Civic geographies of care: mapping the scope and scales of universities’ civic action

This article presents empirical evidence from the UK to explore where ‘civic geographies’ emerge and how they are enacted. Responding to Jenkins and Blunt’s call in Area for ‘geography as a discipline to revisit its civic scope and ambition’ in the context of universities’ civic engagement, it draws on scholarship on care ethics and evidence from recent research with civic universities in England to propose that institutional place-based civic activities are bound up with attitudes and practices of care. By following care practices, it argues, already-existing civic geographies can be identified and utilised to guide institutional and sector-wide approaches, extending beyond traditional knowledge exchange partnerships to ecological and bioregional engagement. A case study of an environmental initiative in South Yorkshire signposts how this can happen, drawing together transdisciplinary networks of academics into an epistemic community shaped by a common care for place.