–21-22, October 2021 – International Seminar Addressing the Rural Gap: Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility. The seminar aims to provide a meeting point for debate and sharing of knowledge, policies, and innovation on the possibilities of addressing socio-territorial cohesion issues through accessibility. In the context of the transition towards a sustainable mobility new policies and regional strategies of non-conventional transport have been developed. These new forms of mobility may be seen as vehicles for transformative rural-urban connections. The conference is a Collaborating Event of the Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy 2030 of the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

The first day focuses on research findings with two key speakers. Elisabetta Vitale Brovarone, researcher in spatial planning at Politecnico di Torino, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning. whose research focuses on mobility, land use–transport interaction, and accessibility, with several international projects such as ESPON URRUC–Urban-Rural Connectivity in Non-Metropolitan Regions, and publications such as Rural Accessibility in European Regions (con Cotella & Staricco, Routledge, 2021). Loukia-Maria Fratsea, researcher at the Department of Geography of the Harokopio University of Athens; member of the Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association, and the Research and the Study Group Southern and Mediterranean Europe (European Society for Rural Sociology), whose research focuses on socio-spatial mobility and rural development with special emphasis on migrants, such as the recent chapter on “Transformative mobilities and urban-rural connections in Greece” (together with Papadoulos, in Figueiredo et al., Routledge, 2020). In addition, the preliminary results of the RURAL ACCESS project will be presented in a round table with the interventions of Luis Camarero, professor of Sociology at the National Distance Education University, member of Research Study Group Southern and Mediterranean Europe (ESRS) and the Scientific Committee of the Ibero-Latin American Congresses of Rural Studies; Vicent Querol, researcher at Jaume I University, coordinator of the Scientific Committee of Rural Sociology of the Spanish Federation of Sociology and member of the Forum Nova Ruralitat; and Jesús Oliva, professor of Sociology at the Public University of Navarre, member of the Research Stream Rural-Urban Transformative Connections (European Sociological Association), and current coordinator of the Research and Study Group Southern and Mediterranean Europe (ESRS).

The second day is devoted to the policies and innovation initiatives with the participation of Berta Miranda Director-General of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of the Government of Navarra, focussing on the strategies for non-conventional rural mobility designed in the region; and Ignacio Santos, Director General of Transport of the Regional Government of Castile-Leon, addressing the transport on demand policy successfully implemented in rural areas. Another round table discussion analyse initiatives on shared mobility, with the interventions of María Medina, member of Sommobilitat, the consumer and user cooperative society created in Catalonia for a sustainable mobility; Patxi Miranda, promoter of Kudea Go!, the digital platform launched from Navarre to promote shared sustainable rural mobility; Xavier Ginés, developer of Mobionrural, the research experiment carried out in Castellon (Valencian Community) to understand rural mobility and improve sustainability options; and Antxon Benito, coordinator of the mobility working group of the Territories and Social Innovation initiative developed by the El Hueco.

– 24 de setembre y 26-27 de noviembre, 2021. V Jornades d’afirmació de la Nova Ruralitat, Fórum de la Nova Ruralitat (Benlloch). El Fòrum de la nova ruralitat som un espai d’anàlisi i estudi alhora que un espai d’acció i reivindicació. El despoblament no és una característica pròpia de la ruralitat. No és un fenomen inherent a la ruralitat. En realitat, és un problema induït per un mal govern del territori. Des del Fòrum considerem imprescindible que es restituïsca una mínima igualtat de condicions, Reconèixer el dret de ciutadania dels territoris rurals és just el contrari de donar-los un tracte de favor. És deixar d’aplicar una discriminació negativa. És restablir un tracte igual on ara és desigual.

-31 August – 3 September,2021. Research Stream 19 – Transformative Rural-Urban Connections, 15th European Sociology Association conference (Barcelona). Coordinators: M. J. Rivera (University of the Basque Country -UPV/EHU-, Spain) and A. G. Papadopoulos (Harokopio University, Greece).  The aim of this RS is, first of all, to focus on the various ways rural and urban areas and populations are connected in transformative relations where ‘the rural’ is continuously reshaped/reconstituted, such as the increasing pro-rural migration, commuting, tourism, transnational migrants, and the consumption of the rural by urban populations (i.e. countryside, production of ‘natural and artisanal’ goods, etc).

-28-30 June, 2021, Sesión Plenaria II: La brecha urbano-rural: movilidades y cohesión territorial, III International Congress – XVII Congress of Agricultural History – IX Encontro Rural Report. Rural Depopulation, Territorial Imbalances and Sustainability (Salamanca). Organizadores: L. Camarero (UNED, Spain), M. Canales (Instituto de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de O´Higgins UOH, Chile), V. Eudes (UNICAMP, Brasil) y J. Oliva (UPNA, Spain).  La sesión aborda los desequilibrios socio-territoriales entre aquellos lugares donde confluyen las oportunidades y los que permanecen al margen del cambio económico y social, en una brecha urbano-rural ampliada. Una diferenciación que trata de afrontarse frecuentemente mediante la movilidad (migraciones laborales, desplazamientos pendulares, etc.). Estrategias que favorecen la resiliencia en unos contextos de desigualdad social, económica y política.