Critical Physical Geography: A Decade in Review

Abstract

This article examines the first decade of work in Critical Physical Geography (CPG): an approach that integrates study of biophysical landscapes and the human structural inequalities that together coconstruct the environment. Based on a bibliometric analysis of 255 articles and book chapters that cite core CPG texts and 138 theses and dissertations that include CPG in their title, abstract, or keywords, we examine how the field has grown and changed since its launch in 2014. We find that while CPG-related work continues to find its primary home in Anglophone Geography, it has developed a notable presence in other languages and fields. In terms of authorship, early career scholars remain central to the field's development. Our analysis also raises questions about the field's normative commitment to ecosocial transformation. Ecosocial transformation remains foundational to CPG, but in published scholarship it is often framed in terms of pragmatic solutions and management interventions. We conclude with a review of recent trends we find hopeful, including growing momentum for more normative, community-engaged work, expanding ties to new areas of nature/society research including Black Ecologies and Indigenous geographies, and increasing connections to scholarship in Portuguese, Spanish, and French.