diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index b93554b..a1327c8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
             os: windows-latest
             postgis: false
             dev: false
-          - env: ci/envs/37-dev.yaml
+          - env: ci/envs/38-dev.yaml
             os: ubuntu-latest
             dev: true
 
diff --git a/ci/envs/37-dev.yaml b/ci/envs/38-dev.yaml
similarity index 86%
rename from ci/envs/37-dev.yaml
rename to ci/envs/38-dev.yaml
index 0f5a270..5b060fc 100644
--- a/ci/envs/37-dev.yaml
+++ b/ci/envs/38-dev.yaml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 name: test
 channels:
-  - defaults
+  - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-  - python=3.7.3
+  - python=3.8
   - cython
   # required
   - fiona
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ dependencies:
     - geopy
     - mapclassify>=2.2.0
     # dev versions of packages
+    - git+https://github.com/numpy/numpy.git@master
     - git+https://github.com/pydata/pandas.git@master
     - git+https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git@master
     - git+https://github.com/Toblerity/Shapely.git@master
diff --git a/geopandas/array.py b/geopandas/array.py
index 114141c..ea2accc 100644
--- a/geopandas/array.py
+++ b/geopandas/array.py
@@ -783,7 +783,9 @@ class GeometryArray(ExtensionArray):
                 "Value should be either a BaseGeometry or None, got %s" % str(value)
             )
         # self.data[idx] = value
-        self.data[idx] = np.array([value], dtype=object)
+        value_arr = np.empty(1, dtype=object)
+        value_arr[:] = [value]
+        self.data[idx] = value_arr
         return self
 
     def fillna(self, value=None, method=None, limit=None):
diff --git a/geopandas/io/tests/test_file.py b/geopandas/io/tests/test_file.py
index 96b11a1..5951122 100644
--- a/geopandas/io/tests/test_file.py
+++ b/geopandas/io/tests/test_file.py
@@ -159,7 +159,6 @@ def test_to_file_types(tmpdir, df_points):
     """ Test various integer type columns (GH#93) """
     tempfilename = os.path.join(str(tmpdir), "int.shp")
     int_types = [
-        np.int,
         np.int8,
         np.int16,
         np.int32,
@@ -169,7 +168,6 @@ def test_to_file_types(tmpdir, df_points):
         np.uint16,
         np.uint32,
         np.uint64,
-        np.long,
     ]
     geometry = df_points.geometry
     data = dict(
diff --git a/geopandas/tests/test_array.py b/geopandas/tests/test_array.py
index 3f128f9..9b0f0e0 100644
--- a/geopandas/tests/test_array.py
+++ b/geopandas/tests/test_array.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ def equal_geometries(result, expected):
 
 
 def test_points():
-    x = np.arange(10).astype(np.float)
-    y = np.arange(10).astype(np.float) ** 2
+    x = np.arange(10).astype(np.float64)
+    y = np.arange(10).astype(np.float64) ** 2
 
     points = points_from_xy(x, y)
     assert isinstance(points, GeometryArray)
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ def test_unary_float(attr):
     na_value = np.nan
     result = getattr(T, attr)
     assert isinstance(result, np.ndarray)
-    assert result.dtype == np.float
+    assert result.dtype == np.dtype("float64")
     expected = [getattr(t, attr) if t is not None else na_value for t in triangles]
     np.testing.assert_allclose(result, expected)
 
diff --git a/geopandas/tests/test_extension_array.py b/geopandas/tests/test_extension_array.py
index 5c2a01d..37d37a3 100644
--- a/geopandas/tests/test_extension_array.py
+++ b/geopandas/tests/test_extension_array.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ expected to be available to pytest by the inherited pandas tests).
 import operator
 
 import numpy as np
+from numpy.testing import assert_array_equal
 import pandas as pd
 from pandas.tests.extension import base as extension_tests
 
@@ -46,7 +47,8 @@ def dtype():
 
 
 def make_data():
-    a = np.array([shapely.geometry.Point(i, i) for i in range(100)], dtype=object)
+    a = np.empty(100, dtype=object)
+    a[:] = [shapely.geometry.Point(i, i) for i in range(100)]
     ga = from_shapely(a)
     return ga
 
@@ -287,6 +289,19 @@ class TestDtype(extension_tests.BaseDtypeTests):
 
 
 class TestInterface(extension_tests.BaseInterfaceTests):
+    def test_array_interface(self, data):
+        # we are overriding this base test because the creation of `expected`
+        # potentionally doesn't work for shapely geometries
+        # TODO can be removed with Shapely 2.0
+        result = np.array(data)
+        assert result[0] == data[0]
+
+        result = np.array(data, dtype=object)
+        # expected = np.array(list(data), dtype=object)
+        expected = np.empty(len(data), dtype=object)
+        expected[:] = list(data)
+        assert_array_equal(result, expected)
+
     def test_contains(self, data, data_missing):
         # overrided due to the inconsistency between
         # GeometryDtype.na_value = np.nan