From 25-28 June, some members of the STAYin(g)Rural Project team will travel to Trondhein, Norway, for the European Society of Rural Sociology Conference, to participate in a working group session entitled 'Rural (im)mobility, social and spatial inequalities'. 

Background to the Working Group Session:

The working group will deal explicitly with residential mobility and immobility to underline that rural areas are not necessarily and always left behind. In many rural areas we see that different movements are taking place at the same time with people staying, coming and leaving (e.g. refugees, unskilled labour migrants, skilled migrants, lifestyle migrants). It is important to consider the temporality and spatiality of (im)mobilities and the social characteristics of those who stay, come or leave. Zooming in and zooming out may allow us to better understand how rural places interact with other areas – nearby or at distance, urban and rural regions as well as internationally. The aim of this working group is to better understand the phenomenon of rural (im)mobility, its causes and consequences in terms of the viability and liveability of rural areas and, hence, social and spatial (in)equality.

Given that rural (im)mobility is a key concept within STAYin(g)Rural, this working group provides an ideal platform to introduce the wider academic arena to the project. 

For more information on the European Society of Rural Sociology Conference, click here.