services such as health, educational,…

Inequalities, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes

News

Continuing our partnership with the National Centre for Research Methods

9th January 2020 | Gary Higgs, WISERD

WISERD is among the nine partner centres who will continue to work with the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) to deliver a new phase of innovative training and capacity-building activities. These will be in the application of core and advanced research methods techniques. This news follows today’s announcement from the Economic and Social…

Data & Methods

News

WISERD Co-Director Professor Gary Higgs wins USW Impact Award 2019

15th November 2019 | Gary Higgs

Professor Gary Higgs and his team have received a USW Impact Award for their research which aims to improve mobile cancer services. The research was a collaboration with Tenovus Cancer Care and ensures the provision of cancer treatment closer to patients’ homes by extending the reach of mobile services. Professor Gary Higgs and PhD student,…

Health, Wellbeing & Social Care

Blog

What maps reveal about the impacts of austerity

11th October 2019 | Gary Higgs

Following nearly a decade of austerity, local authorities face funding challenges that are having major impacts on the ways public services are delivered. Financial pressures, combined with increasing demand and expectations from the public for accessible and timely services, are having a detrimental effect on those social groups most reliant on essential facilities. In our…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care, Inequalities, Localities

Blog

Should levels of access to essential services be measured by travel time alone?

15th January 2018 | Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford, Nicholas Page

According to available estimates, residents living in more rural areas of Wales generally need to travel farthest to access a number of key services. Take access to GP surgeries, for instance. A two-way journey by car to a local GP surgery is considered to take, on average, between 10-14 minutes for those living in smaller…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Inequalities, Localities | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes

News

WISERD analysis helps determine whether Welsh Government can fulfill childcare commitment

6th November 2017 | Gary Higgs, Mitch Langford

WISERD’s bespoke analytical tools were used in a Welsh Government research project to assess whether the existing supply of childcare in Wales can cope with the increased demand due from a change in Government policy. The research and analysis was conducted by WISERD Co-Director Prof Gary Higgs and Dr Mitchel Langford of the University of…

Civil Society, Data & Methods, Health, Wellbeing & Social Care | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes

Blog

WISERD Civil Society: Community-level social capital and the provision of public services; the need for a stronger evidence base

3rd June 2016 | Gary Higgs

WISERD Civil Society WP3.2: Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes This work package will undertake a comprehensive review of the literature on social capital with a particular focus on community level measures at a range of spatial scales. The ultimate aim is to critically assess the suitability of existing secondary…

Civil Society | Implications of Spatial & Temporal Variation in Service Provision for Inequalities in Social Outcomes

Conference

Changing Wales: WISERD at 10

17th October 2018 | Cardiff

The Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) will be celebrating ten years of research that has helped address some of the key social challenges facing Wales on Wednesday 17th October. This invitation only event will include contributions from Kirsty Williams, Cabinet Secretary for Education; Lynne Neagle AM and the launch…

Training

WISERD TCB Event: Introduction to GIS

8th June 2016 | Pontypridd

This workshop will introduce the concepts and provide participants with hands-on experience of using an open source GIS package. We will also explore how socio-economic data from the UK Census of Population can be downloaded and integrated with other open source data sets such as road network data. Speakers: Gary Higgs & Mitch Langford

Workshop

Mapping Your Research Data

21st September 2011 | Swansea

Course Leaders: Professor Gary Higgs, Dr Scott Orford, Dr Robert Berry and Dr Richard Fry, WISERD Data Team This workshop provided a basic introduction to mapping spatial data using a Geographical Information System (GIS) software package. A GIS package can be used to store, manage, visualise, analyse and present any data that is linked to a geographic location. Researchers collect a…

Workshop

Mapping Your Research Data

17th September 2010 | Cardiff

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