Landscape, Experimentation and Local Governance March 2027

Commission Co-chairs Dr Jeffrey McNeill and I invite you to attend the International Workshop “Landscape, Experimentation and Local Governance” to be held in Mação, Portugal on 11-12 March 2027and to consider presenting an abstract. The Workshop, organised by the IGU Commission on the Geography of Governance and the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (Portugal), in collaboration with the University of Tirana (Albania), is running as special session of the 13th International Seminar: “Experimentation and Landscaping – play, trial, testing, replication, training, improvising, creating”, scheduled by the Centro de Geociências (GT3) and the Landscape Laboratory within the framework of the International Association APHELEIA and the UNESCO Chair in Humanities and Landscape Management, in Mação, Portugal, from 10 to 19 March 2027. 

The Conference will discuss how no project involving the vision and strategic positioning of a region can be achieved without the active involvement of cities and rural and mountain communities, as their path to full sustainability requires deep roots in the territory and the active involvement of authorities, citizens and businesses. We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions addressing various aspects of the role of local administrations in urban space management and regional development, as well as abstracts focusing on tools and methodologies centered on environmental quality and planning activities for urban renewal. We welcome abstracts, but not limited, to these themes (see details here) together with more broadly focused tracks addressing issues and developments in the geography of governance Abstract submission Abstracts should be no more than 150 words long and emailed as MS-Word documents to: IGUGovernance@gmail.com. Please put ‘Abstract’ in the header. Participation: attendance in person and no admissions fee.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: 30 NOVEMBER 2026. It is expected that the publication of a selection of the papers in a book or an International Journal. * Please, share this call for abstracts among your colleagues, researchers, PhD students and specialists in this field (geographers, architects, engineers, urban planners, urbanists and all those interested in the topic). 

Abstracts should be no more than 150 words long and emailed as MS-Word documents to: IGUGovernance@gmail.com  Please put ‘Abstract’ in the header. 

** Please send your queries regarding abstracts to: 

- Prof Anna Trono. (Co-chair IGU CoGG). e_mail: igugovernance@gmail.com ; anna.trono@unisalento.it
- Prof Luiz Oosterbeek. (Instituto Politécnico de Tomar-Centro de Geociências).e_mail: loost@ipt.pt
- Jeffrey McNeill. (Co-chair IGU CoGG). e_mail: igugovernance@gmail.com