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Since 1990, the United Nations (UN) has used the Human Development Index (HDI) to assess the development of a country using indicators of well-being and quality of life gathered via census data. HDI scores are then used by government agencies and nonprofits to help allocate resources. But the index rankings do not reflect information at the local level, meaning, for example, that people in less-developed areas of higher-ranking countries could be missing out on critical aid.

An international team of scientists has just demonstrated that major Himalayan earthquakes occur randomly over the long term, with no predictable pattern. Published in Science Advances, the study is based on the analysis of sediment cores taken from the bottom of Nepalese lakes, reconstructing 6,000 years of seismic activity.

Gentrifying neighbourhoods across London are undergoing rapid change, with rising numbers of newcomers arriving from less deprived areas and from further afield than ever before, according to new research from the Geographic Data Service led by a UCL researcher. The study, published by the charity Trust for London, shows that these areas are now driving a growing share of the capital's population churn, with far-reaching implications for housing pressures and who is able to live in the city.

A new study by experts from The University of Manchester has revealed a major shift in Britain's social life, as the number of bars and pubs has dropped sharply in recent years while restaurants have expanded. The research, published in Applied Geography , examined more than 1100 neighbourhoods across Greater Manchester and Nottingham between 2002 and 2019.

A new study from experts at The University of Manchester has uncovered how people have moved between South America and Europe over the past 35 years, and how those patterns might change in the future. The research, led by Dr Andrea Lisette Aparicio Castro and Professor Arkadiusz Wisniowski from the Department of Social Statistics, looks at where people moved, why they moved, and what might happen by the year 2050.

International research team study surrounding landscapes, biodiversity and human well-being Villages, often separated from larger towns and cities, consist of clusters of households and a few public buildings. Despite their long history, the biodiversity of European villages is not well understood compared to urban areas, forests, grasslands, or farmland.

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and Universidad de Cádiz have carried out a study aimed at understanding and addressing the problem of rural depopulation. To tackle this issue, the researchers propose an approach in which the set of policies, regulations and strategies that organize urban and rural development are integrated into the design of local development policies.

Local authorities must do more to prepare communities in British Columbia for the dangers of extreme heat, according to a new research paper from Simon Fraser University. Four years after the infamous 2021 heat dome, which killed more than 600 people in B.C. alone, the ground-breaking study found significant differences in how municipalities within the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley regional districts are preparing for heat events.