The material geographies of Bitfury in Georgia: Integrating cryptoasset firms into global financial networks

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have garnered significant attention in scholarship and beyond. Geographical work on cryptocurrencies has focussed on how their energy demand interacts with local communities and economies. Less is said about the organization of cryptoasset firms and their associated demands. This paper illuminates the complex geographies of one such firm, Bitfury Group, to investigate the global and national forms and structures such companies take and the factors encouraging them to concentrate operations in certain areas. To investigate the latter, we adopt the case study of Bitfury’s operations in Georgia, a South-Caucasian country where its presence is significant. We adapt Haberly et al.’s analytical framework to explore Bitfury’s geographical dimensions. We highlight how cheap electricity, regulatory and taxation regimes, personal encounters and personalities, and the materialities of hardware and energy-saving technology define these geographies and illuminate how Bitfury actively curates advantageous regulatory spaces. We encourage future work exploring Blockchain and Bitcoin technologies to understand the companies involved as simultaneously material and virtual, and as centrepieces in global networks interweaving production and finance

Disputing the 'National Interest':The depoliticization and repoliticization of the Belo Monte Dam, Brazil

The construction of a hydroelectric project transforms the watershed in which it is located, leading to a moment of contestation in which the scheme is challenged by opposition actors. This paper explores the interplay between pro- and anti-dam coalitions contesting the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil by discussing how each group inscribes the project with a particular resonance in policy. Drawing upon the work of Chantal Mouffe on agonism and Tania Murray Li on ‘rendering technical’, the subsequent discussion analyzes semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and primary documents to explore how the storylines advanced by pro- and anti-dam actors contest the political character of Belo Monte. It is argued that within these storylines, Belo Monte’s positioning within the ‘national interest’ represents a key site of the project’s depoliticization and repoliticization—which are understood as the respective denial and illumination of the project’s location within a wider terrain of political antagonism and conflict. Whilst pro-dam actors assert the apolitical character of the project by foregrounding it within depoliticized questions of economic benefits, anti-dam actors reground the project within a context of political corruption and the circumvention of dissent. With this paper providing evidence of how contests over dam construction are linked to the concealing and/or illumination of the project’s political content, it is argued that the repoliticization of a project by a resistance movement can have consequences far beyond the immediate site of construction

A socially intelligent approach to consumers' collective capabilities in smart grids

There is a pressing need to investigate consumers' social relations within energy systems particularly in the context of socially smart grids at the domestic level. However, no studies to date have categorised or explained how such social relations manifest and what role different consumers play in managing home energy demand. This work provides for the first time, a categorisation of household archetypes through the social relations that govern them. This study draws on mixed data including a large-scale ethno-visual survey and interviews conducted with energy consumers in Glasgow and Bristol, UK. The analysis forms part of a wider study which integrates social identity theory (SIT), practice theory and rhythm-analysis. We primarily focus on insights derived from SIT as an approach to identifying consumers' capabilities in smart energy systems and Home Energy Management (HEM) through a study of social relations. The findings reveal novel perspectives on how social identities shape HEM patterns and how the consequent socio-spatial and technical implications play a role in future demand reduction and the development of socially smart grids. The contribution of this study is two-fold; firstly, to demonstrate how prioritising social practices, identities, and rhythm-analysis can lead to novel interventions in smart grids and redefine the roles of the community, and neighbourhoods, and secondly to discuss the policy implications for planning future automated demand management via the acquisition of new socio-spatial insights into how diverse social identities and practices can foster just transitions and equitable energy futures in the UK and beyond.</p

Cancelling the Queers: Activism in Art Education Conference Planning

This paper examines how individual and collective strategies and interventions countered homophobia and censorship in a public venue, in this particular case at a state art education association annual conference. We reveal our personal actions and reactions to hysteria, institutional homophobia, and find solutions. Our individual and collective responses demonstrate how layers of emotional, intellectual and activist energy co-exist and that harmony and quick solutions to such complex social problems involve sustained and dedicated efforts

A socially intelligent approach to consumers’ collective capabilities in smart grids

There is a pressing need to investigate consumers’ social relations within energy systems particularly in the context of socially smart grids at the domestic level. However, no studies to date have categorised or explained how such social relations manifest and what role different consumers play in managing home energy demand. This work provides for the first time, a categorisation of household archetypes through the social relations that govern them. This study draws on mixed data including a large-scale ethno-visual survey and interviews conducted with energy consumers in Glasgow and Bristol, UK. The analysis forms part of a wider study which integrates social identity theory (SIT), practice theory and rhythm-analysis. We primarily focus on insights derived from SIT as an approach to identifying consumers’ capabilities in smart energy systems and Home Energy Management (HEM) through a study of social relations. The findings reveal novel perspectives on how social identities shape HEM patterns and how the consequent socio-spatial and technical implications play a role in future demand reduction and the development of socially smart grids. The contribution of this study is two-fold; firstly, to demonstrate how prioritising social practices, identities, and rhythm-analysis can lead to novel interventions in smart grids and redefine the roles of the community, and neighbourhoods, and secondly to discuss the policy implications for planning future automated demand management via the acquisition of new socio-spatial insights into how diverse social identities and practices can foster just transitions and equitable energy futures in the UK and beyond