Ruralities and Regions in Transition: Renewing thinking and action for new times

Call for Working Groups

Rural areas across the globe have become sites of ‘sustainable’ development. Through climate interventions such as wind power, climate smart forestry and agriculture and mining, rural areas are taken for granted by politicians and companies alike as the basis for sustainable futures. In parallel, a sense of crisis is an underlying current in rural areas. Depopulation, conflicts over land as well as increasing xenophobic rhetoric are setting the boundaries for what actually is sustainable development in rural and regional politics. Policy measures that strive for sustainable business practices and citizens can have contradictory outcomes for everyday rural lives and the rural economy. But stories of rural and regional development are not only of struggles over resources, colonial domination and exclusions but also about local mobilisation, innovation and collective action aimed at strengthening communities and meeting the everyday needs of the people who live in and care for rural environments. All this and more demand close examination and reflection on the rural. 

We need new ways to think and act in times of transition. Old concepts and theories need revisiting and rethought for our new times. We invite working groups that take stock of knowledge production on the rural so far and conceptualize rural and regional development and politics anew for our current times in order to forge new ways for action. We welcome interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches and a multitude of theoretical, methodological and empirical themes and topics that can contribute to (re)conceptualizing Swedish regional and rural development.

Call for working group proposals will be open until [15-03-2026].

Proposals with max 400 words should contain the name of the suggested group, name(s) of coordinator(s) with contact information, background and aim of the group.

• Please submit your proposal to the conference webpage (link will be posted).
• Proposers will be notified of approval or rejection in [31-03-2026].
• Working groups can be found on the conference webpage on [01-04-2026].
• The deadline for submitting abstract will be the [01-06-2026]. 

The coordinator(s) will be responsible for reviewing the abstracts submitted to the working group before [15-06-2026] and chairing the session at the conference. 

A Potential special issue

We are also tentatively thinking of putting together a special issue on renewing and reconceptualizing rural development in times of climate transitions that participants could potentially send in their abstracts to after the conference. We shall come with more information eventually.