Welcome
The Research Group of Rural Geography of the Spanish Association of Geographers, the Department of Human Geography, the Department of Regional Geographical Analysis and Physical Geography, the Institute of Regional Development of University of Granada are delighted to organize, in the Faculty of Filosofía y Letras of Campus Universitario de Cartuja of the University of Granada, the 19th Colloquium of Rural Geography of the Spanish Association of Geographers COLORURAL 2018 (2nd International Colloquium of Rural Geography). Under the motto “New rural realities in times of crisis: territories, stakeholders, processes and policies”, the organizing committee continues the task of promoting greater diffusion of the papers presented by the rural experts, without losing the tradition of the colloquiums that our workgroup has organized in Spain since 1980.
We aim to create a forum for discussion and reflection on the new socio-spatial situations as a result of the crisis where territories, stakeholders, processes and rural policies are the main topics. The rural world, as we have seen historically, has played an essential role in the current, post-crisis social and economic situation, both in Spain and abroad. Its strategic position is due to the importance of food and agriculture exports in Spanish foreign trade (the second most significant), and as a sector-territory “refuge” during the economic downturn thanks to its resilient ability to face unemployment, impoverishment and marginalization. We should not, however, think that there is only one, single rural reality for dealing with the analysis of the effects of the crisis since 2007.
The effects of the economic downturn within the rural territories have been diverse and unequal in regards to their variety and typology: professionalization, reinforcement, restructuration and productive modernization of the agrarian sector; emergence of new activities and orientations of agriculture within urban and peri-urban environments; intensification of productive diversification in the rural spaces based on both traditional and new activities; introduction of new territorial governance practices, along with innovative processes giving priority to the social needs instead of technological solutions; an ever more intensive process of depopulation and aging of rural society, though uneven from a territorial perspective; a growing participation of new associations of the rural society (work and leisure immigrants, returnees from cities, professional and young farmers, new entrepreneurs and visionaries in other sectors); appearance of new forms of social exclusion in more diverse and multicultural territorial contexts, etc. Such topics, among others, are demanding serious reflections about the role that these spaces have in the complex current situation, and for a proper reinterpretation and assessment of the importance of rural areas in the future.
All of these contents will be discussed in the panels, which have been structured in four main topics:
• Social-Demographic restructuration/adaption of rural territories in the last decade
• Agrarian and agribusiness productivism and post-productivism in regards the new ways of organizing the food and agriculture production, the commitment to climate change, and the need of ensuring enough quality food at global scale.
• New strategies for grassroot rural development.
• The influence of public policies within the rural world during the crisis (efficiency vs. equity).
The two approaches of the colloquium, on one hand, sectorial (both agrarian and agribusiness), and on the other hand, territorial/rural, will be empirically demonstrated during the two planned field trips: the first, focused on the restructuring of rural territories and new strategies of rural development (successful experiences, innovation and revitalization of rural areas in crisis) in the Northern sector of the province of Granada (Montes, Guadix, Baza); the second, focused on new ways of agrarian productivism and post-productivism (Alpujarras y Costa de Granada).