Thematic axis

- Imaginaries. Rural life should not be seen as a stable and changing entity but as : “a body of economical, ecological, societal and ethical attitudes, values and qualities that deserve renewed analysis” (Versteegh, 2015). The activist aspect of projects “with” and “for” rural territories aims to transcend all forms of self-referentiality and nostalgia; its collective mission is to write about new visions of rurality, responding to the challenge that metropolisation imposes in terms of «territorial equitableness” (Guillot, 2016) Discussion around this issue will be further extended following that at the last two conferences on the capacity of transition (whether energy, economic, etc.) to generate new stories and new representations of contemporary rural life.

- Resources. This need not be understood in this instance as a purely material concept, as is generally the case in spatial and design studies. So-called latent resources (Tufano, 2016), or non-material resources as Jana Revedin refers to them, are “all the knowledge about complex organisms that are our inhabited environments: the movement of communities, flows and shifts (…). They are also resources to be extracted from the law and political economy, resources often forged by societies themselves, in their perpetual drive perpetual towards collective organisation and the emancipation of individuals and adaptation to circumstances” (2018). How is the understanding of material and immaterial resources constructed in conjunction with territorial forecasts? How do these non-material resources draw on material resources and interests (Godelier, 1984)?

- Temporalities. This concept refers to the time of political action as well as to the influence of speed in the construction and rhythms of our ways of life. This vital concept links two determining areas of thought regarding our living areas: space (distance) and time, as well as our relation to speed and slowness. At another level, the experience of proximity to the elements and cycles of nature remains, despite the urbanisation of our ways of life, a defining feature of rural territories which itself opens up another possible understanding of the time of action: that of apposite moments, the critical moment for the right action, as expressed by the Greek term kairos, καιρός (Aubenque, 1963). How is the process of spatial design affected when we take account of these multiple temporalities? To what extent does it reveal ways of living and initiatives which form an alternative to the process of metropolisation?

- Empowerments. As a corollary to the previous themes, here we will be looking at the forms of political action which come out of citizen-led initiatives and local movements (Dardot & Laval, 2014). Alongside participative practices re-institutionalised within public action, these initiatives are evidence of the awareness of a capacity for collective action and put the role of planning as a political tool in a new light. Whilst they draw on diverse political sources and values, what they have in common is that they instigate forms of critical resistance and forces of opposition, alongside practical experimentation in areas of life such as work, home, etc. (Nicolas-Le-Strat, 2016). Social transformation projects might then be seen as a response to a demand for social participation and transformation. Do rural territories give rise to specific methods of social and collective experimentation? To what extent do lifestyle changes represent a force for empowerment and, ultimately, emancipation (Bacqué & Biewener, 2013)?