News and events

03/2026

Resilient and Healthy Landscapes: Integrating Land Use and Regional Development to Tackle Health, Inequality, and Spatial Justice

A joint conference initiated by the IGU Commission on Health and Environment (IGU-CHE), to which IGU Commission on Local and Regional Development has been invited to contribute, together with the IGU Commission on Land Use and Land Cover Change (IGU-LU/LCC).

19–20 June 2026 in Coimbra, Portugal

03/2026

Thematic Conference: Sustainable Development of Medium-Sized Cities and Urban Regions in Central Europe

Format: 3-day conference/workshop in Győr (Hungary)
Date: Three days between 25 January and 7 February 2027 (exact dates to be confirmed).

On the third day, a full-day study trip to the Hungarian–Austrian–Slovak tri-border region will be organised.

Organisers:

ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Institute for Regional Studies, West Hungarian Research Department

Széchenyi István University, Department of Regional Science and Rural Development.

Contact person: Tamás Hardi (hardi.tamas@krtk.elte.hu)

GU Commission of Regional and Local Development

02/2025

IGU Thematic Conference, Lima, Peru. October 13–17, 2025.

The conference aims to address the challenges and opportunities within the realms of local and regional development, land use change, disaster risk management, health, and biodiversity by focusing on the complex relationships and connections between the Global North and South. It seeks to provide a platform to address some of the key global issues and acknowledge the shared challenges faced by diverse regions worldwide. Hence, it provides an opportunity for experts, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from diverse regions to exchange ideas, share experiences, and collaborate on solutions. Ultimately, focusing on the connections between the Global North and South, the conference is aimed to foster a global dialogue that transcends geographical boundaries, serving as a catalyst to support decision-making and policy formulation towards the development of sustainable strategies that prioritize environmental conservation, land use/cover change, public health improvement, and inclusive local and regional development on a global scale.

First Circular

01/2025

IGU Thematic Conference: Diverse Geographies of Peace, Environmental Impacts, Territorial Conflicts, and War in the Contemporary World

October 27–November 1, 2025, Santa Marta, COLOMBIA

The International Geographical Union (IGU), in collaboration with the National Committee of Colombia and the Commission on Latin American and Caribbean Studies (C20.30), invites geographers and the international scientific community to participate in the UGI Thematic Conference 2025.

First Circular

The deadline for registration and abstract submission is May 1, 2025.

01/2025

Egypt Thematic Conference 2025, April 12–19, 2025, Cairo

In light of the nature and magnitude of the global and on national level changes, geographer scientists must find in themselves to contribute to theory and practice that will facilitate and sustain the development of a wider range of possible responses to the increasingly demanding pressures facing our world. The costs of exceeding the Earth’s planetary boundaries are potentially catastrophic, as serious disruptions to ecosystems, societies and economies are the likely outcome.

03/2024

2024 AAG Annual Meeting

The IGU Commission on Local and Regional Development will be hosting two sessions:

- Border Regions, Peripheral Areas and Territorial Development. Under the current context of globalization, and taking its main components (i.e. the resources, the people, the institutions) into consideration, the development of a border area appears to be an attractive topic for academics and a useful theme for territorial actors valorizing small-scale studies on the economic, financial, social, territorial, innovation, governance and development aspects of cross-border cooperation – to be discussed by the speakers of the session.

- Experiences in Co-creating Sustainability Strategies across Regions and Cultures using Living Labs and Participatory Methodologies. This session attempts to attract and connect a large number of academics and practitioners from various fields of geography who have used participatory and LLs (Libing Labs) approaches to address different sustainability challenges across various regions and cultures.