Mark Thurstain-Goodwin

Managing Director and founder, Geofutures Ltd

Unlike historians, scientists or mathematicians, geographers don’t often use their subject as a label. Mark Thurstain-Goodwin is one who is quite comfortable with the description. “Geographers aim to understand how places are the complex results of physical space, environmental influences and present and historic human intervention,” he suggests.

“By its nature, geography absorbs information and techniques from many other fields of study, like history, statistics, economics and the physical sciences, using and refining them for its own purposes. Perhaps it’s because we’re jacks of all trades that we’re less visible, but it seems to me that we need every method and fact available to explain the world we see around us.”

Long before Mark gained a BA in the subject from Girton College, Cambridge and an MSc from UCL in Geographic and Geodetic Information Systems, he became a geographer walking in the Bavarian mountains. “My geography teacher at the time taught me mountaineering, outdoor skills and a love of the wilderness which I’ve never lost,” says Mark.

“And that’s why I love maps. Maps work with the way we think. Proximity, boundaries, peaks, troughs; these are the currency of everyone’s perceptions, yet they’re not just about the landscape, they tell us about everything else as well.”

Mark founded Geofutures in 2002. After graduating, he worked as a commercial property analyst, then took an MSc in Geographic and Geodetic Information Systems at University College London before becoming a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. He subsequently led CASA’s town centres team for five years, conducting research for the UK’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which Geofutures took forward.

Still closely associated with UCL, Mark is a sought-after presenter to academic and commercial audiences, enjoying the challenge of making technical subjects clear and relevant. He is especially passionate on the subject of the environment and sustainable development, believing that every effort should be made to ensure sustainability becomes a mainstream interest.

Says Mark: “In the end, there really is no other subject, because if we miss this last opportunity to stop the slide into global meltdown, everything else will become irrelevant. But the message has to engage people positively, making us recognise that we as individuals can make a difference. I want to use our technology and methods to make the subject come alive – helping us all to see how decisions made now can shape a better future.”