RSA Research Network
Ecological Regional Development
Call for Papers
First Workshop at the Institute of Ecological and Regional Development
11-12 June 2010, Dresden, Germany
Recent years have seen the aggravation of many environmental problems
climate change
and a loss of biodiversity becoming a global threat to humankind. The Research
Network
aims to explore the implications of environmental constraints and opportunities
from a regional development perspective in an interdisciplinary way. In a series
of three workshops,
building on each other, researchers and practitioners will address the main
question of how
to better support ecological regional development as a dimension of
sustainable development.
The workshop will have two components. In the first, which follows the usual
format a
range of current pieces of research are discussed. In the second part a more
focused approach is adopted and this element will be prepared by a core group
of leading academics in the field: In the first workshop in Dresden the main
task is to create a common understanding of ecological regional development.
A second workshop will concentrate on measures to achieve a more ecological
regional development (January/February 2011, Barcelona), and in a third
workshop the participants will identify the most important questions for future
research (June 2011, Hull).
For the first component of the Dresden workshop the organisers invite
presentations from
RSA members and non-members on a wide range of related topics, for example
theoretical
and empirical work on:
defining ecological regional development;
measuring ecological regional sustainability (e.g. ecological footprint,
concept of happiness);
material aims: what should regional development look like? (e.g. green belts,
regional
supply chains, low carbon approaches);
positioning ecological regional development in a multilevel governance
setting;
policy-making and governance: improvement of formulation and
implementation of
policies and planning, e.g. through changes in institutions or assessment
methods;
regional, spatial and environmental planning;
contribution of environmental quality to general development success
(regional environmental competitiveness);
green strategies for special types of regions: e.g. agglomerations, old
industrial or rural
areas.
For the two-day workshop in Dresden no fee will be charged. The deadline for
the submission of abstracts (300 to 500 words) is 11 April 2010. Abstracts
should include names of all the authors, affiliation and full contact details. To
submit an abstract, or for further information, please contact one of the
workshop organisers:
Prof. Bernhard Mόller, Dr Gerd Lintz, Institute of Ecological and Regional
Development,
Dresden, Germany
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Prof. David Gibbs, Department of Geography, University of Hull, UK
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Prof. David Sauri, Department of Geography, Universitat Autςnoma de
Barcelona,
Spain
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Thanks to the support of the Regional Studies Association, we are able to
offer some travel
bursaries to assist eligible attendees with their travel and accommodation
costs. The bursary is redeemable on presentation of receipts for eligible
expenses. Bursaries will be offered preferentially using the following criteria:
- member of the Regional Studies Association (from band b to d country**);
- offering an abstract for presentation at the event;
- student** or Early Career Researcher;
- no access to own research or travel funds.
** these criteria will count double
Those wishing to apply for bursaries should include an additional paragraph in
their abstract
submission, or send one paragraph outlining their eligibility to the workshop
organisers. The
closing date for bursaries is also 11 April 2010.
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