The largest integrated karst area in Carpatho - Balkanides Mt. in Eastern part of Serbia is area of Kučaj – Beljanica. Тhis massif is composed of two separate mountain units - in the north the limestone block of Beljanica, and in the south the vast Kučaj karst plain. According to the unique and rare geoheritage sites and phenomenon as well as rich biodiversity, evaluation criteria and procedure for proclamation of another Serbian national park was launched. The total protected area of international, national, that is, exceptional importance is 45,371.62 ha. Despite the rich natural phenomenon, population growth, composition and distribution are the most important factors of sustainable development of this area. Emigration, depopulation, low birth rates, and high levels of aging marginalize rural areas and put access to basic services at risk. The aim of the paper is to analyze multidimensional relationship between nature protection and straightening demographic potentials in order to achieve combine effects of preserving complex natural rarities and improvement of wellbeing of local communities through the activities related to specific touristic forms (ecotourism, geotourism, adventure tourism etc). This research will include extensive fieldwork with intensive participant observation and a series of structured and semi structured interviews with local population, government representatives, NGOs staff, and other stakeholders involved in the process of sustainable protection and development of rural areas. Final analysis will be complemented with the help of GIS methodology. The starting point of this research is to answer if adequate national protection of the geodiversity and biodiversity of Kučaj and Beljanica Mt. would enable the strengthening of socio-economic activities and sustainable development of local communities.

Rural tourism in Hungary has evolved significantly, driven by urban-to-rural relocations where individuals establish tourism ventures in village settings. These newcomers bring fresh perspectives, resources, and challenges, reshaping rural tourism dynamics. This presentation examines the transformative potential of rural tourism in three Hungarian cases, based on qualitative sociological research (semi-structured interviews and field research), to explore how sustainable tourism can emerge through collaboration and adaptation.

First, we introduce the historical development of rural tourism in these regions, each with unique geographic, cultural, and economic characteristics, analysing how past practices shape the present. Then we analyse the current tourism models, questioning whether a universal framework for sustainable rural tourism exists or if adaptive, context-specific approaches are necessary. A key focus is the role of community cooperation, examining how residents, newcomers, and stakeholders collaborate to balance economic, environmental, and social needs.

Research questions are:

• What motivates or discourages rural communities from engaging with tourism, and how do they perceive its impact?
• Can urban newcomers align their goals with local communities to achieve mutual benefits?
• What mechanisms can regulate tourism for long-term sustainability while resolving stakeholder conflicts?

Findings highlight that sustainable rural tourism offers significant development potential but requires inclusive, adaptive governance structures that prioritize dialogue and iterative decision-making. The case studies reveal both opportunities and limitations, demonstrating how tourism can drive socio-ecological transformation. By situating these local experiences within broader European tourism trends, the research contributes to critical discussions on sustainable tourism transitions, emphasizing the need for nuanced, community-centered approaches to rural development.

Current debates in tourism research highlight the tension between sustainability, the negative effects of ever-growing tourism and socio-economic and ecological contradictions that tourism brings with it in destinations. In this context, Mountaineering Villages in the Alps present themselves as destinations committed to sustainable tourism, aligning with the Alpine Convention’s goals to protect the natural environment of the Alps. These initiatives aspire to integrate tourism with nature conservation by preserving the character of alpine villages including their agricultural and socio-economic structures alongside the natural environment of the alpine mountains.

This contribution explores Mountaineering Village initiatives from the perspective of convivial conservation (Büscher & Fletcher, 2020). Convivial conservation critiques mainstream conservation due to its increasing dependence on market mechanisms and suggest a post-capitalist, socio-environmentally just alternative that overcomes the human-nature alienation, inherent in conventional approaches to conservation. In relation to tourism, understood as market-based instrument that commodifies natural spaces, the convivial approach means the promotion of areas for the creation of long-lasting and engaged human-nature relationships, which overcomes the natural imagination of untouched wilderness and celebrates everyday nature in the familiar environment, as well as the strengthening of democratic decision-making processes in the design of tourism.

Using a qualitative research method, including interviews with experts involved in the decision-making and design of the Mountaineering Villages, this study investigates to what extent the Mountaineering Village initiatives embody radical alternatives and whether they are able to overcome the contradictions of mainstream conservation or are simply another illustration of these contradiction. The convivial conservation framework provides valuable insights into advancing transformative approaches that challenge the root causes of socio-environmental crises affecting the Alps, tourism destinations, and broader societies.

Destination Management Organisations play a crucial role in enhancing residents’ quality of life, a key factor in fostering sustainable and competitive destinations. To achieve this, it is essential to place residents' voices at the forefront of policymaking, ensuring that tourism policies align with the community’s needs and expectations. Moreover, integrating residents’ perspectives into tourism planning and validation processes helps mitigate tourism’s negative impacts while amplifying its benefits. Measuring residents’ attitudes toward tourism development, therefore, becomes a pivotal step in enabling data-driven and community-centered decision-making.

While significant progress has been made in gathering data and developing simple indicators, there is a notable lack of experience in creating composite indicators (index) that provide a multidimensional and cohesive view of residents’ attitudes. This study addresses this gap by building an index to evaluate residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts, offering policymakers a tool to inform decisions.

The research was conducted in Andalusia, Spain. A total of 32 municipalities, representing high, medium, and low levels of tourism concentration across coastal, inland, and urban areas, were selected. In these locations, 3,200 residents participated in a survey that explored perceptions of tourism impacts. The collected data was used to develop a system of simple indicators, which were subsequently normalised, weighted, and aggregated into a single index.

Findings reveal that higher levels of tourism concentration are associated with more negative resident attitudes toward tourism. A deeper analysis highlights that in medium-concentration destinations, residents appreciate the positive economic impact of tourism on the local economy but express concerns about natural resource consumption, increased traffic, and insufficient parking availability. In high-concentration destinations, these concerns are compounded by housing affordability issues, although residents also acknowledge economic benefits, increased investment, and a wider range of leisure opportunities. Conversely, low-concentration destinations exhibit a more favorable perception of tourism, emphasizing its contributions to employment, the municipality’s image, and the availability of recreational activities. The paper concludes with reflections on the political and managerial implications of these findings, offering actionable insights for sustainable destination management.

Despite certain restrictions for foreign citizens, international second home demand in the Croatian littoral increased even before Croatia joined the EU (1st July 2013). This was followed by the full opening of the real estate market to EU citizens, which led to an even greater increase in demand for foreign second home ownership in the Croatian littoral. The above-mentioned increase was influenced by the following factors: a) the strong tourism development in Croatia in the first two decades of the 21st century, b) favourable real estate prices compared to the more developed EU countries, c) the country's image as safe for investment, d) commercial and entrepreneurial reasons, due to the rapid increase in real estate prices, e) improvement of traffic accessibility by building motorways and introducing more flights, f) Croatia's accession to the Schengen area (1st January 2023), and g) the introduction of the euro (1st January 2023). The COVID 19 pandemic (2020-2023) also had the effect of increasing international second home demand, as second homes were often perceived as safe havens that enabled both remote working and vacations in an intimate, private setting.

The three main objectives of the research are: a) to determine the spatial distribution of foreign-owned second homes, b) to identify the structure of foreign owners in relation to the country of residence and c) to examine the connection between the number of foreign-owned second homes and the number of rental properties in private accommodation. The study area is the Croatian littoral, the hot spot area of international second home demand, which includes the Croatian coast, islands, and the immediate hinterland which together with the coast form an inseparable functional unit. Statistical analyses were carried out at the level of 141 local self-government units (LAU 2) whose territory extends to the coastline, as well as those whose administrative seat is located less than 10 kilometres by road from the nearest coastal settlement. The research used tourism statistics data from the Croatian Tourist Board's e-Visitor platform for all years since its introduction, i.e. for the period from 2016 to 2024.

In many regions of the world, and undoubtedly among them in Mediterranean countries, the dynamics of tourism are laying bare many tensions of a social, economic, cultural and spatial-territorial nature. Many cities are affected by heavy dynamics in which tourism-related transformations are intertwined according to recurring but contextually determined logics with dynamics of gentrification and replacement of resident populations; at the same time, in both coastal and mountainous areas, the tourism models of the past, rapidly obsolescing, leave behind a legacy of abandonment and underuse of buildings and parts of settlements.

In particular, in many coastal areas of the Mediterranean, and therefore also in our country, different models of tourist use have followed one another over the decades, and have become intertwined with the peculiar economic and social dynamics of each context, such as the more or less accentuated tourist specialisation of the labour market, the temporal forms and models of heritage use (e.g. that of second homes), the new residential and work models of metropolitan populations, and so on.

Starting from this problematic background, the paper questions the peculiar relations that can be read at a spatial level between overtourism and abandonment, which sometimes affect different territories, but which in many cases affect, on the contrary, the same contexts. In particular, the paper critically discusses some cases of abandonment or underuse of buildings, structures and tourist complexes in coastal areas, where in other respects the dynamics of tourist flows lead to congestion, overuse of existing infrastructures and services, and expulsion of the resident population, starting from some contexts of the Ligurian and Tuscan coastline with a long tradition of tourism, which has therefore gone through different phases and patterns.

The research carried out in these contexts shows the difficulties associated with the passive adherence to a development model based on a sector that is undoubtedly important, but with low added value and based on the depletion of environmental and territorial resources, and the importance of initiating a critical, contextual and argued reflection as a basis for imagining different development policies.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the spatial distribution of domestic tourism in Ireland has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is understood that the tourism sector suffered during the pandemic. However, the behaviour of domestic tourists may have changed due to the restrictions on outbound flights and a general fear of engaging in what was considered a risky activity (ie flying). To better understand the changing geography of domestic tourism this paper analyses the share of domestic tourism that each country had pre-pandemic (2019) and post-pandemic (2022). The paper also utilises a resilience index for the years 2020 to 2022 for counties in Ireland to understand how individual counties absorbed and rebounded from the crisis. The research shows that the impact of the pandemic on domestic tourism was not homogenous across Ireland with some counties being able to better absorb and rebound stronger from the negative impacts of COVID-19.

This paper provides an understanding of the changing preferences of domestic tourism in response to a crisis which is important to understand as the ongoing climate crisis could see an increase in domestic tourism in Ireland. The increasing volatility of summers in Southern Europe (ie increasing heatwaves) may mean that more Irish people decide to holiday at home instead of the traditional foreign holiday to a Southern European destination. Also, prior to COVID-19 there was the emergence of ‘flight shame’ in some parts of Europe where people were travelling by train or bus instead of flying due to the shame felt by flying as it is seen as contributing to climate change. If the ‘flight shame’ phenomenon was to impact Irish tourists, they may choose to holiday within the country instead of flying abroad.

Climate change will inevitably impact the geography of tourism in Europe in the coming decades. Among the most frequently cited threats in the literature are the reduction in snowfall in mountain regions and the loss of beaches due to increased coastal erosion. Several studies suggest that these changes are likely to alter the attractiveness of destinations and lead to shifts in seasonality. While climate change poses a threat to traditional destinations such as the Mediterranean and the Alps, it also presents an opportunity for higher-latitude regions. This has created the illusion that climate change might reduce inequalities in the spatial distribution of tourists by opening up new opportunities for currently marginal tourism regions.

One aspect that has been relatively overlooked in research on the effects of climate change on tourism is the risk posed by the intensification of extreme events. Wildfires are one such hazard that climate change is expected to exacerbate. Southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Greece are among the most wildfire-prone areas globally. At the same time, these countries’ economies are heavily dependent on tourism, with wildfires often coinciding with the peak tourist season.

This paper explores this issue, focusing specifically on the threat in Portugal. In the first part, we analyze the current and future risks of wildfires to tourism in Portugal by combining spatial modeling of environmental conditioning factors with an assessment of the exposure of tourism assets and infrastructure to wildfire hazards. In the second part, we discuss the implications of this risk for tourism policy, particularly regarding inequalities in the distribution of tourism within Portugal. By showing that regions with high structural susceptibility to wildfires and significant vulnerability of tourism assets to this risk often overlap with the country’s demographically and economically marginalized regions, we underscore the risk that wildfires, intensified by climate change, could further hinder efforts to achieve a more balanced and equitable tourism development in Portugal. In short, wildfires, aggravated by climate change, may undermine various policy measures currently being implemented in Portugal to address regional inequalities in tourism.

The paper provides insights into the preservation of cultural heritage through toponymic research, emphasizing the importance of place-name collection for understanding historical, cultural and ecological transformations, using the names of mounds as examples.

Mounds are remarkable geographical features of the Great Hungarian Plain. Most of them are ancient burial sites of significant historical and cultural value, they also have ecological importance, as they are the last remnants of the loess grasslands that once covered the flatland. Mounds are relatively distinct spatial features that, along with their associated functions, serve as important organizing elements of the cognitive map, which is why they are typically named. However, quite many names have been gradually falling into oblivion due to changes in the use and knowledge of the landscape. People no longer have the same direct, everyday relationship with their geographical environment as before.

The paper analyzes the names of mounds in two districts of the Hortobágy region. This approach allows us to gain insight into the spatial perception and use of space in the past. Additionally, the study highlights the advantages of the ongoing comprehensive place-name survey (Hungarian National Toponym Registry), with the first two volumes of the survey forming the basis of this analysis.

Based on functional-semantic analysis, naming motifs and narratives embedded in the names of mounds can be revealed. As the semantic content of the specific elements shows, mounds are generally conceptualized and linguistically construed as parts of the man-shaped landscape (e.g., Tikos-domb: Tikos settlement name and 'hill'; Szász János laponyagja 'János Szász’s hill'; Tedeji-templomdomb 'Tedej church mound'; Szőlő-halom referring to a vineyard). Many mound names are also linked to local legends and beliefs, such as tales of hidden treasures. These stories are preserved in names like Kincses-halom 'treasure mound' or Pénzes-halom 'money mound'.

Today, mounds are legally protected, but proper conservation requires systematic registration, often based on historical maps. Collections of place names, including both contemporary and historical forms, can make a substantial contribution to these interdisciplinary efforts.

This paper explores the relationship between micro-toponyms and the geo-morphology of a glaciated valley, from source to sea. This case study draws on the methodology of my academic research in Ardudwy, in the south of Eryri (formerly Snowdonia) where 15,000 micro-toponyms were analysed and used as a basis for cultural and historic landscape deconstructions. Those results showed that micro-toponyms are ancient and act as linguistic palimpsests, indicating how previous generations viewed and used their physical environment. The results of this research in the Ogwen valley are entirely consistent with the earlier research.

This area is a stunning location, much valued by local people, tourists, climbers, geomorphologists and geologists. It has world-wide recognition as a classic glaciated valley. Alongside and above the U-shaped valley are several glacial hanging valleys or cwms (cirques). The most well-known is Cwm Idwal (Cwm + personal name Idwal). It is now protected by a partnership of three national organizations and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI). Its steep cliffs house Alpine plants, which are extremely rare elsewhere in Britain.

The geology is spectacular. A syncline with brachiopod fossils, of marine origin, forms the high cliffs at the end of the cwm. Unsurprisingly, such riches attracted early academics such as the remarkable Edward Llwyd, botanist, geologist, antiquary, and philologist who discovered rare Alpine plants on the cliffs here in 1688. Geologist Professor Adam Sedgwick and his pupil, Charles Darwin visited Cwm Idwal almost a century and a half later. All referred to specific locations of interest, by the ancient, Welsh micro-toponyms used by farmers and shepherds, names which are still in use today.

These rocks have also attracted climbers who bring much needed income. Technology has opened up a new journalistic world where individuals create attractive websites and blogs to promote their favourite climbs. Unfortunately, they import new micro-toponyms or translate ancient names into English, rather than interpreting them. These new names soon take root, displacing centuries old names which are full of important cultural and environmental references.

Urban sociolinguistics rethinks the city beyond its mere geographical dimension, considering it as a discursive matrix shaped by the demographic and cultural diversity it encompasses. In this perspective, the city becomes a space of linguistic production, where place names play a central role in expressing local identities and migratory dynamics.

This approach defines the city as a complex cultural entity that must be analyzed through various levels of interaction and geographical scales. Within this framework, our contribution examines urban resilience through the lens of place-name standardization and their balance within the sustainable development of the city.

The study focuses on the city of Boussemghoun, once structured around traditional housing in the Ksar and now undergoing significant urban transformations. The new place names, imposed by administrative commissions, raise a fundamental question: do the place names of this new city reflect the linguistic diversity of Boussemghoun?

Through field research, we will explore how traditional place names are transposed and reinterpreted by the inhabitants, particularly the autochthonous population, Ksouriens, and new users of this urban space. This neo-toponymy thus becomes a site of renewed spatial appropriation, where linguistic practices reveal a plurality of uses and cultural diversity.

In conclusion, this research aims to shed light on how migratory dynamics and socio-cultural transformations shape a resilient city, where place names oscillate between heritage preservation and adaptation to new linguistic and geographical references.

Street toponymy is not merely a tool for organizing urban spaces; it is not a neutral element devoid of meaning or intention. On the contrary, it should be seen as a direct reflection of the ideology and collective identity that different political regimes have sought to impose on their territories and populations. It is, therefore, an instrument that creates not only physical maps but also maps of identity, authentic geographies of memory.

By analyzing the evolution of street names in a specific city, it is possible to observe the urban memory map that each political regime has tried to shape for its citizens. This research focuses on the historical evolution of street names in the city of Elda, located in southeastern Spain, from 1931 to the present. It explores how the city's street toponymy evolved across three key periods in Spain's recent history: the Second Republic and Civil War (1931–1939), the Francoist Dictatorship (1939–1975), and the Transition to Democracy and current democratic period (1975–present).

This study does not merely describe changes in street names but examines the relationship between political regimes and the names they assigned to urban spaces. It classifies these names through statistical charts based on the dominant categories in each period (military, religious, cultural, historical, political, etc.) and compares the findings across the different historical stages studied. The data for this research was obtained from the Historical Municipal Archive of Elda.

The research provides a critical analysis of how urban street names reflect shifts in cultural and political landscapes. Although it focuses on the case of Elda, its findings have broader implications for understanding similar processes in other Spanish and European cities. It highlights the role of street names and their evolution over time as tools for fostering identification between citizens and the political culture of the ruling regime - in other words, as instruments for the ideological homogenization of society.

Polycentricity is increasingly gaining global significance as a both a normative concept for spatial planning and management and an analytical construct in urban geography. One of the main challenges in the development of polycentric urban regions is achieving functional coherence between the centers that encompass them. This study examines how regions’ naming captures a specific dimension of this integration, namely residents’ regional identity and attachment. Our analysis is based on a survey conducted among residents of the eight largest metropolitan regions in Poland. Our findings confirm that a region’s name, when positively perceived in functional-organizational, strategic-image, and cultural-historical contexts, significantly strengthens residents’ identification with the region and fosters emotional attachment. This, in turn, contributes to the functional coherence of the region.

Particularly in times of (social and economic) crisis, sport as a historical grown and cultural phenomenon promotes sustainable social cohesion (Bas et al., 2020). Since 2021, community orientated sport club culture in Germany has even been part of UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage due to its historical, social and cultural significance for society as a whole, as a place for learning and practising rules, customs and traditions together (Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission, 2023). Organised major sporting events (MISE), such as the Olympic Games but also football World Cups also have an identity-forming effect, as (mythical) venues are built (Hüser et al., 2022) where sporting competitions are held together according to established rituals and rules, which in turn create shared formative memories and stabilise traditions (Horne et al., 2006). As central venues, stadiums, their architecture, their central geographical situation in the urban landscape as well as their post-sporting event legacy (Llorca, 2024), but above all their emblematic names, are of outstanding importance for cultural heritage (Kiuri et al., 2015).

Remarkably, stadiums that have hosted Olympic Games often retain their name (“Olympic stadium”), while even unique names of venerable football stadiums are often changed with the aim of generating additional revenue. A well-known recent example is the legendary football stadium in Barcelona, which was renamed “Spotify Camp Nou” in 2022. Besides the additional revenue, those responsible justified this agreement with the aim of bringing together the two sectors of the entertainment industry, music and sport (Brown, 2012). However, such business-orientated strategies are controversial (Koch et al., 2022). For example, the great rival in Spain, Real Madrid, like many other top European clubs, opposes the sale of the naming rights to its “Estadio Santiago Bernabéu” (Kroll, 2024). Moreover, numerous naming projects have to be abandoned because fan protests make successful naming impossible (Gerhardt et al., 2021) or fans decide in favour of other names in democratic votes, for example Roazhon Park in Rennes (Ceillier, 2015).

As part of the research project DISCLOSE (2022-2025) and the sub(sequent research project AGéoLinES, our contribution joining the session Place names between cultural heritage and cultural change, seeks to find out which factors influence the naming of stadiums and how fans from German-speaking countries – Austria (underdog league) and Germany (top league) – as well as French-speaking country – Belgium (underdog league) and France (top league) – evaluate the naming of ‘their’ stadiums.

The theoretical framework is a three-dimensional socio-discursive model (Bach et al., 2022) which is tested by means of a web-scraped data set (~3,500 cases). In addition, an online survey is conducted among football fans from these four countries to contextualise these results.

Preliminary results confirm that the language family and category, the league affiliation, and the year of construction are salient variables. Fan acceptance is determined by the sponsor’s image. Overall, the phenomenon of stadium naming oscillates between (wishful) identity-stabilising cultural heritage and (necessary) commercialisation.

References

Bach, Matthieu, Javier Fernández-Cruz, Laurent Gautier, Florian Koch & Matthieu Llorca. 2022. Néologismes en discours spécialisé. Analyse comparée des noms de stades de football dans quatre pays européens. Estudios Románicos 31. 309–327.

Bas, Daniela, Melissa Martin, Carol Pollack & Robert Venne. 2020. The Impact of COVID-19 on Sport, Physical Activity and Well-being and its Effects on Social Development. New York: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Policy Briefs, 73.

Brown, Luke. 2022. Barcelona agree Spotify deal for Camp Nou naming rights and shirt sponsorship. New York: New York Times.

Ceillier, Glenn. 2015. Appelez-le Roazhon Park : Le Stade Rennais a choisi le nouveau nom de son stade. Paris: Eurosport.

Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission. 2023. Bundesweites Verzeichnis Immaterielles Kulturerbe : Jubiläum 20 Jahre Konvention 10 Jahre Verzeichnis. Bonn: Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission e.V.

Gerhardt, Cornelia, Ben Clarke & Justin Lecarpentier. 2021. Naming rights sponsorship in Europe. AILA Review 34(2). 212–239.

Horne, John & Wolfram Manzenreiter. 2006. An Introduction to the Sociology of Sports Mega-Events. The Sociological Review 54(2). 1–24.

Hüser, Dietmar, Paul Dietschy & Philipp Didion. 2022. Einleitung: Aimez-vous toujours les stades?' Ansätze, Themen und Perspektiven einer deutsch-französischen und europäischen Stadionforschung im ‚langen‘ 20. Jahrhundert. In Dietmar Hüser, Philipp Didion & Paul Dietschy (eds.) Sport-Arenen – Sport-Kulturen – Sport-Welten: Deutsch-französisch-europäische Perspektiven im „langen“ 20. Jahrhundert = Arènes du sport – Cultures du sport – Mondes du sport : perspectives franco-allemandes et européennes dans le ‘long’ XXe siècle Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 9–38.

Kiuri, Miranda & Jacques Teller. 2015. Olympic Stadiums and Cultural Heritage: On the Nature and Status of Heritage Values in Large Sport Facilities. The International Journal of the History of Sport 32(5). 684–707.

Koch, Florian & Laurent Gautier. 2022. Allianz-Arena, Orange Vélodrome & Co: Zum Framing kommerzieller Namen von Fußballstadien im deutsch-französischen Vergleich. Beiträge zur Namenforschung 58(3). 363–385.

Kroll. 2024. Why European Football Clubs Should Look to Stadium Naming Rights to Diversify Income: An Analysis of Potential Stadium Naming Rights Valuations. New York: European Stadium Naming Rights Report.

Llorca, Matthieu, Laurent Gautier & Florian Koch. 2024. Les multiples dimensions du stade olympique. Esprit Critique : Revue Internationale de Sociologie et de Sciences sociales 34(1). 195–212.

Ramshaw, Gregory & Sean Gammon. 2015. Heritage and Sport. In Emma Waterton and Steve Watson (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. 248–60.

The commercialization of urban space refers to the process by which public or private spaces are utilized for commercial purposes, most commonly for promoting companies and brands. This phenomenon is evident in urban landscapes when, for example, large advertising signs displaying company names and logos are placed on buildings as part of branding strategies. Frequently, these buildings become informally referred to by the names featured on the prominent advertising signs. As a result, the company’s name subtly embeds itself into the collective consciousness of residents, and the building transforms into a recognizable town landmark, acquiring brand-like characteristics.

Examples of this identity transfer—from the company name to the building name—can be found in many towns. In Zagreb, such transfers often refer to buildings named after major companies established in the second half of the 19th century and during the socialist period (e.g., Vjesnik, Ferimport, INA, Nama, Roma). With the transition to the capitalist system and the rise of private ownership, the urban landscape in Zagreb has witnessed the emergence of residential and office buildings, as well as mixed-use block buildings (e.g., Park kneževa [Princes’ Park]) constructed by domestic and foreign private investors to sell or rent premises for residential, entertainment, or business purposes.

To enhance the attractiveness of these buildings to potential residents and users, owners or investors assign them carefully selected, attractive names that evoke prestige, luxury, and cosmopolitanism. Such names are often in English and prominently displayed on advertising signs (e.g., Avenue Mall, Green Gold, Eurotower, Sky Office Towers). They are typically placed in visible locations on the buildings, such as their rooftops. As these names are used from the beginning of construction, they gradually become ingrained in the public space and, in the absence of alternative names, are adopted by residents as informal names.

This presentation examines selected examples of building names in Zagreb motivated by commercial goals from a cultural-geographical perspective. It highlights the increasing presence, aesthetics, meanings, history, and symbolism of such names and the buildings that carry these names within the urban fabric.

Names of streets, squares and other urban public spaces (urbanonyms) are among the most common symbols ascribed to public spaces in urban areas. They express both local history of a city or town, national history and other elements that are a reflection of both long-time historical processes, as well as currently dominant historical, political, cultural and ideological narratives. Thus, they usually serve as tools for the expression of identity and collective memory, which is a process that becomes the most apparent after significant shifts in political systems.

In the early 1990s, the Republic of Croatia proclaimed its independence from the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. In the process of seeking international recognition while defending against a military aggression, the new political shift from single-party socialism towards parliamentary democracy sought to replace the narratives expressed in urban landscapes from those mirroring strong socialist ideological, political and historical narratives into the ones emphasizing the Croatian national identity and history. The common practice throughout the 1990s was, thus, to intentionally replace most of the dominant symbols of socialism and its one-sided view of history and the emphasis on the common Yugoslav identity with those articulating and reaffirming the particular Croatian national identity, its history and the events that were unfolding at the time, which have turned out to be of the utmost historical importance for the Croatian nation and the modern Croatian state.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the actual urbanonyms (2025) in the Croatian city of Zadar and compare them to those from 1986, in order to find out and explain the extent of the changes that occurred in urbanonyms in terms of changes of political and historical narratives in the two politically contrasted periods. By analyzing and listing the existing urbanonyms from contemporary online sources such as Open Street Map and geographically comparing them to the data found in a Zadar Street Map published in 1986, a database of street names and their changes is created. A content analysis of urbanonyms from both observed years is performed in order to determine and quantify all the changes and reach conclusions about the extent and nature of the shifted identities and narratives expressed in the actual names of Zadar’s streets and public places.

The Alps are knowing as an area with fairly good quality of life, in most of the aspects offering better living conditions above the EU average. In the 10th Report on the State of the Alps quality of life was investigated through five topics, among which was also the topic of work and financial security. More into detail, we were interested in working conditions in the Alpine regions, social security and potential for the innovation. The topic was observed through enablers (the living conditions), life maintenance and life flourishing according to the ESPON Territorial Quality of Life concept. Following the quantitative analysis of existing and available indicators, a survey with Alpine residents was conducted. The results show that there is large variety between Alpine regions in the indicators of average income, as it is in parental leave among the Alpine countries. In general, 48% of the respondents to the survey are satisfied with the work and financial security (the topic came in 3rd after the environment and social relations). Evaluating individual aspects of work, the number of vacation days, work–life balance and possibilities for training obtained better results. The respondents were least satisfied with parental leave duration, salary and possibilities for telework. Altogether 84% reported to either living comfortably on their present income or were at least coping. Alpine countries had major differences in terms of the latter, as these were based on national legislation, the economic situation and employers’ goodwill. Inflexibility of work conditions and local narrow economic orientation (tourism as prevailing in some localities) were also stated among weaknesses of living in the Alps. The remoteness of some Alpine areas can contribute not only to the social isolation and a lack of social contact, but can also limit the opportunities for work, and jobs accessibility. To summarize, for this aspect of QoL and taking into account the specifics of mountain areas, it can be concluded that more favourable working conditions, such as a longer parental leave, telework options and training opportunities, significantly contribute to greater satisfaction and, in turn, lead to higher overall satisfaction and enhanced QoL.

In the backdrop of ongoing socio-economic transformations prompted by the current social and economic crisis, urban centers and peripheral rural areas confront challenges like rising unemployment, increased poverty, heightened social and economic exclusion, and depopulation. Simultaneously, the diverse needs and individual preferences of residents in these areas present a growing complexity. These factors impede traditional public infrastructure-based services, necessitating innovative solutions for the habitability of places, particularly marginalised ones.Thus, this paper explores 'Enterprising Communities' in rural areas: innovative socio-economic practices set up by local actors to address local needs based on three key factors: self-organisation, communal benefit, and community participation. Conducted between 2021-2023 using a mixed methods analysis, the research focuses on the characteristics, governance models, and participatory specificities of these community-driven initiatives. The focus of the research is on community-based coperatives located in mountain areas along the Apennines and how they are integrated multisectoral activities to enhance habitability and economic subsistance in remote rural areas. These models main strength is the unique blend of enterprise and community dimensions, emphasising a sense of belonging and embeddedness in their local environment. However, they remain isolated and struggle to survive, especially in marginal rural areas. To strengthen Enterprising Communities and overcome these challenges, the paper highlights the need for a dialogue between community-led models and policy-driven initiatives, particularly in long-neglected areas, to unlock missed opportunities for local economies. The analysis reveals that Enterprising Communities, with diverse models shaped by local factors and community needs, contribute to fostering new local development pathways in peripheral and rural areas. However, their contribution to regional and rural development policies is still underexplored, and they face limitations in their dual roles as social and economic actors. In conclusion, this research adds to ongoing debates on the role of place-based entrepreneurship in socio-technical systems transitions through new community-based enterprises. It also provides guidance on how such experiences can emerge from their niches through community-led policy co-creation approaches.

Human-wildlife coexistence, where humans and wildlife share space, has become an important paradigm of European biodiversity protection and conservation management (König et al., 2020). However, the coexistence of humans and permanent or recovering wildlife species remains a societal challenge in all landscapes, which often manifests in trade-offs and conflicts, such as illegal wildlife killing, crop and livestock damages, and ensuing social conflicts (Smith et al., 2017), thus threatening long-term conservation goals. The ecosystems in the mountain areas are often the last places where they can find suitable habitats to save their population. However, the human pressure in these areas also increases as a result of expanding tourism and livestock practices. Therefore, sustainable concepts of sharing space are required that take into account the needs of wildlife species, differences in affectedness and values of stakeholders, regional landscape, and land use conditions, while also learning from successful and unsuccessful stories, to enable long-term sustainable human-wildlife interactions. In this paper, we are trying to identify spatial and temporal patterns of human-wildlife interactions in the case study of the Central Balkan biosphere reserve. The main research question is how these interactions are influenced by landscape and socioeconomic factors, and can we use this information for risk assessment and prediction. We apply the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-Offs) and more specifically its habitat quality module to identify the areas of good habitat quality and the areas of potential risk for human-wildlife interactions. Thus, we reveal spatial mismatches such as benefits concentrated in one area, conflicts concentrated in another area, and hotspots of disservices such as spatial damage concentration from multiple species.

In recent years, mountain areas have experienced a resurgence of interest and repopulation, which challenges traditional representations of these contexts and redefines individual life projects and the collective political dimension. This phenomenon is multifaceted, with various profiles among the so-called "new mountaineers" (Corrado et al., 2014). On the one hand, there are amenity migrants, such as digital nomads, who are attracted to mountain regions due to the increasing availability of digital infrastructure, and neo-rural, who are rediscovering traditional professions linked to mountain territories, such as agriculture and shepherding (Jelen et al., 2024). Additionally, we have been witnessing families fleeing urban environments, retirees, and artists, who have in common the desire to become "mountaineers by choice" (Dematteis, 2011).
People moving to or returning to mountain life often pursue lifestyles that echo historical patterns of mountain living. In the past, the seasonal nature of certain jobs led to a lifestyle characterized by a diverse range of occupations, frequent mobility, temporary living arrangements, and multi-residentiality (Perlik, 2011; Weichhart, 2009). However, these traits are reappearing in the lives of new mountaineers due to different processes.
For geography, these emerging lifestyles offer valuable insights into the field's long-standing yet highly relevant themes. The study of diverse and alternative economies (Gibson-Graham, 1996; 2006) often associated with mountain living sheds light on experiences typically seen as marginal or residual. Furthermore, the role of digital technologies in enabling the mobility of digital nomads in non-urban settings—through the proliferation of remote workstations and coworking spaces (Akhavan et al., 2021; Burgin et al., 2021)—reveals the development of new digital geographies. These connect new mountaineers to both their physical surroundings and a more comprehensive network of supralocal relationships. Finally, alternative forms of tourism, such as the "albergo diffuso" (scattered hotel), encourage new forms of hospitality that engage tourists with local communities and landscapes (Varani et al., 2022).

Digital technologies play a relevant role in the emergence of new forms of economies, living and collective actions in rural and mountain areas, although challenges differ to those encountered in urban settings. This contribution concern the domain of digital social innovation and local development processes in the framework of smart villages or smart rural strategies (Sept, 2020; Zerrer and Sept, 2020). Here digital technologies are expected to enable innovation that tackle problems such as the depopulation and discontinuities in the delivery of public services, and to valorize resources such as new forms of repopulation (Johnson and Vlachokyriakos, 2024) or the emergence of social entrepreneurship in “left behind places”.

Namely, we focus on the potentials and challenges of blockchain technology as an enabler of social innovation and of new social economies in mountain areas.

Blockchain technology raises interest in the field of social and community-based economies, since it allows to tokenize (i.e. to represent in a digital form) different types of asset of values (not only monetary); to safely transfer them even in the absence of intermediaries; and to automatize value transactions (Gloerich et al., 2020; Domenicale et al., 2024). As such, how can local tourism systems, community hubs, community cooperatives benefit from tokenized economies? Can tokenized incentives contribute to encouraging newcomers to collaborate in new economies in mountain communities?

This contribution explores how blockchain based applications are being introduced in local development and social innovation process in mountain areas in Italy. On one side, it analyses how this technology is proposed in local development strategies around the concept of “smart villages”, developed by public institutions and technology experts (Cristoforetti G., 2024). On the other hand, it focuses on an experimental project on a blockchain-based application designed for civic participation and social economies (Viano et al., 2023), presenting initial findings from the co-design of this digital platform done by the authors with local actors (municipalities, local development agencies, social entrepreneurs) in the Piedmont region.

Contemporary frameworks such as the Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, and Chthulucene highlight how power imbalances and systemic domination have shaped Earth's habitability. Ecological, economic, and social crises have drawn scholarly attention to the margins, where the remnants of these systems manifest most vividly. This research explores "ruined" alpine areas, borrowing Anna Tsing's terminology to describe socio-ecosystemic contexts that have lost diversity due to impoverishment and unchecked proliferation, often favoring some groups at the expense of others.

Focusing on the small town of Bormio and its mountain huts in the Alta Valtellina region, this contribution aims to explore the phenomenon of alpine gentrification as conceptualized by scholars like Boscoboinik and Cretton. This analytical framework reveals the intersectional dimensions of mountain lifestyle mobilities, emphasizing how processes of discrimination and exploitation transform these areas. The present contribution aims to transcend the current polarized discourse of old versus new inhabitants. It offers a nuanced perspective on inhabitation in mountain territories, investigating how gentrification has reshaped the rural dimension of this place and its surroundings. It also critically examines the "waste" of these processes, identifying spaces where diverse actors co-exist through shared practices of mutual responsibility and care, transcending self-sufficiency and domination.

The theoretical framework is grounded in materiality through Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a methodological lens, investigating the diverse political ecologies and everyday practices of inhabitation within the case study's territory. Moreover, ethnographic research and participant observation form the basis of an immersive exploration of the area, drawing on Nigel Thrift’s "non-representational approaches" and Guy Debord’s practice of "drifting." Additionally, semi-structured interviews and performative cartographies map possible alternative forms of inhabitation and critically analyze gentrification’s impacts.

Ultimately, the research reimagines the mountain not as a passive object of study but as an active subjectivity—a dynamic space of habitability. The intent is to "repair it" from narratives that envision a future of ruin for it or, in the case of alpine gentrification, foresee the ruin of its future through projections of worlds shaped by dominant needs and ideas and by identifying the emerging alternative forms of inhabiting a place.

In recent years, the international debate—both scientific and political—on Alpine Mountain regions has gained renewed prominence. Spurred by emerging challenges such as depopulation, aging populations, and land abandonment, interdisciplinary exchanges and research efforts have sought to uncover new opportunities for mountainous areas. Along the way, many interpretative frameworks have been distilled into shared keywords, resulting in hybrid slogans that shift from analytical tools to overused semantic fields (e.g., “inner areas,” “high-lands”). This evolution has often diluted the original interpretative power of these concepts, reducing them to stereotypes devoid of substantive meaning.

This contribution aims to challenge the conventional notion of mountain territorialization, which is typically organized around valleys, by instead reviving the concept of the massif (Burini, Ferlinghetti, Ghisalberti, 2023; Ferlinghetti, 2024; Adobati et al., 2025). The massif framework better captures the geohistorical and territorial logics of anthropization in the Alpine and Prealpine regions of Lombardy, which are profoundly influenced by megalopolitan dynamics (Turri, 2000) emanating from the Po Valley and, particularly, the foothill plateau. This perspective allows for a more nuanced understanding of the complexity and potential of mountain areas. These contexts are multifaceted, rugged, diverse, and heavily anthropized territories that are deeply connected to global networks of capital flows, value extraction, and settlement dynamics in adjacent regions.

Analyzed through the lens of the massif, mountain environments reveal distinct settlement patterns: congested valley floors, often structured as linear cities, and the mid-to-upper slopes and valley heads, which are increasingly shaped by abandonment and rewilding. The massif perspective provides a framework for reimagining strategies to revitalize slopes, fostering inter-valley networks, and addressing intra-valley imbalances from the ground (Ash and Lancione, 2022), oriented to transition experiments in the fields of architecture, urban and landscape design, and policies development.

The study focuses on the Seriana Valley in the province of Bergamo (Lombardy, Italy), serving as a key case study. It forms part of the PRIN 2022 research project, “Governance for mountain reticularity: co-design and activation of a ‘contratto d’abitare’ for the territorial regeneration of the Seriana Valley”, coordinated by the University of Bergamo, with the authors as members of the research team.

The results of the European elections show a marked change in electoral behaviour, especially after the crisis of 2008. Among other things, they are characterised by a recomposition within the left, manifested in a weakening of social democracy, and a rise in power of extreme right-wing forces based on a nationalist and exclusive discourse, leading to a division of the working classes and modifying the traditional geography of the capital-labour divide. These new dynamics are revealed at the level of the metropolitan/non-metropolitan or centre/periphery divides. Other dynamics are also becoming apparent, such as in early-industrialisation regions or in dynamic tourist areas.

We present a cross-country analysis of the geographies of voting behavior in the 2019 and 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections using BLUE EP [1], a new municipality-level results of EP elections. BLUE_EP was recently released by the authors of this contribution and provides results for approximately 90,000 Local Administrative Units (LAU) in the EU27 and 500 parties or lists in each election, along with a classification of all parties into political groups and broader political families. The dataset was constructed by carefully collecting, harmonizing, and merging 27 national datasets, closely following the standard European and national GIS typologies for Local Administrative Units. To the best of our knowledge, BLUE EP is the first dataset to support a uniform, Europe-wide analysis of local voting behavior in EP elections.

Using our dataset, we address four research questions. First, we study the local geography of support for the main European political families across countries, quantifying consistent cross-country trends such as the stronger position of Green and left-wing parties in urban centers and higher rates of Populist Radical Right (PRR) vote in rural areas. We discuss exceptions qualitatively. Second, combining BLUE EP with European Commission data on municipalities’ degree of urbanization, we show that our dataset provides evidence for a statistically significant widening of the rural-urban gap in PRR vote between 2019 and 2024, while not supporting the hypothesis of an increase in the rural-urban gap in vote for left-wing and center-left parties. Third, we study the (in)existence of cross-border voting clusters and relate them to recent findings regarding the structure of cross-border living areas. Fourth, we study the potential spillover effects of political dynamics in the local political scene on other EU countries’ diaspora vote in 8 member-states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Romania) where detailed data is available.

[1] Hublet, F. (2024). BLUE_EP: A Dataset of Municipality-Level Results of European Parliament Elections. Codebook v1. Paris: Groupe d’études géopolitiques. 10.5281/zenodo.14569325

Voting preferences are the outcome of a number of cultural, historical and socio-economic conditions. The issue concerning variation of this phenomenon has been studied in the dimension of different preferences between communities of rural and urban areas. However, the subject matter regarding the specificity of voting behavior in small towns compared to abovementioned types of areas remains under-researched. For this reason, an attempt was made to examine the factors affecting political preferences of small towns’ (less than 20,000 inhabitants) communities in Poland. The principal objective is to state whether the size of a town (expressed in population number) or its location on the center-periphery axis is more decisive in terms of shaping specific voting behavior. The last four election results to the Parliament were examined (in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) for all communes (NUTS-5) of Poland. The main research consisted of two stages. Firstly to find a relation between town size and voting preferences and calculate a statistical population threshold above which voting preferences relate more strongly to large centers than rural areas. The second task was to state the distance between the location of a small town and a sub-regional growth center by expressing to threshold to such a center in kilometers and changing voting behavior. Studies have shown statistical significance of both drivers – town size and its location on a center-periphery axis. However, the regional variation in the dominance of either factor is strongly affected by another complex aspect - historical and cultural diversity of Poland's territory.

Redistricting is constantly accompanied by political conflicts as well as academic arguments in countries with majoritarian or mixed electoral system, as a result of the process could potentially influence the outcome of elections. In the international scientific discourse and legal processes, this conflict is managed by different approaches. So far, Hungary didn’t implement such methodologies by the executive branches, therefore such anomalies as malapportionment, are not taken care of, as the electoral reform of 2011 has not been advanced by any kind of social or scientific disputes. Having reviewed existing processes of redistricting in the US, UK, and Canada, a procedure was created in this paper for revising district boundaries, that would fulfil the requirement of proportionality in respect of Hungary as well. To achieve that, at the first place, proportionality among counties must be assured.Secondly, if a given county will have modified number of constituencies, district borders must be redrawn to gain proportional representation of voters. The results show that the proposed subdivision would provide proportional allocation for the forthcoming 10 years at least.

Voter turnout reflects a population's collective attitude toward democracy, serving as a vital indicator of civic engagement and political inclusivity. This study examines the factors influencing voter turnout patterns in Croatia's 2024 parliamentary elections using multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) which represents an advanced local regression modelling variant. Key findings reveal that regions with above-average education levels exhibit higher voter turnout, emphasizing the role of educational attainment in fostering civic engagement. Similarly, areas with higher shares of Catholics are positively associated with increased turnout. In contrast, regions with larger proportions of national minorities, higher unemployment rates, and larger municipality populations experience lower voter participation. This research contributes to electoral geography by showcasing the utility of multiscale approaches in identifying spatial variations in voter behavior. The findings have practical implications for policymakers striving to reduce regional disparities and enhance democratic participation.

The study aims to characterize the local activity of residents in the context of selected aspects of voting behavior in the elections to district councils in Poznań in May 2024. The focus was primarily on two issues: (a) active participation of Poznań residents in the elections to district councils and its determinants, and (b) differences in the characteristics of candidates for district councils in the spatial context. In Poland, dividing communes into auxiliary territorial units was already possible under the Act on Local Government of March 8, 1990. In Poznań, such division into sub-local units has been in force since 1996. Since 2011, some of the initially functioning sub-local units have been merged into larger ones, creating 42 auxiliary units in the city. The elections were not held in two district councils, Naramowice and Żegrze, and in one part of the Nowe Winogrady Południe district council, where fewer candidates were registered than seats on the council. The primary source of information on the elections was the protocols of the election results to the individual 40 district councils prepared by the Electoral Commissioner appointed by the Poznań City Council. In addition, information on the composition of district councils in the 2019-2024 term was placed on these councils' official websites. The analysis of the connections between political careers was based on information contained in the lists of election committees to the Poznań City Council participating in the elections on 7 April 2024 (State Electoral Commission data). The indicator method was used to examine the spatial differentiation of the election results to district councils (a total of six indicators: voter turnout, candidate load, continued candidacy, the re-election of councilors, feminization of candidates, and feminization of councilors). The research results indicate significant formal passivity manifested in sub-local electoral activity – as evidenced by the candidate load indicator. Participation in these elections, the role of women and representatives of parties and para-political organizations in them, indicates the intensifying process of disintegration of traditional ties in district communities.

This international EU-wide study investigates the relationships between election results and regional economic and demographic development with a focus on left-behind regions. It addresses the growing relevance of spatial inequalities in explaining the support for nationalist and right-wing populist parties. We use self-compiled, unique and comprehensive datasets on (a) regional economic and demographic characteristics and (b) the latest available national parliamentary election results of 20 EU countries. The study presents maps of right-wing populist party support and bivariate regression results based on a regional classification approximating labour market regions. The findings reveal that the "revenge of places left behind" thesis—proposing that disadvantaged regions exhibit stronger support for populist parties—varies in applicability across countries. Furthermore, the study highlights the ambiguity and complexity of defining "left-behind" regions, emphasizing the need to view them as multidimensional constructs shaped by the interplay of structural and dynamic regional factors.

In recent years, a question often raised in public debates concerns the decrease of public services in rural zones and the increasing difficulty to access basic services and equipments (bank, bakery, doctor etc.). The impact of this situation would be the increasing discontent of people living in these regions and support to far-right parties.

However, this question has not been systematically studied by research by using quantitative strategies. Mainly ethnographical studies have been done on this supposed relation.

This paper aims to describe and understand the link between the decrease of public services & equipments and the vote for far-right parties in rural regions.

This paper aims to describe and understand this specific phenomenon in electoral geography by a quantitative approach. The idea is to do an ecological analysis of rural regions in some European exemplary countries, to quantify the difficulty accessing services & equipments, and to study the link with electoral behaviour by using regressions and other econometric tools.

Transport problems are among the biggest challenges facing the largest cities in Central and Eastern Europe. Most public transport systems in these cities lack metro systems and rely primarily on less efficient tram and bus networks. However, they often possess well-developed rail infrastructure, which, if effectively utilized within the city's administrative boundaries, offers an opportunity to mitigate the negative effects of traffic problems. Examples from Western Europe demonstrate that rail transport can significantly improve the efficiency of urban transport systems, particularly for trips from peripheral to central areas. This model of transport organization remains relatively under-explored in the literature, with a notable lack of reference points regarding methodologies for evaluating the potential use of regional rail within city administrative boundaries.

The purpose of this presentation is to explore the potential of using rail transport for intra-urban commuting in various parts of Central and Eastern Europe and to compare these systems with Western European standards. The study examines four cities in Central and Eastern Europe—Lviv, Riga, Wroclaw, and Zagreb—alongside one Western European city, Leipzig, which serves as a benchmark for analysis. The assessment employs eight simple indicators grouped into three categories: infrastructure, organization, and development. The results show that cities in Central and Eastern Europe have significant potential to use rail for intra-urban commuting in certain operational aspects. However, there remains a significant gap between the overall performance observed in the Central and Eastern European cities analysed and the Western European case study.

The expansion of high-speed rail (HSR) networks in Europe has brought significant benefits to urban centers and major corridors, but it has also led to the deterioration of conventional rail services in low-populated and rural areas. As governments and rail operators prioritize investments in HSR for its economic and environmental appeal, funding and resources for traditional rail networks are increasinglydiverted. This shift is creating a growing divide in rail connectivity and quality betweenurban and rural regions, with profound social, economic, and environmental consequences.

In rural areas, conventional rail services face significant reductions in frequency and quality, while some routes are entirely closed. Aging infrastructure and rolling stock, coupled with inadequate maintenance, exacerbate the decline. These challenges undermine accessibility to essential services, jobs, and education for rural populations, forcing many torely on cars. This trend increases spatial inequalities, deepens the urban-rural divide, and isolates communities already struggling with limited public transport options.

The prioritization of HSR contributes to regional disparities. While urban areas and high-density corridors benefit from faster and more efficient travel options, low-populatedregions are left behind. This imbalance undermines efforts for balanced regional development and creates a polarized transportation system where benefits are not evenlydistributed.

There is also an environmental paradox. HSR is promoted as a sustainable alternative to air travel, but the decline of rural rail services leads to greater car dependency in lessconnected areas, increasing carbon emissions and eroding some of the environmentaladvantages of HSR.

To address this issue, policymakers must adopt more equitable investment strategies. Solutions include maintaining conventional rail through public service obligations (PSOs), modernizing rural rail infrastructure, and integrating rail services with local bus networksto create multimodal systems. These measures can ensure accessibility and sustainability in all regions, not just urban hubs.

In conclusion, while HSR offers significant advantages, its expansion must not come at theexpense of conventional rail services. Preserving rural connectivity is essential to fosteringsocial equity, balanced regional development, and sustainable mobility across Europe.

The aim of the presentation is to determine the level of accessibility and spatial coverage of airports in Poland in 2023, as well as to indicate changes in the range of impact as a result of the construction of the new Solidarity Airport and the new high-speed rail line. The second important methodological objective is to assess the possibility of using the Huff`s model to determine the strength of the impact of airports in Poland. The study analysed changes in the range of impact of airports in 2023 and 2040. The range of airports is also influenced by transport accessibility, which will change in the analysed period as a result of a number of infrastructure investments, including the construction of high-speed rail lines no. 85 and 86, connecting Warsaw with Łódź, Poznań and Wrocław. It seems that the construction of a new transport hub may significantly affect the range of impact of airports in the country, marginalising the role of some of them. The results of the analyses presented in this study indicate that if the forecast prepared by IATA turns out to be true, and at the same time all infrastructure investments provided for in the Central Transport Hub programme are implemented, air transport in Poland will become highly centralised. In addition to creating a significant offer encouraging the use of the new airport, the factor that will determine the scale of the port's impact will be its accessibility, which, according to the analyses presented in the study, will significantly improve. The construction of a new high-speed rail line will have a key impact on changing the spatial accessibility of Poland's main cities and their airports.

High-speed rail (HSR) has revolutionised daily commuting in Spain, offering unprecedented reductions in journey times between urban centres and their surrounding areas. These developments have facilitated the growth of inter-city commuting, allowing workers to reside in smaller towns while maintaining employment in metropolitan hubs. The regional HSR services (the so-called ‘AVANT’), in particular, have enhanced regional mobility, enabling daily commutes from satellite towns such as Segovia, Toledo, or Ciudad Real to Madrid (the nation’s capital), with reduced fares and subsidised monthly tickets.

However, the rise of teleworking, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, may have significantly altered traditional commuting patterns. With the ability to work remotely, many professionals could now commute fewer days per week to large metropolitan areas, while others could have relocated to smaller towns connected by HSR, as daily travel is no longer required. This shift represents a dual trend: a potential reduction in daily HSR commuting among those already commuting before COVID-19, but a possible increase in ridership due to a redistribution of residential preferences away from major metropolitan areas.

This research seeks to examine the impact of teleworking on commuting travel behaviours among HSR users in Spain. Specifically, it aims to explore how the reduced need for daily travel has influenced patterns of HSR use and decisions regarding residential locations. The methodology involves conducting surveys of HSR passengers through commuters’ associations established in several HSR-connected cities, gathering data on their travel behaviours, as well as their employment status and teleworking arrangements, across two scenarios: before and after the pandemic.

The anticipated findings suggest that teleworking has decreased reliance on HSR for daily commuting while encouraging relocations to smaller towns with HSR connectivity. These changes may necessitate adjustments in the design and provision of HSR services, such as more flexible ticketing options and optimised schedules to accommodate a less frequent but geographically dispersed ridership. Ultimately, adapting both socially and spatially to these evolving mobility demands will be crucial for aligning Spain’s future HSR strategies.

The provision of overnight train services in Europe has contracted very substantially over the last 30-40 years, from the comprehensive continent-wide network which existed in the late 1980s to the discontinuous and fragmented pattern of services which operate in 2025. However, while there is a prevailing narrative of a long-term and general decline in service provision, there has been very little geographical analysis of the extent of changes in provision or of geographic differences in the effects of different factors on overnight train operations. Yet, in the last few years, after a long scaling-down, there has been a certain revival of overnight trains, which seems to be affected by increasing interest in railways as an environmentally-friendly transport mode. Given this recent revival of interest in overnight trains and some limited expansion of services, there is a need to gain a better understanding of how service patterns have evolved in the past, and the geographic factors which have influenced this evolution, in order to inform future planning.

This paper aims to help meet this need by undertaking a quantitative analysis of changes in overnight train service provision from the late 1980s through to the present day. The analysis is based on case studies of eight European countries (Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, and the UK), in order to permit comparison of trends in provision in different geographic and socio-economic contexts. A major challenge in any analysis of long-term changes in public transport service provision is the lack of historical data on such services in a form suitable for computational analysis. This issue has been addressed here by manually digitising data from a range of paper timetable books, providing a detailed and comprehensive picture of the overnight services which operated at four points in time. This data is used to summarise changes in the provision of both domestic and international overnight trains in the case study countries across the study period, and to consider how both trends in this provision and the factors influencing these trends vary across Europe. Both similarities and contrasts between the geographies of these trends are highlighted, and key factors which have influenced the trends are discussed, such as geopolitical processes and events resulting in changes in the porosity of international borders, competition from road transport and low cost airlines, and the 'liberalisation' of the rail market in the EU.

Night trains in Europe have garnered significant attention in recent years. The introduction of new services by both established operators and new entrants has opened new markets, attracting interest from customers, the media, and policymakers alike. It raises the question of whether night trains can evolve into a viable, environmentally friendly alternative to air travel or if they are destined to remain a niche market confined to a few routes with limited frequencies. This issue can be examined from both demand and supply perspectives. From the demand side, the critical question is whether enough potential customers will use these services. From the supply side, the focus is on whether sufficient services can be provided to meet this demand. This paper concentrates on the supply perspective of night train services. We interviewed operators in Central Europe to gain insights into their views on the opportunities and limitations of the development of night trains in Europe. These interviews identified several critical obstacles to the broader expansion of night trains in Europe, including infrastructure bottlenecks, high investment costs for new rolling stock, low profitability, high risks, challenges with cross-border operations, and operational difficulties. Based on this evidence, the conclusion is that while night trains may remain an interesting niche market, they are unlikely to become a serious alternative to air travel unless significant public policy support is implemented.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly transformed transportation patterns worldwide, leading to profound shifts in the spatial and temporal dynamics of railway demand. This study aims to examine the changes in rail demand in the United Kingdom caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of geographical variations. The research focuses on identifying the key factors affecting changes in demand by comparing rail usage trends before and after the pandemic.The main objective is to identify and analyse how economic restructuring, hybrid working models, environmental awareness and changes in regional mobility are driving these transformations. In particular, we focus on how these factors are reshaping the demand for commuter lines and leisure travel compared to long-distance travel.

The study analysed rail passenger data across the UK and compared it with pre-pandemic trends. The data revealed the geographical distribution of changes in passenger numbers, differences in types of travel (business, leisure, day trips) and demographic impacts. In addition, the impact of economic and socio-demographic factors (e.g. income levels, hybrid working rates and regional population density) on demand patterns was assessed. In terms of methodology, the study adopts a mixed methods approach combining quantitative data analysis with qualitative insights from industry stakeholders. Longitudinal passenger flow data covering the years 2018-2024 were examined using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reveal geographically distinct changes in demand patterns.

Preliminary findings suggest that rail demand, particularly in large cities and business centers like London, has decreased significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels, while demand remains more resilient in suburban areas. The spread of hybrid working has led to a decrease in business travel, while recovery in leisure and personal travel has been faster. In addition, access to transportation infrastructure and the level of economic recovery have been found to shape geographical differences in demand patterns.

This study aims to contribute to the literature on understanding the long-term effects of Covid-19 on railway demand. The findings provide important information for planning transportation policies and optimizing railway operations. A better understanding of regional differences is considered an important step towards the development of sustainable transportation strategies.

The presentation examines whether local youth strategies, which have become common practice in larger municipalities in Slovenia, can be considered a success or a failure. It questions whether having such a strategy creates inclusive community for young people and whether the document really reflects the municipality’s commitment to implementing youth-targeted measures or it primarily serves its own purpose. Local policymakers have highlighted participatory approaches as a key factor in determining whether a youth strategy becomes a good practice. This includes ensuring adequate financing and fostering collaboration among various local and national stakeholders, as well as young people themselves.

Two cities, Ljubljana and Celje, both of which have youth strategies and are considered exemplary municipalities in addressing the needs of young people, were selected as case studies. The analysis included a review of these strategic documents, as well as interviews conducted in the autumn of 2024 with policymakers, implementors, youth organisations, and youth representatives. The document analysis revealed that both strategies ambitiously address various youth-related areas, such as housing, social inclusion, and youth participation in decision-making, and propose measures to meet the needs of young people at the local level. However, discussions with youth highlighted a different perspective and brought attention to certain challenges especially in the implementation of these strategies.

As the needs and priorities of young people evolve over time, youth strategies risk becoming outdated and irrelevant to current issues, particularly as strategies in Slovenia are often designed for periods of five or even ten years. This makes it difficult to predict whether the measures needed today will still be relevant in the future. While these measures aim to address youth needs, they often follow national or European trends rather than being tailored to the specific context of a place. Although young people are usually invited to participate in local youth policy-making, they are often not adequately empowered to engage actively, leading institutional policymakers to perceive them as passive or indifferent. On the other hand, young people might claim that their participation is only symbolic and that their needs and suggestion are often overheard.

Increasing calls to place often marginalised young people’s voices at the forefront of transformation for climate change have resulted in many emerging opportunities and challenges for supporting participatory research in the sustainability field. This paper presents insight on the design and implementation of an innovative transboundary, transdisciplinary and co-productive approach developed and adopted by the CCC-CATAPULT team. CCC-CATAPULT was a four-year (2020-2024) European research project, engaging young people in Galway (Ireland), Bristol (UK), Genoa (Italy) and Tampere (Finland) that aimed to explore how young people, teachers and other key actors shaping the learning of children, understand the value-action gap in tackling the climate emergency. Within this paper, we present some critical reflections on the overall process and complexities that emerged while working across multiple cultural contexts, using the same methodological approaches to collaborate throughout the project’s duration with 15-18 year olds in all four European city region settings. The paper concludes by highlighting promising practices and lessons learned.

In the last decade, place-based approaches have been considered critical to address the territorial marginalisation of ‘left-behind’ places, and to alleviate the related spatial and socio-economic inequalities driven by uneven development. They often rely on bottom-up approaches and participatory processes, entailing the involvement of local actors in the design of territorial development strategies. However, the unequal capacities of local inhabitants to take part in those processes are rarely taken into consideration. It, therefore, emerges as a relevant issue the question of ‘left-behind’ people within ‘left-behind’ places, of those who de facto turn out to be excluded from those kinds of approaches that should contribute to more spatial justice and social equality.

The research investigates how the ‘voice’ of some people gets excluded in the context of place-based approaches to rural development, using a grounded theory approach to iteratively construct a theoretical and analytical framework for exploring the mechanisms of this exclusion. Concretely, this is done in the context of the co-construction with local actors of Smart Village strategies, integrated within the LEADER programs implemented by Local Action Groups.

Through the use of qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups and participant observation, the research highlights how the participatory dimension of the place-based approaches may favour those people that already have the social and institutional capabilities to take part in those processes. A capability approach for regional development is therefore integrated with a more critical literature which comes from decolonial thoughts, feminists’ epistemologies and critical pedagogy in analysing how the participatory, bottom-up dimension in the development of local strategies run the risk to exclude those subjects who are less able to express their ‘voice’ within hegemonic frameworks. In particular, the research shed the light on the role that EU discourses, tools and language, together with the process of ‘projectification’ of policies, may play in exacerbating spatial and social inequalities in rural contexts and in creating power differentials in the context of public participation. The research results offer practical insights for refining place-based approaches for rural areas to ensure more equitable participation and fairest resource allocation across diverse contexts.

This contribution examines the Italian reception system for people seeking international protection, focusing on three main types of centres: CPA, CAS, and SAI (formerly SPRAR). Specifically, it compares the “extraordinary” reception centres (CAS) with the “ordinary” and more diffused SAI network. Established over 20 years ago, the SAI system aimed to introduce a geographically widespread and integrated reception model that balanced respect for fundamental rights with effective management, fostering social inclusion for those received. This system, based on collaboration between public institutions (local administrations) and private entities (associations, NGOs, cooperatives), has, however, proven to be largely marginal. Today, it primarily serves the most vulnerable groups, including individuals with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or families with young children.

During the same period (2012-2014), Italy introduced the National Strategy for Inner Areas, targeting depopulated and economically struggling areas. Both the strategy and academic literature have identified the presence of foreign nationals as a potential driver for repopulating and revitalizing these areas. Notably, 53,56% of reception facilities in peripheral municipalities and 61,24% in ultraperipheral municipalities belong to the SAI network.

This research investigates the experiences of individuals seeking international protection who, without choice, are placed in reception centres within marginal areas. It examines how these placements align with broader goals of repopulation and integration, questioning whether small-town settings genuinely facilitate social inclusion. While CAS are known for their lack of planning in fostering integration and community participation, the study focuses on the comparison with the SAI system: what conditions are provided for migrants hosted here? To what extent can they participate in societal life? Are these projects effectively integrating migrants into these “left behind areas”, or do they merely perpetuate marginalisation?

The study combines the analysis of secondary source, including official documents, with primary data gathered through interviews and mental mapping. Two case studies from mountainous areas in Abruzzo (Italy) illustrate the findings, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities of integrating migrants in such contexts.

Decarbonizing the building sector is a key priority in the European energy transition. To boost energy renovation rates and efforts to phase out fossil fuel-based heating systems, energy policy directives target especially the promotion of energy efficiency. However, prioritizing technology-oriented solutions for low-carbon energy and heating transitions raises a variety of intersectional issues, risking the exacerbation of energy and housing vulnerability. This presentation explores potential synergies and trade-offs between climate neutrality and social justice, advocating for deliberative democracy and participation in co-designing systemic perspectives for the social-ecological transformation towards low-carbon futures. We focus on the city of Innsbruck, where both rents and shares of installed fossil fuel-based heating systems are among the highest in Austria. Our research follows a transdisciplinary approach, highlighting the potential of participatory systems mapping with citizens in a deliberation panel setting. We identify several structural key conditions that increase exposure to housing and energy vulnerability in Innsbruck, particularly among tenants and low-income households. From a systemic perspective, we show how sharply rising rent and energy costs not only affect the disposable household income, but also reinforce dynamics that develop within the relationship between income, stress, renunciation, and mental health. Furthermore, we reflect on the potential of co-designing socially just policy interventions, but also on the challenges of transdisciplinary collaborations between researchers, citizens, and policymakers we have experienced.

Citizen engagement in climate adaptation is gaining traction, with an increasing number of cities resorting to the co-production of adaptation. This approach extends beyond collaborative planning, as individual citizens and the private sector are tasked with implementing flood-proof measures, which include Nature-Based Solutions, on their premises to improve overall soil permeability. Consequently, adaptation becomes a shared responsibility of all urban actors.

While community-based adaptation has the potential to address the limitations of top-down planning, by incorporating local knowledge and context-specific solutions, this responsibility shift in the provision of flood security can have severe implications for climate justice. If a city's flood security depends on citizens' action, how can policymakers ensure everyone is equally protected from flooding, thus preventing green enclaves? How can adaptation plans which rely on property-level measures prevent green gentrification?

The extent to which co-produced adaptation can contribute to climate (in)justice deserves further scrutiny. In particular, the literature is yet to address how the different actors involved in co-production (local governments, private businesses, and individual residents) frame climate justice and responsibility for flood adaptation. How do these actors think about just adaptation determines their actions and the responsibility they take in the co-production of flood adaptation.

To address this gap, this research employs a Q-Methodology study to map perceptions of stakeholders involved in the Amsterdam Rainproof programme. Amsterdam Rainproof is a leading example of participatory flood adaptation in a city facing increasing pluvial flood risk. The Q-study explores the priorities and narratives around climate justice of public and private stakeholders carrying the responsibility of adaptation within the programme.

The Q-study will produce a narrative landscape of Amsterdam Rainproof, which will identify the predominant narratives around climate justice and responsibility for flood adaptation in Amsterdam. It will also highlight areas of consensus and dissensus between the different positions, which can serve as entry points to navigate conflict in participatory greening programmes.

The meaning of (urban) space is undergoing constant renegotiation, it is reproduced in everyday actions and in political discourse. Urban activists advocate for a more just distribution of physical urban space away from motorised traffic towards sustainable, human-scale cities. Most activists act on their own behalf, as concerned or affected residents; others choose to perform specific roles, for instance, as topic experts. Some initiatives select their spokespeople by expected perception, e.g., to avoid media bias such as ‘bikelash’, but not all do. Virtually always, roles are far from simple, they are multi-layered and complex.
In an ongoing study, I investigate which roles urban activists perform, how they choose a role, and which motives influence the choice. I ask whether activists’ performativity can shift the political landscape in their favour, and how performed roles are perceived by politicians, lobby groups, and the public. I am interested in the influence of situational, cultural, and political settings; specifically, whether urban activists perform different roles online and offline, in societies trusting in experts and in more populist societies, and in the Global North and in the majority world. To that avail, I employ a mixed-method approach that combines innovative quantitative methods from computational linguistics and social network analysis, and state-of-the-art qualitative methods from visual anthropology, digital ethnography, and digital anthropology.
In this presentation, first, I present preliminary results from a quantitative social media analysis and first insights gained from interviews and in participant observation embedded in a cycling advocacy group. Guided by exemplary discourses, I then sketch an early theoretisation of the observed, primarily based on the concepts of Performativity and Symbolic Interactionism. Simultaneously, I open up a (self-)critical discussion on the appropriateness of dialectically separating the multitude of roles in which virtually all actors involved in urban conflicts find themselves.

Within the liquid, fragmented and atomised society that characterises the post-modern era, the need to expand the relevance and centrality of care practices emerges strongly.

This push, originating within the transfeminist movement and spread through the manuscript "The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence", aims to question the social and cultural organisation based on the capitalist, neoliberal and patriarchal system.

Amongst the various fields where this conflict between different systemic models unfolds there is certainly that of social and health services, an essential element of welfare and public space policies. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the obvious limitations and difficulties of the Italian healthcare system in tackling and managing the spread of infections have demonstrated the need for a paradigm shift in care processes. This change has partly also been incorporated into governance policies, and within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) that characterised post-pandemic public action. Specifically, Mission 6c1 was included with the aim of orienting the National Health Service towards the principles of proximity and community participation. Despite the good intentions of these policies, limitations and contradictions persist in the concrete deployment of new care practices.

If, on the one hand, sociomedical institutions tend to include in their governance processes forms of participation and community empowerment, on the other hand, this apparent openness does not seem to be followed by concrete measures capable of bringing about a structural change in care processes. In Italy, in fact, in recent years, the increased funding allocated to private healthcare, due to progressive deregulation and privatisation, are not only preventing the emergence of a new model of care, but have also compromised the functioning itself of public healthcare, increasing inequalities in the distribution, quality and accessibility of healthcare services.

Through the analysis of Mission 6c1 of the PNRR and of the ‘Sentieri Metropolitani’ (Metropolitan Paths) project, conducted by the Local Health Authority in Rome in collaboration with the Italian Geographic Society, we intend to show the limits and potentials of new participatory processes promoted in the italian socio-health field.

Since the 1990s, two concepts emerged that are today fundamental in current reflections on food policies: food democracy and food sovereignty. The first concerns “the demand for greater access and collective benefit from the food system” (Lang, 1999). The second was developed by the international movement of peasants and food workers La Via Campesina in 1996 and refers to “the right of peoples to define their food and agriculture systems”, in a healthy, culturally and ecologically appropriate way (La Via Campesina, 2003).

Food democracy – a concept shaped by the Global North – focuses on the active role of institutions and citizen participation; food sovereignty concentrates on the role of producers (Anderson, 2023). Academic literature refers about food sovereignty as a questions of “power and democracy” (ECVC, 2018); some scholars wrote about it as “the right and the practice of democracy” (Patel, 2009), and there is a widespread awareness that food sovereignty promotes a process of democratization of the food system (Faraoni, 2023) and about its importance in supporting social equality and democratic choices (Agarwal, 2014).

Continuing the investigation on the intersections (or not) between these two concepts within the research project “Making Food Democracy” (www.fooddemocracyproject.com), this paper focuses on the different perspectives and narratives on climate change and agri-food practices found in food democracy and food sovereignty implementation. In addition to a literature review, an analysis on the case studies that we will conduct during spring 2025 in Spain as part of the research project is proposed.

Climate change is affecting not only ecosystems and economies at different scales, but also the identity, intangible and symbolic spheres linking communities to their places. Traditional agrifood practices, paramount expression of intangible cultural heritage, contribute to shaping a community’s landscapes and socio-spatial dynamics (Aktürk, Lerski, 2021). Nevertheless, extreme events like floods, droughts and fires, as well as progressive modifications (such as the increase of average temperatures and changes in humidity levels) endanger the survival of these practices and the related rituals and knowledge, causing deterritorialization when responses from policymakers and local communities are lacking (Delatin Rodriguez and Di Quarto, 2023; Kim, 2011). Against this backdrop, agrifood heritagization processes (Zocchi et al., 2021) represent a privileged study case to assess whether and how cultural heritage preservation and enhancement strategies acknowledge and tackle climate change. As UNESCO underlines, intangible heritage can play a crucial role in resilience, risk mitigation and reducing vulnerability to climate change. Nevertheless, its survival is endangered by climate change, often with multiplier effects on pre-existing conditions of economic and social vulnerability.

An overview of the existing regulatory framework (Pollice, Epifani, Miggiano, 2024) shows a paramount lack: if, on the one hand, both literature and policies about climate change recognise the importance of traditional agrifood practices, on the other hand, the focus is often on their economic value, while the cohesive, social and symbolic dimension is neglected. This is particularly problematic in rural contexts, which are often characterised by a high vulnerability to climate change, but at the same time also by an extraordinary abundance of traditions, rituals and agri-food practices that risk being lost. With this in mind, the Erasmus Plus project ‘Green Heritage - The impact of climate change on the Intangible Heritage’, promoted and financed by the European Union, is experimenting with innovative tools and methodologies to promote systemic approaches that are useful to boost greater attention, within the framework of EU and national policies, for those intangible cultural sediments (including, precisely, traditional agro-food practices) to which the public and political debate has not yet paid due attention.

This research intends to illustrate the state of the art and explore the challenges and opportunities related to protecting and transmitting traditional agri-food heritage in a context of increasing climate instability through a series of case studies drawn from the Italian context. The aim is to contribute to the debate on the need for more inclusive governance strategies integrating the intangible cultural dimension into climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

References:

Aktürk, G., & Lerski, M. (2021). Intangible cultural heritage: a benefit to climate-displaced and host communities. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 11(3), 305-315.

Delatin Rodrigues, D., & Di Quarto, F. (2023). Sistemi agro-alimentari in transizione: gli effetti del cambiamento climatico in alcune regioni italiane. Rivista Geografica Italiana - Open Access, (4). https://doi.org/10.3280/rgioa4-2023oa16846

Kim, H. E. (2011). Changing climate, changing culture: adding the climate change dimension to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. International Journal of Cultural Property, 18(3), 259-290.

Pollice F., Epifani, F., Miggiano P., (2024), Climate Change and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Some Insights from Research and Territorial Planning, in Territori della Cultura, 57

Zocchi, D. M., Fontefrancesco, M. F., Corvo, P., & Pieroni, A. (2021). Recognising, Safeguarding, and Promoting Food Heritage: Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Sustainable Food Systems. Sustainability, 13(17), 9510. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179510

The fragmentation of the seascape with the creation of No-Take Zones (NTZs) destabilises the fishing way of life. More so, it makes visible the struggles of fishermen’s identities when operating in adjacent waters, strained by the loss of marine biodiversity and climate change. This research looks at the relationship that artisan fishermen in the French Mediterranean Sea hold with NTZs through a gender lens, looking at two NTZ case studies: the Cap Roux and the Parc Marin de la Côte Bleue. It finds that tensions materialise at the margins of the zones, and channel clashes of masculinities which are revealed at various levels such as regulational, generational, and climate-induced. These nuance the definition of a hegemonic fishing masculinity. The highlighted tensions further show co-construction processes between fishing masculinities and attitudes towards environmental care. This identifies that a space exists for contestation of fishing masculinities in how the fisher-men relate to themselves, to fishing, to others and ultimately, to nature. The zones hence play an important role in showcasing examples of ecological fishing masculinities, that remain anchored but may be found drifting.