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Final call for papers: Behavioral and psychological responses to weather in everyday life
Association of American Geographers (AAG), Annual Meeting, April 8-12th 2014, Tampa, Florida.
Organized by Lars Böcker (Utrecht University) and Mario Cools (University of Liège)
Intuitively, weather plays an important role in everyday life. How often do we not expose ourselves to cold, heat, sun, rain, snow or wind, or do we refer to these same elements at the coffee table or when writing post cards from a holiday address. Recently, weather has also emerged as an important policy aspect, with climate change, urban microclimates, health, accessibility, livability and subsequent aims to reduce car mobility and promote healthy but weather-exposed transport modes and physical activities high on the agenda. Yet although the influence of weather on daily life has been pervasive and its societal relevance never more pronounced, current interdisciplinary scientific debate on how weather shapes everyday life still requires further research to complete the areas that are under-investigated and provide additional empirical evidence to support policy-making. We thus seek to organize a session (or sessions), which address(es) the role of weather in daily life in its broadest sense, including behavioral or psychological responses to weather by diverse societal groups in a diverse range of geographical, cultural and climate contexts. We welcome submissions that examine topics including but not limited to:
Theoretical, conceptual and methodological issues in studying weather
Weather and transport modes, destinations and (physical) activity patterns
Weather, travel distance and travel time (variability)
Weather, moods and emotions
Weather perception and place perception
Subjective thermal comfort
Effects of weather in urban and rural areas
Weather and everyday life in the arctic or the (sub)tropics
Role of weather forecasts
Impacts of weather on shopping behavior
Weather and media consumption
The meaning of work place, home and garden under various weather conditions
Local knowledge, meaning and conceptualizations of weather and climate change
Weather and health
Gender and weather
Weather and embodiment
Cultural and ethnic differences in experiencing weather
Role of weather and seasonality for tourism and leisure
Policies related to weather and urban microclimates
