Dr Jason Luger

Assistant Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

I am a Human Geographer and a member of the Social and Cultural Geographies Research Group at Northumbria. My research focuses on the cultures, politics, contestations, and textures of urban space and place.

Previously, I was a lecturer in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, where I also directed the post-baccalaureate summer programme in City Planning, [IN]City, in 2019. Other prior academic posts include the Urban Studies programs at the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University (from 2016-2019), and the UK-US Fulbright Summer Institute at King's College London (from 2012-2014).

My doctoral work explored cultural activism and the role of arts and creative spaces in authoritarian contexts (focusing on Southeast Asia), and the importance of digital space for civil society and grassroots resistance. I conducted fieldwork in Singapore from 2012-2014.

Before moving into academic research, I worked with public and private-sector organizations in urban planning, regeneration, and economic development in the UK, United States, and Australia, and I was an EPSRC Urban Sustainability Fellow with the University of Birmingham and CH2M Hill in 2011-2012. I received an MA in Urban Regeneration and Development from the University of Manchester and BS in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.

I am currently a committee member of the RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Geography Research Group, Associate Editor of The Journal of Urban Affairs (2021-2026), and an Associate Editor of The Journal of Urban Cultural Studies (since 2017). I am a senior fellow with the Far Right Analysis Network (FRAN), since 2021.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research cuts across urban, political, and cultural geography and explores questions of urban space, place, power, politics, and platforms. In my work I utilize a mix of qualitative methods, including site-based ethnographies in comparative urban settings from Southeast Asia, to the UK and Central Europe, to the United States; as well as digital ethnography and mixed media analyses.

In particular, I focus on:

The nature of urban public space offline and online
The political geographies of authoritarianism and the far right
The relationship between digital platforms and the formation of identity, community, and understandings of place
Representations and understandings of the urban through mixed media, popular culture, film, literature
Cultural activism / creative resistance in comparative urban contexts
Masculinities across changing landscapes

I have authored academic papers and chapters on the above themes, including two edited volumes (2017 and 2022) and an upcoming monograph entitled The Illiberal City: Comparative Urban (Re)actions through Space, Territory, and Culture (Bristol University Press, 2024 expected).

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Book Review: Alison Mountz and Kira Williams, ‘Let Geography Die’: Chasing Derwent’s Ghost at Harvard: ‘Let Geography Die’: Chasing Derwent’s Ghost at Harvard. By Alison Mountz and Kira Williams. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2025. 232pp. $35.00 ISBN: 9780262551595., Luger, J. 5 Feb 2026, In: Cultural Geographies
The city and the far-right grassroots? Reactionary neighbourhoods, beyond 'left behind', Luger, J. 9 Jul 2025, In: Dialogues in Urban Research
The ordinary affects of ‘Alpha Male Island™’: a survivor’s journal, Luger, J. 2 Sep 2025, In: Critical Studies on Security
The political geographies of AI and the manosphere, Copley, C., Luger, J., Thomas, L., Dilaver, O. 21 Nov 2025, In: Political Geography
The urban question under illiberalism? Three thematic approaches, Luger, J., Dürr, M. 1 Nov 2025, In: Urban Studies
Affective authoritarianism as joyful ‘oeuvre?’ Godly Subjects and Suburban Gladiators, Luger, J. 11 Aug 2024, In: Cultural Geographies
Exurbs, Luger, J. 13 Aug 2024, The Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Cham, Springer
God's Viral Warriors: Christian Nationalism, Masculinity, and the Representation of Self, Luger, J. 1 Mar 2024, In: Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities
Leaving post-industrial urban studies behind?, Luger, J., Schwarze, T. 1 Jul 2024, In: Dialogues in Urban Research
Urban post-industrialism's long shadow and lasting spell, Luger, J., Schwarze, T. Jul 2024, In: Dialogues in Urban Research

PGR Supervision

Constance Copley Cities of Left Behind Lads?: Exploring Urban Social Infrastructures (USI), Identity, and Health Among Young Men in Northern England Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
Constance Copley Post-Digital Masculinities: Young Men, Wellbeing, and Urban Social Infrastructures in Deindustrial Northern England Start Date: 01/10/2025