writing approach and impact
I write with artists and arts professionals, policy-makers, practitioners, students, and the broader public in mind and strive to publish works that are engaging and accessible to audiences beyond academia. My last three journal articles have been published open-access, which I prioritise wherever possible. I appreciate slow-scholarship approaches to publication and prioritise quality over quantity. I aim for a kind of elegance in my published work and see individual papers as all linked, building logically upon each other.
Above all, I want my work to be read and used. My papers have been added to course curricula in diverse disciplines including criminology, geography, sociology, and visual studies in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Below you will find a selection of my academic peer reviewed published work, including online essays, book chapters, and journal articles, followed by blogs and essays.
peer-reviewed academic articles, book chapters, and reviews
2025. ‘Book review of Urban Surfaces, Graffiti, and the Right to the City by Sabina Andron’, in Planning Perspectives
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2022. ‘Extinction Rebellion and the future city’’, in book Haste: The slow politics of climate urgency, edited by Håvard Haarstad, Jakob Grandin, Kristin Kjærås, and Eleanor Johnson, published by University College London Press
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2021. ‘Mercurial images of the COVID-19 city’, in book Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Cities, Volume3: Public Space and Mobility, edited by Brian Doucet, Rianne van Melik, and Pierre Filion, published by Policy Press (Bristol University Press)
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2021. ‘Sexualised advertising and the production of space in the city’, in CITY: Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action
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2021. ‘Photography, composition, and the ephemeral city’, in Area
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2020. ‘Book review: Graffiti and Street Art: Reading, Writing, and Representing the City’, edited by Konstantinos Avramidis and Myrto Tsilimpounidi’, in Urban Studies
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2019. ‘Aesthetics of zero tolerance’, in CITY: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action
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2018. ‘Aesthetic practices of psychogeography and photography’, in Geography Compass
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2018. ‘Book review: The Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art, edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross’, in Journal of Urban Design
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2018. ‘Aesthetic appreciation of tagging’, in book The Urban Planet: Knowledge towards Livable Cities, edited by Debra Roberts, David Maddox, and Mark Watkins, published by Cambridge University Press
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2014. ‘Sustainability implications of textile graffiti in public space’, in book Animation of Public Space through the Arts: Toward More Sustainable Communities, edited by Nancy Duxbury, pubshed by Livraria Almedina
blogs, essays, etc
2025. ‘Stepping into art and activism’, for Wonderful World festival in Stavanger, Norway
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2024. ‘Arts of Futuring: Reflecting on the future, futuring, and Catherine Leroux’s dystopian novel The Future’, Essay for Medium
2024. ‘School of climate fiction’, Essay for Medium.
2019. Illustration published in book Our Entangled Future – Short Stories to Empower Quantum Social Change, Edited by Karen O’Brien, Ann El Khoury, Nicole Schafenacker, and Jordan Rosenfeld
2016. ‘Women’s right to the city: Contesting and subverting the masculine and sexualised city’
Essay for independent publication edited and published by Nuart
2015. ‘The art of urban transformations’, co-authored with Karen O’Brien, Online journal/blog: Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) Viewpoints, Edited by Mark Watkins
A full list of my academic publications is available on Google Scholar and on ORCID.
While I have primarily published in academic journals and books, I am interested in new writing challenges and am exploring freelance writing opportunities. If you are interested in commissioning writing for a more general audience on any topic connected to my research, please contact me at emma @ emmarnold.org. I am also open to new writing collaborations.
Graffiti and advertising assemblage in Grønland neighbourhood of Oslo, Norway (2017)