Call for papers

Over long periods, natural, social and economic environments have changed quite slowly, with only occasional, relatively short but severe crises. Under such circumstances, economic systems and actors were able to adapt their structures and operations effectively. Recent years, however, have been marked by sudden and recurring shocks that significantly shattered the global economy, demanded more complex and faster responses from different economic actors, and rearranged economic spaces. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world economy and triggered a significant global economic crisis. The far-reaching consequences of the pandemic included, among others, a slump in financial markets and shortages of numerous consumer goods and commodities. Shortly afterwards, the Russian aggression against Ukraine led to further economic turmoil across geographies, resulting from increased food insecurities and poverty, especially in the most vulnerable places of the world. In addition, geopolitical turbulences related to the USA-China tensions and the migration crisis arising in various regions of the world further extended the long list of significant contemporary challenges. Needless to say, increasingly intense environmental problems such as climate change, soil degradation, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss, have raised even more doubts about the sustainability of the predominant economic growth model.
All these geopolitical, environmental and economic developments have miscellaneous geographical manifestations that increasingly attract scholars' attention. Owing to these developments, relevant changes take place and can be observed on different spatial levels and in different economic sectors and organizations that are trying to adapt to new circumstances.
Despite academic efforts to take an economic geography perspective on the reconfiguration of economic spaces resulting from contemporary geopolitical turbulences and environmental challenges, many issues seek further attention and scrutiny. The 2025 IGU CDES Conference invites papers on the following topics, including but not limited to:

  • Changes and rearrangements in the global production chains and their regional and local consequences,
  • New trends in international capital flows, the role of MNCs,
  • Geopolitical shifts and their geographical implications,
  • Adaptation strategies and resilience of communities and economic actors at different spatial scales when confronted with global economic and environmental challenges,
  • Consequences of contemporary economic and environmental changes, particularly for the Global South,
  • The impacts of environmental policies and challenges on the change of economic structures and the transformation of energy systems,
  • Technological developments (AI and the fourth industrial revolution) and digitalization: economic, environmental and spatial impacts,
  • The role of place-specific cultures, values, consumption and production patterns in designing and implementing sustainability transition,
  • Governing sustainability transition,
  • Theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches to the changing dynamics of economic spaces.

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