Call for Papers & Invitation
The 34th Annual Colloquium of the IGU Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems (CSRS)
Date: July 12th – 16th, 2027

Location: Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Türkiye (Field Study: Niğde- Nevşehir (Cappadocia) - Konya)

“Sustaining Rural Systems: Heritage, Mobility, and the Politics of Place-making”

The key organizing theme for the 34th Annual Colloquium of the CSRS is "Sustaining Rural Systems: Heritage, Mobility, and the Politics of Place-making."

In an era of unprecedented global transformations, rural spaces are continuously being renegotiated and contested. Rural systems are no longer merely passive sites of agricultural production; they are dynamic arenas shaped by the mobilities of people and capital, the institutional preservation of heritage, the governance of finite natural resources, and the active struggles of local communities to secure their livelihoods, rights, and identities.

Here, "place-making" draws on Tuan's foundational distinction between abstract, undifferentiated "space" and lived, meaningful "place" (Tuan 1977), while "politics" refers to the intricate power relations, conflicts, and compromises among diverse stakeholders—state actors, external capital, international organizations, and local residents—as they claim and reshape rural spaces. Following Lefebvre's notion that space is actively produced rather than a neutral container (Lefebvre 1991), and Massey's argument that places are constituted through power-laden relations that extend well beyond their immediate boundaries (Massey 1994), this Colloquium treats rural place-making as an inherently political and relational process.

The Central Anatolian region of Türkiye—with the unique geomorphological and tourism-driven landscapes of Cappadocia, the intensive agricultural matrices of Konya, and the resilient, changing rural communities of Niğde—will serve as our "living laboratory." We warmly welcome research papers and empirical case studies from any rural area in any part of the world that critically address this overarching theme through the following five interconnected sub-themes.

■ Sub-themes for Abstract Submission

1.The Governance of Heritage: Institutional Preservation versus Local Livelihood

This sub-theme interrogates the inherent tensions between the institutional preservation of cultural/natural heritage and the daily socio-economic survival of rural populations. Drawing on Relph's concept of "authenticity of place" (Relph 1976), the analytical focus here is on governance actors and policy frameworks: in highly regulated or geomorphologically unique environments (such as UNESCO sites, ancient settlements, and cave landscapes), state-led conservation frameworks often clash with local demands for infrastructural development and modern livelihoods. We welcome papers that examine the negotiation processes, policy implications, and adaptation strategies of communities living within these protected yet contested landscapes. Cappadocia's underground cities and the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük offer paradigmatic cases of this preservation-livelihood negotiation.,

2. Geographies of Consumption: Tourism Capital and the Limits of Local Autonomy

The restructuring of rural economies from production-oriented to consumption- and service-oriented systems relies heavily on tourism, often framed as "ecotourism." This shift echoes Woods's broader account of rural economic restructuring, in which post-productivist countrysides increasingly derive their value from consumption and service activities—tourism prominent among them—rather than from primary production alone (Woods 2005). Where sub-theme 1 examines policy and institutional actors, this sub-theme foregrounds market and capital dynamics: the influx of global/national tourism capital frequently challenges the autonomy of local places. This session explores the economic viability of rural tourism, the commodification of rural lifestyles, and the socio-ecological conflicts over resource distribution. Who truly benefits from rural tourism, and how do local communities resist or collaborate with corporate forces to reclaim their spatial benefits? The balloon tourism economy of Cappadocia illustrates both the opportunities and asymmetries of this consumption-driven restructuring.

 3. Rural Mobilities: The Politics of Demographic Restructuring

Demographic shifts are rapidly restructuring the social fabric of the countryside, where out-migration and in-migration should be understood as two faces of the same restructuring process rather than as separate phenomena. This sub-theme situates rural mobility within Halfacree's broader framework of rural space as simultaneously locality, social representation, and lived experience (Halfacree 2006). We invite papers that investigate the structural challenges of depopulation, out-migration, and rural brain-drain alongside counter-trends such as the influx of seasonal agricultural workers, international refugees, and urban-to-rural migrants (counter-urbanization). This session focuses on the political and social integration of diverse populations and the evolving institutional demands for housing, healthcare, and labor rights in rural spaces. The 1923 population-exchange resettlement communities of Niğde, including Yeşilburç, and the East Kazakhstan resettlement village of Altay Köyü provide historically layered cases of how forced and voluntary mobility reshape rural social fabrics over generations.

4. Grassroots Revitalization: Women's Agency and Social Enterprise in Rural Transformation

To counter rural marginalization, top-down state policies must be confronted with or complemented by bottom-up grassroots innovations. This sub-theme highlights the agency of marginalized or overlooked actors in rural revitalization, with a specific and deliberate emphasis on the economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, and social participation of rural women as transformative agents who reshape traditional agrarian power structures. We seek studies on community-led cooperatives, rural-urban food networks, and local knowledge systems that foster genuine community resilience. The Yeşilburç Denee Women's Cooperative exemplifies this grassroots model of heritage-led, women-centered rural revitalization, while the Tabal Restaurant and Horanta Café in Niğde demonstrate a complementary model of social enterprise oriented toward the economic empowerment of women and vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities.

5. Resource Governance and Agricultural Resilience under Environmental Pressure

At the core of systemic resilience lies the governance of essential rural resources—water, pasturelands, and soil—under mounting pressure from climate change and competing claims. This sub-theme extends the colloquium's politics-of-place-making lens to environmental governance, asking how communities negotiate access to and control over shrinking natural resources. This session critically examines the coexistence, structural friction, and interlinkages between large-scale corporate agribusinesses and traditional small-scale family farming. We welcome papers focusing on environmental justice, sustainable farming adaptations, and the role of regional agri-industrial processing facilities (e.g., sugar and food factories) in securing sustainable, fair, and resilient regional supply chains. The shrinking sinkholes and aquifers of the Konya Closed Basin, the retreating shoreline of Lake Tuz, and the intensive agricultural production zones of Niğde together dramatize the urgency of this resource-governance question.

■ Field Study: Connecting Theory with the Field

True to the long-standing tradition of the IGU-CSRS, the academic sessions will be seamlessly integrated with a comprehensive 3-day Field Study through Niğde, Nevşehir (Cappadocia),and Konya.

This field excursion is designed to let participants directly witness the "politics of place-making" in action. We will engage with local civic leaders, visit rural women's economic cooperatives such as the Yeşilburç Cooperative, explore heritage management conflicts in tourist hotspots, and observe the spatial dynamics of both massive agricultural zones and regional agri-industrial processing facilities (e.g., sugar and food factories). It will provide an unforgettable empirical anchor to the global theoretical dialogues of the colloquium.

■ References

Halfacree, K. 2006. Rural space: Constructing a three-fold architecture. In Handbook of Rural Studies, eds. P. Cloke, T. Marsden, and P. Mooney. 44-52. London: Sage.

Lefebvre, H. 1991. The Production of Space. Trans. D. Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell.

Massey, D. 1994. Space, Place, and Gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Relph, E. 1976. Place and Placelessness. London: Pion.

Tuan, Y.-F. 1977. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Woods, M. 2005. Rural Geography. London: Sage Publications.