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1215 | 558 | Spatial accessibility to rail network and local demographic trajectories: the case of Romania (1856-2022) | Mihail Eva

This work investigates historical railways of Romania from the middle of the XIXth century up to the present with the purpose of assessing changes in spatial accessibility to rail services and its impact on the demographic trajectories of rural areas. Spatial accessibility to train stations is computed using GIS tools for each decade from 1860 up to the present, whilst the impact of spatial accessibility on demographic trajectories is assessed for each intercensal-period from 1912 to 2022. The latter is done only for some of the railway lines inaugurated during the last century by employing “before and after” comparisons. The statistical association between changes in accessibility to train stations and demographic trajectories is afterwards explored using regressions analysis (between changes in spatial accessibility indices to train stations and changes in local population). The results suggest a generally strong relationship between rail accessibility and demographic trajectories of localities during the last century, but also a relationship that changes significantly throughout history, especially when one compares the inter-war period, the communist period and the post-communist period.

Mihail Eva
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași

 
ID Abstract: 558

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1215 | | Historical transportation GIS. | Jordi Marti-Henneberg (1,2); Mateu Morillas-Torné (2)

This session will be the opportunity to present the last progress made on spatial data concerning historical GIS of transport networks. Case studies at all scales will be welcomed from the Continental to the local level. Also for all kinds of transportation: maritime, roads, railways and inland navigable waterways. Special atention will be put on the collaborative potential of the initiatives and the obtention of analytical results in the field of geographical studies. 

Jordi Marti-Henneberg (1,2); Mateu Morillas-Torné (2)
(1) University of Lleida, (2) University of Lleida

 
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1209 | 857 | Socio-environmental conflicts related to forest protection in Kenya. | Valerio Bini

The contribution analyzes the conflicts between forest protection initiatives and local community strategies in Kenya. Kenya’s forests have received attention in recent years from the national government and public and private actors at the international scale, particularly in the context of carbon offsetting initiatives (REDD+ and voluntary projects). Population growth and the intensification of compensation initiatives through reforestation and forest protection are likely to produce a scenario of land use competition and thus increasing conflict. _x000D_
With the Forest Act of 2005, the government has provided for forms of local community participation (Community Forest Associations; Participatory Forest Management Plans) in forest management, but these practices present several difficulties: among others, the decisive role of technicians, high costs, and government resistance to effectively integrate local communities’ priorities. In order to contain the growing conflict, therefore, it is necessary to overcome a perspective and narrative centered on the idea of transferring negative externalities to an international scale and to integrate the perspective of local communities in a different and more substantive way._x000D_
Adopting a political ecology perspective, the research aims to reflect around three axes of inquiry: questioning the rationality of carbon offsetting, in its scientific (real possibilities of greenhouse gas absorption) and political dimensions (offloading on weaker communities of problems produced in wealthy societies); debating the relationship between national government and local communities within conservation initiatives, with particular reference to REDD initiatives; and discussing the evolving scenarios of local community livelihood strategies, observing their problems and innovative potential._x000D_

Valerio Bini
University of Milan

 
ID Abstract: 857

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1209 | | Looking beyond the causes – Understanding and managing land use conflicts | Koch Larissa (1); Fienitz Meike (1)

Land is an essential but limited commodity. Food production, energy production, infrastructures, housing, but also nature conservation as well as the mitigation and adaptation to climate change are just some examples for the numerous human activities and policy objectives that require land. Since many of these land uses are mutually exclusive or involve trade-offs about their services, conflicts about what land should be used in which way and by whom arise frequently.
Sectoral solutions and single activities are not suited to address complex land use conflicts. Instead, integrated policy and planning and participatory approaches in governance and management are increasingly applied, bringing together actors from diverse backgrounds and with diverging interests. Theoretic models for participatory processes are often guided by an underlying liberal democratic understanding, acknowledging the diversity and breadth of different interests and perspectives, yet also assuming that if all interests are taken together, the actors involved can develop a harmonic community free from conflicts.
In this session, we question this assumption and place actors’ interactions in conflicts at the center of discussions. We regard disagreements, struggles and conflicts over objectives and means as inevitable in land management and governance. Therefore, we aim to discuss alternative conceptual models and empirical investigations that promote constructive ways of handling conflicts. We would thus like to concentrate less on the diverse causes for conflicts, but rather focus on the conflict dynamics, the causes for different courses of conflicts, and how actors deal with conflicts. We welcome contributions that address any of the following or related questions.  
Courses of conflicts:

How do land use conflicts evolve?
How do actors in land use conflicts act and interact?
What causes different dynamics in land use conflicts?
What affects actors’ behavior in these conflicts?
What narratives underpin conflicts/ what narratives do actors use?

The notion of place, the meaning of land and identity: 

How is the notion of place linked to conflicts between different land users?
How do different meanings of land from actors in interaction affect conflict dynamics?
How do actors’ identities linked to different land uses influence (courses of) conflicts?

Conflict management:

Which conditions, governance or management approaches can foster positive, constructive ways of handling land use conflicts?
What narratives enable constructive ways of dealing with diverging land use aims?
What is good practice for just consideration processes?

Research methods:

What research methods can be used to study actor’s interaction in conflicts?
The session would be held in English. We envisage to have a session with individual presentations and discussions. 

Koch Larissa (1); Fienitz Meike (1)
(1) Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research

 
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1209 | 130 | Latent, collaborative, or escalated conflict? Determining causal pathways that lead to different conflict dynamics in land use conflicts through crisp-set QCA | Meike Fienitz, Rosemarie Siebert

Land use conflicts can present a tedious burden to land management processes, but they also fulfill important social functions. Instead of trying to avoid all conflicts, we thus need to learn how to handle conflicts in ways that diminish their negative impacts and enhance their positive functions. However, a comprehensive understanding of the causes of different dynamics in land use conflicts is presently missing. Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore the configurations of conditions that explain latent, collaborative, and escalated dynamics in land use conflicts. To achieve this, we apply crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) to 37 land use conflicts in the city of Cottbus and the surrounding Spree-Neiße administrative district in the East of Germany. We detect six causal pathways: two each that explain latent, collaborative, and escalated outcomes. Moreover, willingness to cooperate is identified as a necessary condition for collaborative conflicts and sufficient resources as necessary for escalation. These results provide a first step in developing a theoretical explanation of land use conflicts’ dynamics, but they are also of practical relevance, informing policy-makers, planners, and land-users how to foster collaborative dynamics in land use conflicts.

Meike Fienitz, Rosemarie Siebert
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Germany

 
ID Abstract: 130

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1209 | 481 | What triggers residents’ negative perspective on a public space redesign? The socio-psychological embeddedness of conflicts. | Anke Klaever und Katharina Götting

Public space redesign projects contribute to the transport transition. Often, these redesign projects reallocate public space from motorized to active transport and leisure activities. Whereas some residents accept and enjoy the changes, others react with skepticism and rejection. Different interests, needs and values clash concerning the reallocation. The reactions to reallocation are often emotional and rooted in an affective automotive culture. Thus, experiencing reallocation of public space causes conflicts on the local level._x000D_
To better understand the motives behind critical opinions and resulting conflicts, we propose a socio-psychological embeddedness framework for conflict dimensions of public space redesign projects. Using a redesign of a public square in Berlin, we systematically analysed the conflicts and their embeddedness. Interviewees were recruited in the neighbourhood surrounding the square. The sample includes critical residents who shared their perceptions in in-depth interviews. Using deductive-inductive qualitative content analysis based on Gläser und Laudel (2009), 25 in-depth interviews were conducted and evaluated._x000D_
We classified three conflict dimensions, namely procedural, distributional and identity conflicts. Procedural conflicts emerged with emotions of frustration and anger. Interests on how the process should be designed did not vary much. In contrast, distributional conflicts evolved from different interests of how the space should be used. Within the distributional conflicts we further identified the values of conservation, self-enhancement, openness to change and self-transcendence. Identity conflicts came along different interests and values between actor groups as well as within individuals themselves. According to an agonistic understanding of democracy, these findings point to ways in which the occurring conflicts around redesign projects can be integrated and steered into a productive way of transforming public space. _x000D_

Anke Klaever und Katharina Götting
Reasearch Institute for sustainability

 
ID Abstract: 481

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1209 | 713 | Making contentious land-use measures more likely to be implemented – experience from Norway | Anders Tønnesen 1, Tom Rye 2, Monica Guillen-Royo 1

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the current combined nature and climate crisis. Land-use changes are at the heart of all these challenges and in 2022, the United Nations confirmed a target for the conservation of 30 per cent of the earth’s surface (ocean and land). Strong land use measures are thus required to reduce land take and conserve nature areas. However, measures seeking to restrict or steer land use are typically contested, given the many interests involved – different levels of government with different legal powers to regulate land use; residents; and private landowners and developers. _x000D_
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In Norway the amount of carbon stored in ecosystems has been estimated to be 7 billion tons (Bartlett et al. 2020). However, between 1990-2019 built-up areas have increased by an average of 50 km2 per year (Søgaard et al. 2021), accounting for 4% of the country’s emissions (Norwegian Environment Agency 2023). In an attempt to reverse this trend, 42 municipalities (out of a total of 356) have, since 2019, decided to formally implement the radical policy principle of land-use neutrality. In theory, this means that no new land is to be taken into use or, if this is done, other currently developed land of equivalent area must be converted back to nature. In this explorative research, based on interviews and document studies, we look at the case of one Norwegian municipality, and its experience of trying to make this radical measure less contentious while still being effective in reducing land take and restoring nature. We apply integrative governance as theoretical framework, focusing on relationships between governance instruments and systems (Visseren-Hamakers, 2018). We ask: What are the key factors that facilitate the implementation of restrictive land-use measures at the municipal level?_x000D_

Anders Tønnesen 1, Tom Rye 2, Monica Guillen-Royo 1
1: Cicero center for international climate research, 2: Molde University College

 
ID Abstract: 713

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1209 | 804 | Dr. | Philipp Gorris

Governing the ‘Blue Economy’: A network study to assess coordination patterns in the German Wadden Sea_x000D_
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Human use of the ocean is rapidly expanding as the potentials of the Blue Economy are realized. Especially the expansion of industrial activities in the marine space creates new synergies and conflicts between use forms. Governing the multiple uses in an increasingly populated ocean space manifests a severe multi-level, cross-sectoral coordination dilemma. Insights on how to improve the organization of contested governance processes in today’s multi-functional ocean landscapes are much needed to ensure sustainability. This is aimed for by this study carried out in the German North Sea, one of the world’s most intensely used marine spaces. Responsibilities for governance in the marine domain is dispersed across the decentralized political system from the local to the international level. This creates a complex “ecology of games” for organizing governance. A social-ecological network conceptualization is developed and applied to empirical data for assessing sectoral interdependencies and actor interaction. A participatory approach to causal-loop modelling is used to generate knowledge of the interplay between sectoral use forms in the German Wadden Sea. This data is combined with data from a network survey with stakeholders to gather knowledge on whom, for what purpose and how they interact with others. Multi-level Exponential Random Graph Modelling is used to analyze the interaction pattern between stakeholders in the governance process. The results reveal leverage points for adjusting the current formal and informal processes that govern the blue economy at the interface of economic development, clean(er) energy production and marine biodiversity conservation in the German Wadden Sea territory. Moreover, the findings show how actors should (re-)distribute their personal and financial resources for better navigating synergies and tradeoffs between use forms.

Philipp Gorris
Institute for Geography, Osnabrueck University & Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

 
ID Abstract: 804

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1202 | 465 | The places of Millenarism in Abrahamic religions. Roots, development, topicality. | Paolo Benedetti

The main topic of the presente dissertation is Millenarism, considering both its roots and the interpretations the three Abrahamitic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam have given to it. Throug an historical analysis of the development of millenarism, we seek to identify the geographical places of its expansion and the relationship between earthly world and heavenly world. A particulary focus is given to the city of Jerusalem, which in millenarian exegesis represents the place of fulfillment of human history and is the threshold between earth and heaven, the gateway to the heavenly Jerusalem._x000D_
The return of millenarism in the postmodern era also requires an analysis of the transformations in the social, economic and ecological fields that favor the interpretation of the world in an apocalyptic key._x000D_
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Paolo Benedetti PhD_x000D_
geohistory and geoeconomy of the border regions (University of Trieste, Italy, coordinator prof. Gianfranco Battisti)_x000D_

Paolo Benedetti
Università degli studi di Trieste

 
ID Abstract: 465

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1202 | 617 | Predictive Apocalyptic Future Scenarios of the Environmental Ecological Crisis: Towards Mitigating Territorial Approaches | Giuliana Quattrone

After the catastrophic predictions of the Club of Rome, the environmental question has emerged in all its evidence, linked to which there is also the realisation that if the trend of usurping environmental resources is not reversed, many traces of the past will risk disappearing. The environmental issue approached by the various international documents (up to Agenda 2030) warns us to change course and operate in the sense of ‘ecological conversion’; in this framework, man must operate a reconciliation with himself and the environment in which he lives in a relationship of respect and protection of the territory. In fact, the entire territory, for the history that has formed it, for its landscape and cultural values, for the collective memory that animates it, for its very recognisability, is to be considered in the first instance an environmental asset to be protected. In this sense, the reclamation of contaminated sites, the integrated management of waste, and the protection of ecosystems are just some of the important issues that Italy must approach with focused policies, not only to ensure an adequate level of quality of life, but also to guarantee legality and safety, even before economic development, and at the same time to express the ability to design a compatible future._x000D_
Starting from these considerations, the paper retraces the main stages of the environmental issue, focusing on situations where the presence of fragile territories requires an urgent rethinking of planning and land management practices. In these territories, it is essential to reflect on the transformations of the man/territory relationship, which in many cases has resulted in irreversible environmental damage and the consequent disappearance of resources, envisaging possible scenarios planning approaches and sustainable solutions.

Giuliana Quattrone
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)

 
ID Abstract: 617

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