We hereby welcome you to the PECSRL 2026, the 31st session of the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscapes (PECSRL, see www.pecsrl.org). This biannual congress gathers landscape researchers across Europe and beyond who study mainly rural landscapes of the past, present, and future from an interdisciplinary perspective, including historical geography, landscape ecologists, social scientists, human geographers, physical geographers, historians, archaeologists, rural planners, landscape architects, landscape managers, as well as other scholars and practitioners interested in European landscapes.
PECSRL 2026 will be organized in Ghent and Spa (Belgium) as a collaboration of Ghent University and the University of Liège.
We invite you to submit abstracts for paper or poster presentations to one of the sessions. Check the session here and submit your abstract here.
Conference theme
Landscapes embody the continuous dialogue between people and land through time. They can be read as palimpsests of the interaction between biophysical and environmental processes and societies adapting and reshaping their surroundings. Once primarily shaped by agrarian livelihoods and relatively stable demographic patterns, rural landscapes are now navigating complex challenges, including climate change impacts, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, land-use conflicts, social inequality, shifting cultural identities… Main driving forces, such as demography, economy, politics, technology, and natural calamities, initiate a series of interacting landscape change processes.
The landscapes we live in today – our living landscapes – are shaped by complex feedback loops, often leading to a polarisation of geographical space. Densely populated areas are characterised by processes of urbanisation, intensification, industrialisation, and competition between land uses, while depopulation has led to ruralisation, land and settlement abandonment, the loss of the agricultural mosaic, and the decline of services. As more people live in urban places than in rural areas and the rural population is declining, the relationship between urban and rural areas has changed over time.
In this context, there is an urgent need to seek balance and foster harmony among the often conflicting, competing, and even contradictory demands or interests placed on the whole range of rural landscapes currently facing similar challenges, such as climate change impacts, environmental degradation, social inequality, … Landscapes with high and low human pressures have different resilience and adaptability when it comes to responses to flooding and drought, biodiversity loss, food security, heritage protection, landscape management,...
The challenge is how to study these over- and depopulated landscapes from a structural, functional, and historical perspective. How to understand the intertwining factors that play a role in and shape landscapes? How to strengthen urban-rural connections? How to regenerate empty landscapes, reduce regional disparities, and support landscape community resilience?
The conference theme will focus on how to understand the process of finding balance or harmony among conflicting, opposing, contradictory demands or interests in landscapes.
PECSRL 2026 will discuss the following processes that are at stake in a variety of European landscapes and resulting in different stages of change and continuity in both rural and urbanised landscapes.
- Intensification and extensification
- Multifunctionality and homogenisation
- Urbanisation and ruralisation
- Overpopulated and empty landscapes
- Abandonment and revitalisation
- Flooding and drought
- Development and restoration
- Disconnecting and linking
- Coupling and segregation
Programme
- During the first two days (7 and 8 September) in Ghent, the opening session, keynotes, parallel and poster sessions will be scheduled.
- The field trips are planned on Wednesday (9 September), allowing the participants an experience of traveling across a range of Belgian landscapes.
- The two days (10 and 11 September) in Spa will host the keynotes and parallel sessions, the conference dinner, and the closing session.
- Following the conference, a post-conference excursion will be organised (11 to 13 September).
The detailed program and schedule of the sessions will be launched after the reviewing process of the submitted abstracts (early May).
Session overview
The sessions organised by the participants will contribute to the interaction, discussions, and experiences during PECSRL2026. More than 20 sessions have been submitted covering a wide range of topics, tackling different challenges in a variety of landscapes.
Download the session overview here.
Call for abstracts
We invite you to submit your abstract to one of the sessions (late submissions still possible). Your submission is considered an engagement to register for the conference when your abstract is accepted.
How to submit your abstract?
You can submit your contribution by filling in the abstract
abstract form
.
Selection process
After the deadline of the call for abstracts, the session organisers will review the
proposals and evaluate if the abstract fits within their session. They can ask for
revisions if needed or suggest moving your submission to another session.
Excursions
On Wednesday 9 September, the participants will join one of the excursions that will bring them from Ghent to Spa. After you have registered for the conference, you will get a follow up email where you can indicate your preferred excursion.
Excursion 1
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Format:
Bus trip with longer walks on three different stops. -
Organisation:
Marc Antrop (Department of Geography, Ghent University)
Excursion 2
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Format:
Bus trip with longer walks on three different stops. -
Organisation:
Veerle Van Eetvelde (Department of Geography, Ghent University)
Excursion 3
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Format:
Bus trip with short walks on the different stops. -
Organisation:
Seppe De Wit and Jorre Herpels (Department of Geography, Ghent University)
Excursion 4 - Landscape managing water and drought
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Format:
Bus trip with short walks on the different stops. -
Organisation:
Serge Schmitz, Julien Wynants & Martina Barcelloni Corte (University of Liège)
Excursion 5 - Post-industrial landscapes of The Borinage and La Centre
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Format:
Bus trip with short walks on the different stops. -
Organisation:
Trees Ongena (Department of Geography, Ghent University)
This excursion will introduce you to the relics of the 19th -20th century industrial landscape of Belgium, situated between Mons and La Louvière (Waloon region, province Henegouwen). Since the end of the 18th century, the landscapes in this area changed drastically due to the industrial development and the production of coal and steel. In a short period, the agricultural landscape transformed into a dense industrial area. New industrial sites and living quarters were designed and new and sophisticated infrastructures such as train ways, canals and ship elevators were introduced to increase the accessibility. The region became an inspiration for artists like Van Gogh. After the decline of the coal industry in the 20th century, the whole region became in decay. Only in the recent years, a reconversion can be recognised, thanks to reconversion projects. However, the industrial history is still very legible in the area recognised by industrial sites, mounds of colliery waste and the 19th century transport ways.
We will explore the different remnants of the rich industrial past, including some World Heritage sites, we will walk along the old canals with hydraulic ship elevators and look for the reconversions and revival of the area.
Registration
You can register for the conference by filling in the registration form (TBA).
The registration fee includes all conference activities (including the excursion transfer from Ghent to Spa), except the conference dinner and post-conference excursion for which you need to register separately. Travel to Ghent/from Spa and accommodation in the two venues is at own expenses.
| Regular fee | PhD fellow fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Early bird1 | €475 | €375 |
| Regular registration2 | €525 | €425 |
| Late bird3 | €675 | €525 |
| Conference dinner | €75 | €75 |
| Post-conference excursion4 | €350 | €350 |
- 1 Before 14/06
- 2 14/06 until 17/08
- 3 After 17/08
- 4 Additional fee might be asked for a single room.
Venues
In the tradition of the PECSRL conferences, the conference will be organised in two locations.
Ghent
Sint-Baafshuis is located in the historic city center of Ghent, right next to the Cathedral. Here the plenary and parallel sessions will take place. Once a medieval armoury, today it is a versatile event venue for seminars and conferences. The building was completely renovated in 2024. Take a look inside the conference venue here.
Spa
In Spa, the conference will take place at Radisson Blu Balmoral Hotel. Perched on the heights of Spa and overlooking lush, forested valleys, the hotel has a unique connection to the surrounding landscape. The architecture blends regional authenticity with modern comfort, providing a warm and inviting atmosphere for intellectual exchange and networking. The Radisson Blu Balmoral is proudly managed by Nestia Hospitality. Your accommodation and logistical experience are professionally coordinated to ensure a seamless and premium stay in the heart of the Ardennes.
Travel
Belgium is easily accessible both by train and by plane. Many European cities have good international train connections to Brussels and Liège (via Cologne).
Brussels Airport has direct connections with all capital cities and other important airports in Europe and has an easy train connection to other cities in Belgium. The airport of Brussels South Charleroi is used by the low-cost airlines. From there, participants have to take a Flibco bus to Brussels or Ghent.
Ghent has direct train connections from Brussels Airport (one hour) and from the main stations in Brussels (for international trains).
The train from Spa to Brussels Airport (2 hours) or to Liège (45 minutes) for connections with the international trains.
Important dates
- 5 December 2025
- Call for sessions
- 6 February 2026
- Deadline for submission of sessions
- 1 March 2026
- Call for abstracts
- 22 April 2026
- Deadlines for submission of abstract
- Beginning of May 2026
- Notification of acceptance of abstracts. Opening conference registrations
- 14 June 2026
- Closing early bird registrations
- 17 August 2026
- Closing regular registrations
Committees
The conference will be jointly organised by the Department of Geography of Ghent University (Veerle Van Eetvelde) and the Department of Geography of the University of Liège (Serge Schmitz).
Scientific committee
- Veerle Van Eetvelde, Ghent University, Belgium
- Marc Antrop, Ghent University, Belgium
- Serge Schmitz, University of Liège, Belgium
- Karl Martin Born, University of Vechta, Germany
- Hannes Palang, University of Tallinn, Estonia
- Ewa Skowronek, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Poland
- Tim Waterman, University College London, UK
- Arjen Conijn, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
More information needed?
- By registering the email list, you will be informed directly of the next announcements and more news: fill out the form here.
- You can contact the conference organisers via: PECSRL2026@ugent.be.
- More information will be published on the conference website (this page): https://www.geography.ugent.be/PECSRL2026
Funded by:
