Under the heading "Rural Geographies in Transition", the University of Groningen in the Netherlands is hosting the 3rd European Conference on Rural Geography.

The ENKOR team is organizing the session:

"Civic engagement and socio-structural changes in rural areas. Current developments." [Civic engagement and socio-structural changes in rural areas. Current developments].

The focus is on the role of civic engagement in rural areas with strong socio-structural changes. The following questions will be discussed:
What factors influence the responsiveness of rural areas to socio-structural changes and what influence does civic engagement have here?
Why do some regions seem to "shrink" healthily and solve challenges innovatively, while in others loss and decline prevail? Are rural regions more or less creative in dealing with the effects of socio-structural changes than urban regions? What new forms of civic engagement are emerging in rural areas in this context (e.g. refugee initiatives or solidarity-based housing projects and farms)? How do "established" structures of civic engagement (such as associations, voluntary fire departments or local politics) react to social changes? Do new and established forms of civic engagement coexist independently of each other or do they influence each other?

You will find the ENKOR session in the overview under position 14.