The Faculty of Human Geography and Planning at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań is pleased to invite you to the the scientific conference ‘THE PRESENT VS THE FUTURE CHALLENGES OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY AND SPATIAL MANAGEMENT’ which will be held on 19 and 20 April 2021 and will be dedicated to the current theoretical-methodological and institutional problems of the discipline of socio-economic geography and spatial management.
The separation of ‘Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management’ in 2018 as a scientific discipline in the field of social sciences with the concurrent subordination of physical geography to the discipline ‘Earth and Environmental Sciences’ in the field of natural and exact sciences, created opportunities but also posed risks to both the new discipline and the related ones. The issues such as the integrity of socio-economic geography and spatial management (human geography and planning), its place in social sciences, relationships with other social disciplines, the scope of integration with physical geography, or ultimately institutional aspects of the functioning of a new discipline are the most important problems human geography and planning has faced.
A further development of human geography and planning requires discussion about the most important theoretical-methodological and institutional problems related to the functioning of the new discipline. The conference is to be a platform for the exchange of views which will allow, on the one hand, diagnosing the current state of affairs and making a kind of ‘opening balance’ of the new discipline in its first years. On the other hand, the discussions aim to identify the main challenges for the future of human geography and planning (socio-economic geography and spatial management). The primary objective of the conference will therefore be to answer the question of how to realistically strengthen the scientific position of the new discipline and its constituent subdisciplines? The meeting is open to the entire community of socio-economic geography and spatial management and also to people from other disciplines. We would like this conference to be an opportunity to exchange experiences and opinions on the current problems and challenges for the future of human geography and planning.
Owing to the situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will be unusual as it will be held online. It will be organised in the form of panel discussions in which, next to panellists, all participants will be able to take part. Detailed organisational information on the conference will be provided in June 2021.