34th INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL CONGRESS

2020 - 34th INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL CONGRESS

'Geography: bridging the continents'

Istanbul, Turkey, 16-20 August 2021 (NEW DATE)

 Conference website:  http://www.igc2020.org/en/

Sessions proposed & organized 

by 

IGU Commission on Geography of Governance

10 Sessions - IGU Commission Geography of Governance >>

Abstract submission >>

  

IGU COMMISSION 'GEOGRAPHY OF GOVERNANCE'

 10 SESSIONS

SESSION 1.  CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN URBAN GOVERNANCE: FORMAL AND INFORMAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES 

Citizens participation in local government policies is now common practice in democratic and decentralized countries. Global Urban Agendas adopted by the United Nations in recent decades, focused on human settlements and on sustainable development, put citizens at the centre of the decision-making process, in particular at the local and urban scale. Besides the now common formal institutional frameworks in which citizen participation is embedded there are also informal frameworks through which citizens can act upon the policy process and decision making. This session seeks to be a forum in which these formal and informal citizen participation modes can be presented, discussed, and confronted. The use of ICT in citizen participation processes, i.e. models and practices of e-participation in local and urban policy settings, particularly in urban e-planning, will also be explored and discussed. 

SESSION 2.  CLIMATE POLICY AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE 

Climate change is a serious environmental and socio-political challenge, with impacts visible at both local and global levels. This challenge requires urgent action. Local government must take part and lead these crucial actions. This session aims to explore and to discuss how municipalities and other tiers of sub-national government are effectively responding to climate change. The session intends to address these issues through individual case studies or in comparative approaches. In particular, the session aims to explore the policy responses in the field of municipal spatial planning, buildings, energy, transport, waste, among other sectors.  

SESSION 3. INTER-MUNICIPAL COOPERATION  

This session aims to explore and to discuss current trends, institutional models and challenges in inter-municipal cooperation. Besides the traditional institutional models of municipal associations there are now new forms of municipal cooperation that have been developed in recent years. These trends in inter-municipal cooperation and the respective challenges need to be examined, compared, and discussed in the context of the overall transformation of local and urban governance institutional models. This session intends to be a forum in which inter-municipal cooperation, including its organizational and financial issues, inter-municipal spatial planning and inter-municipal policies - social, economic and environmental - are explored and discussed through individual case studies or in comparative approaches.  

SESSION 4.  INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES  

This session aims to explore and to discuss current trends, institutional models and challenges in the field of international cooperation of local and regional governments, in continental wide arrangements, as is the case in Europe and in Africa, but also in global networks of local authorities. The session intends to explore and to discuss the different modes of decentralized cooperation for sustainable development as well as the current practices of municipal / city twinning, its actions, impacts and challenges, namely in the context of the global agendas on sustainable development adopted in recent decades. 

SESSION 5.  LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORMS: DECENTRALIZATION V. CENTRALIZATION  

This session aims to explore and to discuss the current reforms of local government in different regions of the world, confronting recent cases of re-centralization with the more general trend towards decentralization. Among other issues, the session seeks to discuss the impacts of these reforms in the organizational, functional and financial autonomy of local government, in local policies - social, economic, environmental -, and on the capacity of local government to fulfil its role in the implementation of the UN Global Sustainable Development Agendas, such as the Agenda 2030 and the New Urban Agenda. 

SESSION 6.  METROPOLITAN GOVERNANCE: TRENDS, MODELS, CHALLENGES  

This session aims to explore and to discuss current trends, institutional models and challenges in the governance of metropolitan areas in different regions of the world. Besides the traditional institutional models of metropolitan government, applied in most of the metropolitan areas, new forms of governance of these large urban areas seem to be emerging. These changes need to be examined, compared with traditional models, and discussed in the context of the overall transformation of local and urban governance models. This session seeks to be a forum in which metropolitan government institutional models, metropolitan spatial planning and metropolitan policies - social, economic and environmental - are explored and discussed. 

SESSION 7.  MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE  

This session aims to explore and to discuss how local government policies have dealt with the rights of migrants and refugees in recent years, in Europe and in other regions of the world. The session intends to address these issues through individual case studies or in comparative approaches. 

SESSION 8.  SHRINKING CITIES, EXPANDING METROPOLISES, DE POPULATED  VILLAGES: THE GOVERNANCE RESPONSES  

Cities losing population represent an important challenge for local government. The urban decline associated with the notion of shrinking  cities affect numerous cities since the beginning of the 21st century, as a result of de-industrialization, socio-economic crisis and demographic transition. On the contrary, in other cities, within the same country, large metropolitan areas continue to expand. At the same time, in rural areas small villages continue to depopulate, which raises serious issues for the sustainability of these local communities. This session aims to explore and to discuss the responses of local government to these different processes, in particular the responses of the spatial planning system to these contrasted demographic processes.  

SESSION 9.  SPATIAL JUSTICE AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY: THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

The announcement by the United Nations that in 2007, for the first time, the majority of the world's population lived in urban areas, a trend expected to expand, and the paradigm shift introduced by the New Urban Agenda, adopted by the United Nations in the Habitat-III Conference in 2016, in which urbanization and cities are now seen as drivers of sustainable development, put cities at the centre of the debates on sustainable development for all. Parallel to this development, there has been in the last years a growing interest in the idea of the 'Right to the City', namely in initiatives carried out in Europe and in Latin America. A landmark in this process was the adoption of the World Charter on the Right to the City. This session intends to explore and to discuss approaches and practices developed by local government in order to improve the quality of everyday life in cities and its outcomes based on a broader notion of 'Right to the City' - civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. 

SESSION 10.  TRANSNATIONAL AND TRANSCONTINENTAL NETWORKING AND POLICY LEARNING  

This session aims to explore and to discuss current trends, challenges and outcomes in the field of transnational and transcontinental flows of urban policies ideas. The session intends to explore and to discuss in particular the transnational flows of spatial planning ideas within continental wide networks, as is the case within the European Union, but also through transcontinental networks.