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, online and offline.

Currently, I am Principle Investigator for the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust funded project, 'Generation-Z and the Post-Industrial City: Past, Present and Future', which explores how young people (18-24) in Greater Newcastle and Greater Glasgow position themselves within, and beyond, the post-industrial.

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.

Email Jason

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research cuts across urban, political, and cultural geography and explores questions of urban space, place, power, politics, and how they relate to digital 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).

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Affective authoritarianism as joyful ‘oeuvre?’ Godly Subjects and Suburban Gladiators, Luger, J. 1 Apr 2026, In: Cultural Geographies
Book Review: Alison Mountz and Kira Williams, ‘Let Geography Die’: Chasing Derwent’s Ghost at Harvard, Luger, J. 16 Feb 2026, In: Cultural Geographies
Defensive Masculinities and Flex Warehouse Security: Utopias at the Urban Edge, Luger, J. 26 May 2026, Security and Space, Bristol, Bristol University Press
The city and the far-right grassroots? Reactionary neighbourhoods, beyond 'left behind', Luger, J. 1 Mar 2026, In: Dialogues in Urban Research
The political geographies of AI and the manosphere, Copley, C., Luger, J., Thomas, L., Dilaver, O. 1 Mar 2026, In: Political Geography
The ordinary affects of ‘Alpha Male Island™’: a survivor’s journal, Luger, J. 2 Sep 2025, In: Critical Studies on Security
The urban question under illiberalism? Three thematic approaches, Luger, J., Dürr, M. 1 Nov 2025, In: Urban Studies
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

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

Qualifications

Geography PhD June 30 2016