Mitch Langford

WISERD Co-Director University of South Wales

mitchel.langford@southwales.ac.uk 01443654148

Mitch Langford Bio

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)

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

Other

Mapping Access to Banking Services

Under Senedd Research’s Academic Fellowship Scheme, Associate Professor Mitchel Langford from the University of South Wales explored how the latest digital mapping technologies can lead to a better understanding of the geographical provision of retail banking. The full report Exploring geographical patterns in the changing landscape of retail banking services in Wales (PDF, 3.09 MB) is published as a Wales Institute…

Civil Society, Localities | February 2021

Reports and Briefings

Exploring geographical patterns in the changing landscape of retail banking services in Wales

Over the past decade successive rounds of bank closures and increasing trends towards fee charging ATMs have attracted widespread media and political attention. This report explores how the latest developments in spatial analytical techniques can provide detailed insight into patterns of provision and change. These techniques are used to provide estimates of accessibility at local community…

Civil Society, Localities | February 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

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

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

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

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

News

Senedd Research fellowship maps access to banking services in Wales

8th March 2021 | Mitch Langford

Over the past decade successive rounds of bank closures and increasing trends towards the provision of fee charging ATMs have attracted widespread media and political attention. WISERD researcher, Mitchel Langford, an Associate Professor at University of South Wales has published a report on access to banking services as a result of his recent Academic Fellowship…

Civil Society, Localities

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

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

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