Call for Papers / Sessions / Posters 

Towards new alliances: ecological struggles and territorial projects in contemporary ruralities 

Dates: April 27-29, 2026 

Meeting location: Maison du Kleebach, Gunsbach, France (to be confirmed) 

The struggle against the A69 motorway between Castres and Toulouse exemplifies what many movements have been denouncing for decades: the continuation, and even acceleration, of a development model that, in the medium term, will render the Earth uninhabitable for most living beings, contributing to the transgression of all planetary boundaries that sustain the Earth system. These localized, place-based struggles take a stand against global crises and expand the ways in which we think about ecology. 

When rooted in so-called “rural” areas, these movements—often part of a long history of local resistance and struggle — bring to light the deep connections between land use, production methods, food, mobility, and ways of living within territories conceived not as resources to be exploited, but as living environments. In their diversity, contemporary ruralities, as denounced by numerous ecological and social movements in France and abroad, are increasingly subject to a dominant model of development and unsustainable land management. Rarely spared from the effects of metropolitanization, rural areas today – even when framed as “sustainable” – are generally approached through a productive lens centered on development, extraction and exploitation. They often serve as receptacles for predatory agro-industrial practices, commodified natural spaces for leisure and tourism, or dumping grounds for the negative externalities of metropolitan areas. 

Continuing older but often invisible struggles, recent mobilizations — against mega-reservoir projects, the privatization of natural spaces for tourist complexes, mining and airport developments, or waste disposal facilities — challenge a utilitarian and functionalist vision of territory in the service of capitalist accumulation. On a global scale, alternative approaches, ranging from institutional initiatives such as nature parks to more insurrectionary forms like Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement or the Zapatista communities in Mexico, offer glimpses of other possible futures. 

Challenging poor territorial management inevitably disrupts entrenched interests and practices tied to the organization of living environments and spatial planning. These acts of resistance expose the contradictions of a socio-economic system in which they themselves are entangled— just like professionals compelled to act here and now, negotiating, compromising, or standing firm on their convictions and ethical principles. How, then, can we design spaces, transform landscapes, or plan the future of a place when ways of living are being radically re-examined—sometimes through the very struggles that combine local and global issues? What alliances and visions of alternative futures can emerge between ecological struggles and resistance movements, local actors, and spatial planning and design professionals? 

Image credit: © Karim Lahiani