Matt Watson

Practice Matters! Geographical inquiry and theories of practice

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This article develops an outline agenda for bringing theories of practice, and particularly Schatzki’s ‘site ontology’, together with geographical inquiry. We elucidate this agenda through consideration of three contemporary preoccupations in human geography, comprising emotion, materiality and knowledge. I co-authored it with Jonathan Everts and Matthias Lahr and it was published in the journal Erdkunde in 2011.

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Assessing the energy implications of replacing car trips with bicycle trips in Sheffield, UK

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In this paper we generate scenarios for increasing the cycling rate in Sheffield between 2010 and 2020, through the novel application of a simple model, borrowed from population ecology. I co-authored it with Robin Lovelace and with Stephen Beck and Andy Wild, and it was published in the journal Energy Policy in 2011.

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The Design of Everyday Life

How do common household items such as basic plastic house wares or high-tech digital cameras transform our daily lives? The Design of Everyday Life considers this question in detail, from the design of products through to their use in the home. I co-authored this book with Elizabeth Shove, and also with Jack Ingram and Martin Hand. It was published by Bloomsbury in 2007.

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Unpicking Environmental Policy Integration: Tales from waste management

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In this article we set out three critical arguments in relation to debates on Environmental Policy Integration and governance. I authored it with Harriet Bulkeley and Ray Hudson and published in the journal Environment and Planning and C: Government and Policy in 2008.

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Modes of Governing Municipal Waste

Co-authored with Harriet Bulkeley, and with Ray Hudson and published in the journal Environment and Planning A in 2007. In this paper we develop an analytical approach, the modes of governing approach, which engages with the rationalities, agencies, institutional relations, and technologies of governing that coalesce around particular objectives and entities to be governed.

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Product, competence, project and practice: DIY and the dynamics of craft consumption

Authored with Elizabeth Shove and published in the Journal of Consumer Culture in 2008. In this article we examine the recursive relation between products, projects and practices with reference to DIY and home improvement – an important area of craft consumption and a field in which consumers are actively and creatively engaged in integrating and transforming complex arrays of material goods.

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Products and Practices: Selected Concepts from Science and Technology Studies and from Social Theories of Consumption and Practice

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I co-authored this article, published in Design Issues with Jack Ingram and Elizabeth Shove. In it we introduce to design scholars approaches and concepts from consumption studies, practice approaches and STS that can help approach the recursive relations between product design and consumer practices.