Rome 2025

IGU COMMISSION ON GEOGRAPHY OF GOVERNANCE

2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Innovation and Participation in Urban Governance: New Challenges for Local Governments

Rome, Italy, 11-12 September 2025

Venue: Italian Geographical Society, Palazzetto Mattei in Villa Celimontana, Via della Navicella 12, Rome

Report: Annual Conference of the IGU Commission Geography of Governance in 2025 – ‘Innovation and participation in urban governance: New challenges for local government’ Rome, Italy, 11-12 September 2025.

The 2025 conference was hosted by the Italian Geographical Society, convened by Anna Trono and Jeff McNeill (Co-chairs of the Commission) and held in the sixteenth century, Villa Celimontana, that houses the IGS. The conference supported the Commission’s core focus on subnational governance, through the conference theme.

The conference was organised into four panels:

· Urban planning, sustainable development and Agenda 2030 goals

· Urban governance and citizen inclusion

· Issues and developments in the geography of governance and urban planning

· New technologies and local government

Some 62 participants who gave 40 presentations included 35 full participants and 11 Early career/Young Scholars/Retirees. Keynote speeches were provided by:

· Guglielmo Forges Davanzati – University of Salento: Circular cumulative causation as a general schema for interpreting regional divergences

· Paolo Veneri - Economic Policy - Gran Sasso Science Institute. Italy: From Doughnut Effects to Settlement Networks: Recent Spatial Trends in the European Urban System [by remote connection]

Jeff McNeill also reported results of the Commission’s social media survey.

The conference was followed by a Scientific Excursion: The Jubilee 2025: Via della Conciliazione and the Jubilee years.

This conference was particularly memorable for its splendid location, the warm hospitality of our hosts and excellent catering quite apart from the high quality and range of excellent presentations. Grazie a tutti.