The Hannover Section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion invites you to participate in the conference “Exploring Local Social Cohesion in Green and Just Transitions”. The conference aims to advance interdisciplinary discussion on the links between social cohesion – understood as trust, participation, equality, and solidarity – and green and just transitions.
The Hannover Section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (www.fgz-risc.de/en) invites you to participate in the conference “Exploring Local Social Cohesion in Green and Just Transitions”. The conference aims to advance interdisciplinary discussion on the links between social cohesion – understood as trust, participation, equality, and solidarity – and green and just transitions. Adaptation and mitigation measures to counter effects of climate change and biodiversity loss induce ‘green’ transitions across multiple fields such as infrastructures of greening, energy, economy, housing, and mobility. Yet, we lack profound insights into how these transitions affect social cohesion across scales and over time – from short-term disruptions to long-term transformation pathways. While greener infrastructures can boost local cohesion, studies show that green transitions may also be unjust by marginalizing groups or eroding solidarity, thus threatening both social fabric and sustainability goals themselves. To explore these dynamics, the conference seeks to bring together researchers from various disciplines including geography, political science, sociology, spatial planning, landscape ecology, and others. We welcome conceptual and empirical contributions addressing challenges, strategies, governance arrangements, and policies concerning social cohesion in green transitions from a spatial perspective. We particularly invite work that highlights intersections with inequality and environmental justice, as well as implications for policy-making toward socially cohesive green futures.
