Background

I am Reader in Planning & Rural Development. I am interested in urban-rural mobilities and social change; governance and housing policy; art and place-based development; and international comparative research - especially questions around language politics. My research is published in journals such as the Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, Regional Studies, Geoforum, Land Use Policy, Population, Space & Place, World Development, etc. Citations to my papers can be found in Google Scholar and Scopus. I have led or participated in research projects funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, the Arts & Humanities Research Council, the British Council, the Greek Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, the Irish Research Council, the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund. I have held a competitive visiting professorship at the University of Tokyo in Japan (twice), where I lived and taught rural planning courses for over a year. I have also been awarded visiting fellowships at the National University of Ireland, Galway (Moore Institute) and at the University of Akureyri in Iceland.

I am Associate Editor of the academic journal Habitat International. I currently sit on the Editorial Boards of Progress in Planning, Journal of Rural Studies, Planning Practice & Research and Rural Society, and have also served on the Editorial Board of Sociologia Ruralis (2016-2021). At Newcastle University, I founded the #WeTheRural research cluster within the Institute for Creative Arts Practice about creative arts practice in and about the countryside. I also sit on the steering committee of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. As part of my engagement practice, I have led a collaborative Artist Residency programme with Berwick Visual Arts, I have served on the Board of Directors of the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival and on the steering committee of the Visual Arts in Rural Community project 'Entwined: Rural. Land. Lives. Art'. I regularly contribute with articles in Athens Voice (in Greek). I am a Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy. 

Area of Expertise

Spatial Planning, Rural Sociology, Art Studies

Career

• Personal Reader, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2020-)
• Visiting Associate Professor, University of Tokyo (2021-2022)
• Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2016-2020)
• Visiting Associate Professor, University of Tokyo (2017-2018)
• Lecturer, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2010-2016)
• Post-Doctoral Researcher, University College Dublin (2008-2010)

Qualifications

• Certificate in Advanced Studies in Academic Practice, Newcastle University (2014)
• PhD in Urban & Regional Planning, University College Dublin (2008)
• MSc in Environmental Resource Management, University College Dublin (2004)
• MAgrSc in Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens (2002)

Professional Memberships

• European Society for Rural Sociology
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
• Academician of the Academy of Urbanism

Research

Research Interests

• Artistic practice and place-based development
• Mobilities and counterurbanisation
• Housing, governance and rural development 
• International comparative research, especially language politics 

Editorships

• 'Counterurbanisation, Again: Rural Mobilities, Representations, Power and Policies' Special Issue in Habitat International with Keith Halfacree (Swansea University)
• Routledge Companion to Rural Planning with Mark Scott (University College Dublin) and Nick Gallent (University College London)
• 'Doing Art in the Country': Special Section in Sociologia Ruralis with Julie Crawshaw (Northumbria University) and Marie Mahon (National University of Ireland, Galway)
• 'Settlement Construction for Rural Development: China in a Global Context': Special Issue in the Journal of Rural Studies (in preparation)

Research Projects

• 'Wildfire Resilient Cultural Heritage' funded by the Belmont Forum / AHRC (2024-26), Co-Investigator.
• 'Island Depopulation in Japan', funded by the Scottish Government (2022), Co-Investigator. 
• 'Transnational Theory Building for Researching the Global Countryside: Perspectives from Taiwan and the UK', funded by the ESRC (2022-2023), Co-Investigator.
• 'Contemporary Arts in Rural Development: Lessons from Japan and the UK', funded by ESRC and AHRC (UK-Japan Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Connections grant) (2019-2020), Principal Investigator.
• 'Rural Growth', funded by Interreg, European Regional Development Fund (2016-2020), Co-Investigator.
• 'The Art of Milk', funded by the Institute for Sustainability (2016-2017), Principal Investigator.
• 'Community-led landscape assessment in Chile', funded by the British Council - Newton institutional Links (2015-2016), Principal Investigator. 
• 'Researching Rural Housing: with an Artist-in-Residence', funded by the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (2015-2016), Principal Investigator.
• 'Northumbrian Exchanges: Creative Community Engagement in Rural Northumberland', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (2013-2015), Co-Investigator.
• 'Going Rural: Counterurbanisation in times of crisis', funded by the Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and Newcastle University's Strategic Development Fund (2013-2015), Principal Investigator. 
• CRE 'Artist-in-Residence' programme in collaboration with The Maltings (formerly Berwick Visual Arts), Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice, and funded by the Arts Council England (2014-present).

Esteem Indicators

• Associate Editor of Habitat International (2020-to date)
• Editorial Board member: Progress in Planning (2019-to date); Journal of Rural Studies (2019- to date); Rural Society (2021-to date); Planning Practice & Research (2023-to date) Sociologia Ruralis (2016-2021)
• Visiting Associate Professor (twice) at the University of Tokyo, Japan
• Visiting Research Fellow: University of Akureyri, Iceland; National University of Ireland, Galway 
• Expert review panel member of the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) (2018-to date)
• Advisor to the research project 'Socio-Economic Analysis of Counterurbanisation' awarded at Japan's Meiji University, funded by the JSPS
• Reviewer for over 30 academic journals (my public profile as a reviewer is available in publons)
• Research proposal reviewer: Economic and Social Research Council; Arts and Humanities Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; British Council; British Academy; Czech Science Foundation; Teagasc - Agriculture and Food Development Authority; NHS National Institute for Health Research; Research Council of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain); Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia; National Science Center, Poland.
• External examiner: Middle East Technical University (2023); University of Melbourne (2020); University of Toronto (2019); University of York (2018); Humboldt University of Berlin (2015)
• Scientific committee member: XXIX European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS), Rennes, France (2023); XV World Congress of Rural Sociology (IRSA), Cairns, Australia (2022); IV International Congress of Architecture and Planning (ICONARCH), Konya, Turkey (2020)
• Organisation committee: Rural Entrepreneurship Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (2017); Swedish Academy of Agriculture & Forestry Bertebos conference, Falkenberg (2014)
• Invited speaker/public lectures (selection): Istanbul Technical University, Turkey (2023); Tongji University, China (2023); Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey (2022); Akita International University, Japan (2021); Chiba University, Japan (2021); Srishti-Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India (2021); New Europeans (civil rights movement) (2020); Hof Cultural Centre, Akureyri, Iceland (2019); University of Amsterdam (2019); Moore Institute - National University of Ireland, Galway (2019); International Symposium on the Global Countryside, Wales (2018); Whitechapel Gallery (2018); University of Tokyo (2017); University of Kyoto (2017); Kindai University, Japan (2017); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) workshop on ‘Migration Processes and Rural Development in Peripheral Areas’ (2016); Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile (2016); James Hutton Institute (2015); University College Dublin Earth Institute (2012)
• Book proposal reviewer: Routledge; Palgrave Macmillan; Rowman & Littlefield; Emerald 
• National expert (Occupancy conditions in rural housing), Scottish Government (2009)

Postdoctoral Research Mentor

• Dr Ian Merrell, ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship: 'Rural Business Knowledge Exchange and Innovation: The Contribution of Rural Enterprise Hubs' (now at Scotland's Rural College)

Teaching

Teaching Roles

• Degree Programme Director of the MSc in Food & Rural Development Research (2011-2020)
• Peer Dialogue (Peer Observation of Teaching) leader (2012-2016)

Teaching

In 2021 I was shortlisted for the Pandemic Solidarity Teaching Education Award by the Newcastle University Student Union for my work in the ACE3017 module.

• NES3105 Rural Planning, Politics and Society (Module Leader)
• NES2106 Qualitative Research Methods (Contributor)
• ACE3093 Special Study (Contributor/Supervisor)
• ACE3099 Agri-food Business Management and Marketing Dissertation (Contributor/Supervisor)

Postgraduate Research 

I am currently supervising the following postgraduate research students:

• Jian Chen (China scholarship, Newcastle University, PhD)
• Chisaki Fukushima (Sasakawa Award, PhD)
• Wenqi Li (China Scholarship Council, occasional PhD)

PhD students completed: 

• Dr Richard Austin (Northumberland National Park funded)
• Dr Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris (Malaysia Government funded)
• Dr Fran Rowe (ESRC funded)
• Dr Jorge Altamirano Flores (Ecuador Government funded)
• Dr Heidi Saxby (ESRC funded)
• Dr Rodolfo Sertori (São Paulo Research Foundation funded)
• Dr Sabina Sallis (Research Excellence Academy funded, Creative Arts Practice)
• Dr Carlos Bolomey Cordova (Chilean Government funded, PhD)

Publications

• Articles

  • Niknam Khajepash A, Gkartzios M. Spatial analysis of regional income inequalities in EU countries. International Planning Studies 2024, 29(2), 105-123.
  • Scott M, Gkartzios M, Halfacree K. Introducing climate-related counterurbanisation: Individual adaptation or societal maladaptation?. Habitat International 2024, 143, 102970.
  • Dilley L, Gkartzios M, Kudo S, Odagiri T. Hybridising counterurbanisation: Lessons from Japan’s kankeijinkō. Habitat International 2024, 143, 102967.
  • Lang W, Gkartzios M, Yan J, Chen T, Tan S. Community co-creation through knowledge (co)production: The engagement of universities in promoting rural revitalization in China. Journal of Rural Studies 2024, 112, 103455.
  • Li W, Zhang L, Lee I, Gkartzios M. Overview of Social Policies for Town and Village Development in Response to Rural Shrinkage in East Asia: The Cases of Japan, South Korea and China. Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10781.
  • Tiwasing O, Clark B, Gkartzios M. How can rural businesses thrive in the digital economy? A UK perspective. Heliyon 2022, 8(10), e10745.
  • Dilley L, Gkartzios M, Odagiri T. Developing counterurbanisation: Making sense of rural mobility and governance in Japan. Habitat International 2022, 125, 102595.
  • Gkartzios M, Gallent N, Scott M. A capitals framework for rural areas: ‘place-planning’ the global countryside. Habitat International 2022, 127, 102625.
  • Merrell I, Rowe F, Cowie P, Gkartzios M. 'Honey pot' rural enterprise hubs as micro-clusters: Exploring their role in creativity-led rural development. Local Economy 2021, 36(7-8), 589–605.
  • Gkartzios M, Toishi N, Woods M. The Language of Rural: Reflections towards an Inclusive Rural Social Science. Journal of Rural Studies 2020, 78, 325-332.
  • Sarale A, Yagi H, Gkartzios M, Ogawa K. Art festivals and rural revitalization: Organizing The Oku-Noto Triennale in Japan. Journal of Asian Rural Studies 2020, 4(1), 23-36.
  • Apostolopoulos N, Newbery R, Gkartzios M. Social enterprise and community resilience: Examining a Greek response to turbulent times. Journal of Rural Studies 2019, 70, 215-224.
  • Gkartzios M, Crawshaw J. Researching rural housing: with an artist in residence. Sociologia Ruralis 2019, 59(4), 589-611.
  • Lowe P, Phillipson J, Proctor A, Gkartzios M. Expertise in Rural Development: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis. World Development 2019, 116, 28-37.
  • Gkartzios M, Remoundou K. Language Struggles: Representations of the Countryside and the City in an Era of Mobilities. Geoforum 2018, 93, 1-10.
  • Saxby H, Gkartzios M, Scott K. 'Farming on the edge': Wellbeing and participation in agri-environmental schemes. Sociologia Ruralis 2018, 58(2), 392-411.
  • Scott M, Murphy E, Gkartzios M. Placing ‘Home’ and ‘Family’ in Rural Residential Mobilities. Sociologia Ruralis 2017, 57(S1), 598-621.
  • Gkartzios M, Remoundou K, Garrod G. Emerging geographies of mobility: The role of regional towns in Greece's ‘counterurbanisation story’. Journal of Rural Studies 2017, 55, 22–32.
  • Crawshaw J, Gkartzios M. Getting to know the island: Artistic experiments in rural community development. Journal of Rural Studies 2016, 43, 134-144.
  • Remoundou K, Gkartzios M, Garrod G. Conceptualizing Mobility in Times of Crisis: Towards Crisis-Led Counterurbanization?. Regional Studies 2016, 50(10), 1663-1674.
  • Gkartzios M, Shucksmith M. 'Spatial anarchy' versus 'spatial apartheid': rural housing ironies in Ireland and England. Town Planning Review 2015, 86(1), 53-72.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott K. A Cultural Panic in the Province? Counterurban Mobilities, Creativity, and Crisis in Greece. Population, Space and Place 2015, 21(8), 843-855.
  • Scott M, Gkartzios M. Rural housing: Questions of resilience. Housing and Society 2014, 41(2), 247–276.
  • Norris M, Gkartzios M, Coates D. Property-Led Urban, Town and Rural Regeneration in Ireland: Positive and Perverse Outcomes in Different Spatial and Socio-Economic Contexts. European Planning Studies 2014, 22(9), 1841-1861.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Placing Housing in Rural Development: Exogenous, Endogenous and Neo-Endogenous Approaches. Sociologia Ruralis 2014, 54(3), 241-265.
  • Donovan K, Gkartzios M. Architecture and rural planning: 'Claiming the vernacular'. Land Use Policy 2014, 41, 334-343.
  • Gkartzios M. 'Leaving Athens': narratives of counterurbanisation in times of crisis. Journal of Rural Studies 2013, 32, 158-167.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Attitudes to housing and planning policy in rural localities: Disparities between long-term and mobile rural populations in Ireland. Land Use Policy 2013, 31, 347-357.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Gentrifying the rural? Planning and market processes in rural Ireland. International Planning Studies 2012, 17(3), 253-276.
  • Norris M, Gkartzios M. Twenty years of property-led urban regeneration in Ireland: outputs, impacts, implications. Public Money and Management 2011, 31(4), 257-264.
  • Bullock C, Scott M, Gkartzios M. Rural residential preferences for house design and location: insights from a discrete choice experiment applied to Ireland. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2011, 54(5), 685-706.
  • Gkartzios M, Norris M. ‘If You Build It, They Will Come’: Governing property-led rural regeneration in Ireland. Land Use Policy 2011, 28(3), 486-494.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Residential Mobilities and House Building in Rural Ireland: Evidence from Three Case Studies. Sociologia Ruralis 2010, 50(1), 64-84.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. ‘Countering counter-urbanisation’: spatial planning challenges in a dispersed city region, the Greater Dublin Area. Town Planning Review 2010, 81(1), 23-52.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Planning for rural housing in the Republic of Ireland: from national spatial strategies to development plans. European Planning Studies 2009, 17(12), 1751-1780.
  • Norris M, Gkartzios M, Coates D. ‘Section 23’ tax incentives: a longitudinal review of outputs, impacts and value for money. Irish Tax Review 2009, (October), 67-72.

• Authored Books

  • Cullingworth B, Davoudi S, Webb D, Vigar G, Pendlebury J, Townshend T, Gkartzios M, Hart T, Nadin V. Town and Country Planning in the UK. London: Routledge, 2024.
  • Gkartzios M, Gallent N, Scott M. Rural Places and Planning: Stories from the Global Countryside. Bristol: Policy Press, 2022.

• Book Chapters

  • Gkartzios M. Rurality. In: Dombroski K; Goodwin M; Qian J; Williams A; Cloke P, ed. Introducing Human Geographies. London: Routledge, 2024, pp.237-251.
  • Gkartzios M. Anthology of Rural Life. In: Robins C; Udy O, ed. Anthology of Rural Life (A.R.L.). Antler Press, 2023.
  • Gkartzios M. Visual Arts in the Global Countryside. In: Collier, M; Pailing, H, ed. ENTWINED: Rural. Land. Lives. Art. Manchester: Art Editions North (Cornerhouse Publications), 2021, pp.114-118.
  • Bjarnasson T, Thorarinsdottir B, Gkartzios M. Dystopia as authenticity: changing ruralities in Icelandic cinema. In: Pospěch P; Fuglestad EM; Figueiredo E, ed. Politics and Policies of Rural Authenticity. London: Routledge, 2021, pp.141-154.
  • Crawshaw J, Gkartzios M. Transactions of an Artist's Placement: Planning Berwick-upon-Tweed with Sander Van Raemdonck. In: Cass N; Park G; Powell A, ed. Contemporary Art in Heritage Spaces. Routledge, 2020.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M, Gallent N. Rural Housing. In: Kobayashi, A, ed. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, 2020, pp.35-41.
  • Satsangi M, Gkartzios M. Social inclusion, identities and planning practice. In: Scott M; Gallent N; Gkartzios M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge, 2019, pp.317-326.
  • Gkartzios M, Lowe P. Revisiting neo-endogenous rural development. In: Scott, M; Gallent, N; Gkartzios, M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London: Routledge and New York, 2019, pp.159-169.
  • Scott M, Gallent M, Gkartzios M. Planning rural futures. In: Scott M; Gallent N; Gkartzios M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge, 2019, pp.633-644.
  • Scott M, Gallent N, Gkartzios M. New horizons in rural planning. In: Scott M; Gallent N; Gkartzios M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge, 2019, pp.1-11.
  • Gallent N, Gkartzios M. Defining rurality and the scope of rural planning. In: Scott M; Gallent N; Gkartzios M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge, 2019, pp.17-27.
  • Crawshaw J, Gkartzios M. The Way Art Works: Insights for Community Development. In: Kenny, S.; McGrath, B.; Phillips, R, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Community Development: Perspectives from Around the Globe. New York: Routledge, 2018, pp.177-192.
  • Gkartzios M. Mobilities beyond counterurbanisation: Questions of context. In: Kordel S; Weidinger T; Jelen I, ed. Processes of Immigration in Rural Europe: The Status Quo, Implications and Development Strategies. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018, pp.2-23.
  • Gkartzios M, Ziebarth A. Housing: A Lens to Rural Inequalities. In: Shucksmith, M; Brown, D, ed. International Handbook of Rural Studies. Routledge, 2016, pp.495-508.
  • Brereton F, Clinch P, Gkartzios M, Scott M. Counterurbanisation and subjective well-being. In: Ganser, R., Piro, R, ed. Parallel Patterns of Shrinking Cities and Urban Growth: Spatial Planning for Sustainable Development of City Regions and Rural Areas. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, pp.185-206.
  • Scott M, Moore N, Redmond D, Gkartzios M. Housing growth, land delivery and sustainable urban management. In: Yarwood, J, ed. The Dublin-Belfast corridor: Ireland’s mega-city region?. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp.163-192.
  • Gkartzios M, Scott M. Urban-generated rural housing and evidence of counterurbanisation in the Dublin city-region. In: Moore, N; Scott, M, ed. Renewing urban communities: Environment, citizenship and sustainability in Ireland. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, pp.132-156.

• Edited Books

  • Gallent N, Gkartzios M, Scott M, Purves A, ed. Postcapitalist Countrysides: From Commoning to Community Wealth Building. London: UCL Press, 2025. In Press.
  • Scott M, Gallent N, Gkartzios M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge, 2019.

• Editorials

  • Gkartzios M, Halfacree K. Counterurbanisation, Again: Rural Mobilities, Representations, Power and Policies. Habitat International 2023, 140, 102906.
  • Gkartzios M, Crawshaw J, Mahon M. Doing Art in the Country. Sociologia Ruralis 2019, 59(4), 585-588.

• Reports

  • Atterton J, Dilley L, Fukushima C, Shinzato S, Gkartzios M, Lamont K. Japan island depopulation: lessons for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government, 2022.
  • Gkartzios M, Garrod G, Remoundou K. 'Going rural': Counterurbanisation in times of crisis. Athens, Greece: Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, 2013.
  • Phillipson J, Shucksmith M, Turner R, Garrod G, Lowe P, Harvey D, Talbot H, Scott K, Carroll T, Gkartzios M, Hubbard C, Ruto E, Woods A. Rural economies: incubators and catalysts for sustainable growth. Newcastle upon Tyne: Centre for Rural Economy, Newcastle University, 2011.
  • Brereton F, Brophy V, Bullock C, Clinch P, Foley K, Gilbert D, Gkartzios M, Kinsella J, Norris M, O'Connor D, O'Daly G, Redmond D, Russell P, Scott M, Winston N. Sustainable Rural Development-Managing Housing in the Countryside (Eds: Scott M, Brereton, F). Wexford, Ireland: Environmental Protection Agency, 2010.
  • Gkartzios M, Redmond D. Occupancy conditions in rural housing: Republic of Ireland [Appendix Two: Expert reviews of comparator countries' experiences]. Edinburgh, UK: Scottish Government Social Research, 2009. An Investigation of Occupancy Conditions in Rural Housing ISBN: 9780755973736.

• Reviews

  • Gkartzios M. Queerying Planning: Challenging Heteronormative Assumptions and Reframing Planning Practice [Book review]. Social & Cultural Geography 2014, 15(3), 352-354.
  • Gkartzios M. The Rural Housing Question. Communities and Planning in Britain's Countrysides [book review]. Planning Theory & Practice 2011, 12(2), 320-322.