2021/11/12 by Joe Thorogood, Alex Hastie, Charley Hill‐Butler · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Cartography #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Geography #Geospatial analysis #Law #Political science #Politics #Public administration #Public space #Right to the city #Space (punctuation) #Urban Transport and Accessibility #Water Governance and Infrastructure
paper · doi:10.1111/tran.12514
openalex publication_date 2021/11/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract The rights that guarantee public passage across private land are known as rights of way. In this paper, we argue that rights of way are a literal manifestation of a politics of space. The paper's purpose is to suggest rights of way are central to issues surrounding social and spatial inequality, specifically with regards to public access to urban and rural space. They are a neglected topic in geographical research, despite their relevance to many sub‐branches, including landscape studies, urban natures, GIS, and open‐source geospatial research. Rights of way in England and Wales are currently facing their biggest legal threat to date. On 1 January 2026, unregistered rights of way are set to be extinguished. Path extinguishment threatens thousands of kilometres of footpaths, bridleways, restricted byways, and byways open to all traffic. The paper concludes by examining how geographical approaches help reveal the cultural and historical value of two at‐risk footpaths in Coventry, England.