Jon Reades

Jon Reades is a Professor of Geographic Data Science at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London (UCL), where he currently serves as Director. His academic journey includes a PhD in Town Planning from UCL's Bartlett School of Planning, and prior roles as Senior Lecturer and Lecturer in Quantitative Human Geography at King's College London. His research integrates urban planning, human geography, and data science, with a focus on housing policy, geospatial modeling, and urban systems analysis.

Reades' educational background spans comparative literature (BA, Princeton University) and non-academic experience in software engineering and database mining. He has held visiting research positions at MIT's SENSEable City Lab and completed postgraduate training in data science and academic practice. His work bridges computational methods with urban theory, addressing challenges like housing inequality, urban gentrification, and pandemic-era spatial dynamics.

Key research interests include spatial data visualization (e.g., Folium library contributions), agent-based modeling of urban behavior, and quantitative approaches to gender equity in academia. He actively engages with policy-relevant topics such as affordable housing and urban innovation, leveraging open-source tools and collaborative frameworks like CyberGIS. Reades' interdisciplinary approach is reflected in his teaching, which emphasizes practical coding skills (Jupyter notebooks) alongside theoretical urban concepts.

Labs/Teams: As CASA Director, he oversees a multidisciplinary team advancing spatial data science methodologies. His research network includes collaborations with MIT's SENSEable City Lab and contributions to global urban initiatives like 'Smart London.' Current projects explore post-pandemic urban resilience, spatial equity in housing markets, and digital tools for urban analytics.