RAM Colloquium with Caitlin Robinson

Title: Mapping unequal ambience
Time and venue: Thursday, 22 January 2026, 10 am CET; online
Registration via: Google Forms
Abstract:
Ambience concerns the overlapping and shifting material forms that constitute a person’s surroundings – including air quality, flow, temperature, humidity, noise, and light. Ambient environments envelope different people and places unevenly, whether through exposure to carbon monoxide during a daily commute, or to mould spores in homes. Ambience is central to pressing societal challenges including poor air quality, cold homes, and climate-related heat. In this talk we will explore critical, quantitative approaches to mapping ambience. Illustrating different types of ambient vulnerabilities using examples primarily drawn from the UK context, we will map ambience across multiple scales using spatial data science techniques.
Speaker bio:
Caitlin Robinson is a Senior Research Fellow and Proleptic Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences at University of Bristol. Caitlin is currently leading a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project mapping ambient vulnerabilities in UK cities. As a quantitative human geographer, Caitlin's research investigates the causes and consequences of different types of spatial inequality, with a particular interest in energy, infrastructure and climate. She takes a theory-led approach to spatial analyses, using quantitative, spatial datasets and methods to understand inequality across multiple scales.
