The objectives of the proposed Working Group engage with the Theme 2: Social justice and rural spaces and places. The main aim of the Working Group is to investigate the rural spaces and changing social dynamics while encountering the restructuring policies that design future of ruralities in the aftermath of the crisis.

Recently our RSG has been working on a joint book project entitled Southern and Mediterranean Europe: Social Change, Challenges and Opportunities. This working group will give us a chance to move our project one step further by enhancing possible future collaboration for a second book focusing on the prospective impacts of restructuring in the post-crisis era.

Topic: The economic and financial crisis started in 2008 had multiple consequences on all areas including rural spaces and places especially in the most vulnerable Southern European countries. An immense literature has grown up around the origin and development of the crisis. Lowered growth rates, declining trade, decreasing demand for commodities, and raising budget cuts, financial disorders, and debt increased the risks on rural and agricultural activities as well. Moreover, economic turmoil illustrated how agricultural products turned into commodities and agricultural sector was incorporated into neoliberal policies and globalization. In the following years, rural communities have had to grapple with high levels of poverty, social distress, insecurity, changing resilience strategies, mobilization, and environmental degradation and tried to develop appropriate responses to deal with ongoing problems.

Although rural communities saw a noticeable recovery in the following years, rural spaces in a time of turbulence and uncertainty call for new directions for policy making and restructuring. Therefore, the focal point of the Working Group will be examining the possible future outcomes of restructuring in rural spaces in the post-crisis era with reference to policy lessons to be learned from the crisis over the last decade in Europe. It seems that the dilemma of efficiency versus (re)distribution will continue to lead main discussions for the future designs.

Subthemes:

• The forthcoming resilience and livelihood strategies
• New power relations and new forms of governance
• The transitional spaces, rural-urban relations, and mobilization

Format: The WG will be organized as a traditional long paper workshop. The presentations will be kept short (10-15 minutes) and the participation of audiences to the Q&A and discussion section will be encouraged.