https://gh.copernicus.org/articles/ Recent articles of the journal Geographica Helvetica en https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-463-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-463-2026 <b>From lab to table: promissory narratives and the future of protein production in response to global crises</b><br> Frank I. Müller, Frank Meyer, and Judith Miggelbrink<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 463–479, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-463-2026, 2026<br> We look at how cellular agriculture (CellAg) companies use visual storytelling to embed research on and the production of lab-grown meat within larger environmental themes. The videos highlight lab-grown meat as a necessary shift from traditional farming towards a more sustainable food production. We identified six main narrative patterns, such as technological advancement, scale of production, and ethical benefits, showing how CellAg companies promote their technology as eco-friendly and viable. Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-453-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-453-2026 <b>Logements sociaux et économiques à Songon-Kassemblé: Conflit et recomposition des rapports de pouvoir entre l'État et les propriétaires de droits fonciers coutumiers</b><br> Adjoba Marthe Koffi-Didia<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 453–462, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-453-2026, 2026<br> This article relates a conflict between customary landowners and the Ivorian state over the social housing site in Songon-Kassemblée, a peri-urban area in the District of Abidjan. Based on documentary research and field surveys, this study shows the preponderant role of customary landowners in negotiations related to land issues as well as the modification of the interplay of actors during the development process of this urban fringe. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-435-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-435-2026 <b>Electoral outcomes of party families across regional development types in Europe</b><br> Martin Refisch<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 435–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-435-2026, 2026<br> Regions shape how people vote. This study analyzed elections across Europe to understand which parties thrive in which types of regions. Using cluster analysis, six region types were identified based on socioeconomic indicators. Radical-right parties perform strongest in disadvantaged and industrial regions, while conservative parties peak in industrial areas, and social-democratic parties are weakest there but strongest in rural regions. This study shows that place shapes party competition. Fri, 31 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-427-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-427-2026 <b>Anti-transformation: the political geography of local resistance to transformation projects in East Germany</b><br> Mareike Pampus, Matthias Naumann, and Jonathan Everts<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 427–433, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-427-2026, 2026<br> This intervention examines how socio-ecological transformation is contested within local governance. Drawing on ethnographic material from Zeitz (East Germany), it introduces anti-transformation as a mode of political practice in which legitimate administrative concerns are mobilized at decisive institutional moments. Rather than open rejection, resistance operates through procedures, timing, and institutional settings, reshaping political outcomes from within governance processes. Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-421-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-421-2026 <b>Academic freedom for critical geography: principles, threats, resistance</b><br> Sybille Bauriedl<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 421–425, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-421-2026, 2026<br> Right-wing parties are succeeding in redefining academic freedom and combating critical science. They mix up the principle of academic freedom with their idea of freedom of ideology. But researching uncomfortable truths about climate change and global inequalities are not ideological if they are fact checked. The defense of academic freedom by academic institutions is essential for dealing with global crises and injustices. Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-407-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-407-2026 <b>Öffentliche Büchereien als Orte von Gemeinschaft? Wie Bücherei-Etikette die Sorge für das Miteinander verteilt</b><br> Melike Peterson, Alexa Färber, and Marion Hamm<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 407–419, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-407-2026, 2026<br> Public libraries in cities offer a variety of uses. They are places where people with different interests must explore and negotiate their being together. This paper focuses on the specific nature of this sociality. Based on two independent library research projects conducted in Bremen, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, we demonstrate how community emerges as an idea and a sense of togetherness from distributed care practices that revolve around a library etiquette. Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-393-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-393-2026 <b>“Doing” ontological security: on the role of traditional festivals and heritage in times of crisis</b><br> Joanna Jurkiewicz and Ilse Helbrecht<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 393–405, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-393-2026, 2026<br> The paper shows how a centuries-old traditional festival can stabilize people’s sense of security in a world marked by crisis. Based on qualitative research in rural Germany, we analyse how the Schäferlauf enables individuals to anchor their identities through embodied and place-based practices, including wearing traditional costumes and preparing the festival. We show that security is not only imagined or narrated but also something people do. Thu, 16 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-375-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-375-2026 <b>Fleeting encounters: digital labour mobility and the loss of public sociality in Blaha Lujza Square, Budapest</b><br> James Clifford Viloria<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 375–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-375-2026, 2026<br> This study examines how the renewal of Blaha Lujza Square in Budapest changed everyday life in a busy public space. Using photos, interviews, observations, and online discussions, it explores what residents feel has been lost. Findings suggest social life has not disappeared but shifted toward faster, more temporary, and digitally mediated interactions, showing how renewal reshapes how people connect. Tue, 14 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-361-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-361-2026 <b>When the city wakes the dead – silence, noise pollution, and politics within the contemporary French cemetery</b><br> Louis Dall'Aglio<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 361–373, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-361-2026, 2026<br> This article is about silence in French cemeteries. Cemeteries are often expected to be silent to allow for peaceful meditation, and local rules and regulations do show a well-established expectation for quietness. However, while historically expelled from the city’s limits, cemeteries have been increasingly integrated within the urban matrix and its noisier environment. This raises the question of the contemporary metropolis contempt for the dead and their spaces. Fri, 03 Jul 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-347-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-347-2026 <b>From destabilisation to disruption: deactivation network dynamics in an Italian fossil infrastructure conflict</b><br> Daniel Delatin Rodrigues, Giuseppe Calignano, and Marco Grasso<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 347–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-347-2026, 2026<br> Why do some campaigns stop fossil fuel projects, while others fail? Using two conflicts of a power plant in Civitavecchia, Italy, we traced who worked with whom across protests, meetings, and legal and political actions in 2000–2010 and 2018–2023. Protest are not enough to stop these infrastructures; success came when activists built ties with unions, officials, and parties that could block permits and decisions, showing how broad alliances can speed energy choices: a deactivation network. Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-335-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-335-2026 <b>Between planning euphoria and civil resistance: the construction of the “Hüttentalentlastungsstraße” in Siegen (approx. 1960–2000)</b><br> Daniela Mysliwietz-Fleiß<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 335–346, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-335-2026, 2026<br> This article focuses on the experience of loss in urban spaces in late modernity, taking as a graphic example the construction of an urban highway and its consequences in a densely populated and geographically challenging area in western Germany. The article argues that the shift in social narratives during the transition from modern to late-modern society had a direct impact on the perception of loss caused by previously autocratic urban planning. Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-325-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-325-2026 <b>Feminist research on platform economies: a conversation on current perspectives and future challenges</b><br> Emma Dowling, Olivia Blanchard, Yannick Ecker, Barbara Orth, and Mê-Linh Riemann<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 325–333, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-325-2026, 2026<br> This article presents an edited transcript of a roundtable discussion on the ways in which a feminist perspective may help to better understand digital platform labour in Europe, current developments in feminist theorising on platform labour and new concerns arising for research and practice. Mon, 22 Jun 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-311-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-311-2026 <b>The promissory narratives of the Dutch National Protein Strategy</b><br> Willem Rogier Boterman<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 311–323, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-311-2026, 2026<br> This paper investigates the National Protein Strategy (NPS) of the Netherlands, an important producer and global exporter of meat and dairy products that largely relies on the import of plant-based proteins from across the globe. The paper shows that the strategy is riddled with techno-optimist narratives that are promising to resolve the strategic deficit of proteins, sustaining the Dutch intensive livestock farming. Wed, 17 Jun 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-305-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-305-2026 <b>Book review: Visualisierung Qualitativer Geographien – Ein Handbuch</b><br> Lilith Kuhn<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 305–309, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-305-2026, 2026<br> This is a book review of the handbook: Visualisierung Qualitativer Geographien – Ein Handbuch. Wed, 20 May 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-297-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-297-2026 <b>Researching the authoritarian: a conversation on methodology and ethics in closed contexts</b><br> Sven Daniel Wolfe and Dasha Kuletskaya<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 297–304, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-297-2026, 2026<br> This short academic conversation covers the challenges of doing work in contexts shaped by authoritarian practices. Based on our experience living and working in many countries from the former Soviet Union, we compare these experiences with the authoritarian turn in the broader West. Thu, 30 Apr 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-293-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-293-2026 <b>Book review: Chris Philo: Adorno and the Antifascist Geographical Imagination</b><br> Felicitas Kübler<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 293–295, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-293-2026, 2026<br> This review examines Chris Philo’s Adorno and the Antifascist Geographical Imagination (2025), which develops an antifascist geographical imagination through a detailed engagement with Theodor W. Adorno’s work. It highlights the book’s key contribution in rendering Adorno’s critical theory productive for human geography by foregrounding its spatial dimensions. Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-289-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-289-2026 <b>Book review: Après la ville. Défis de l'urbanisation planétaire de Pierre Veltz (Éditions du Seuil, 2025)</b><br> Sébastien Lambelet<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 289–291, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-289-2026, 2026<br> In Après la ville, Pierre Veltz offers a perceptive analysis of the profound transformations reshaping 21st‑century cities and urban spaces. He argues that the morphological definition of the city — and the radioconcentric model that structured 20th‑century urban studies — has now become obsolete. Indeed, thanks to increasingly dense networks and territorial ramifications linking major cities, the urban condition now asserts itself everywhere. Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-273-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-273-2026 <b>Fragmented reproduction: women's reproductive experiences and the carcerality of Swiss federal asylum camps</b><br> Laura Perler, Milena Wegelin, Nina Etter, and Carolin Schurr<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 273–287, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-273-2026, 2026<br> The article explores the reproductive experiences in Swiss federal asylum camps, arguing that these camps function as carceral spaces that severely impact women's reproductive lives through logics of fragmentation. Combining insights from carceral geography and studies on reproductive health, the authors argue for the abolition of asylum camps and the creation of alternative housing and care models that centre women's needs. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-255-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-255-2026 <b>Cellular agriculture in the media: newspaper coverage in Australia, Brazil, Germany, and India</b><br> Brenda Buhr Voth, Peter Rothe, Rodrigo Luiz Morais-da-Silva, Mariana Hase Ueta, Frank Meyer, and Carla Forte Maiolino Molento<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 255–271, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-255-2026, 2026<br> Cellular agriculture (CellAg) is a technology used to produce meat alternatives. It aims at lowering carbon emissions, reducing animal cruelty, and mitigating the adverse environmental effects of mass meat production. We analyzed media coverage of CellAg in four countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, and India) and compared which topics were most frequently associated with it. Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:47:46 +0200 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-237-2026 https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-237-2026 <b>Grounded relationalities, the socio-ecological (de/re)territorialization of São Paulo's urban marginalities</b><br> Lucas Lerchs<br> Geogr. Helv., 81, 237–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-237-2026, 2026<br> This study retraces the production, loss, and defence of a self-built urban settlement in the ecological peripheries of São Paulo. This study explores how such self-built marginalized communities build and defend their territory in the face of environmental laws and urban expansion. It shows how everyday relations with land and the ecologies – what the work calls grounded relationalities – are both the basis of home and the target of oppression and potential resistance for the evicted families.  Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:47:46 +0100