Conference Main Topics

STRINGS International Conference

Selling the Rural in Urban Areas - the role of Local Food Products in the Sustainable Development of Rural Areas

July 14-15, 2022 - University of Aveiro, Portugal

An Online Conference (via Zoom)

Submission Deadline: structured abstract (around 600 words) - April 15th, 2022 

We welcome and encourage the presentation of theoretical and empirical contributions from different fields of research, that may advance knowledge and understanding of the role of local and traditional food products in rural territories and agriculture sustainable development, using inter and multidisciplinary perspectives, diverse methodologies and case studies. We invite contributions on - among others - the following main themes:

  • Understanding local and traditional food products: meanings, values, and features;
  • Understanding urban entrepreneurship around local and traditional food products, motivations, connections, representations of different types of retailing;
  • Analyzing consumers' interest in local and traditional food products: motivations, determinants of choice, values, representations, and practices;
  • Analyzing ethnocentrism and nationalism as determinants of consumers choices and public policies of preservation and labelling;
  • Local and traditional food products marketing and promotional strategies, including the potential of new media and social networks;
  • Certification labels and their impacts in the production, commercialization, and consumption of local and traditional food products, including in the places of origin;
  • Local and traditional food products' production commercialization and consumption in times of crises (e.g. climate, economic, pandemic, wars, food safety scares): ruptures and reconfigurations, impacts on long and short food supply chains and consumers' food practices;
  • Building territorial cohesion and cultural bridges through the commercialization of rural products: between rural and urban territories, different regions and countries, diverse cultures;
  • The effects of climate change on local food production and consumption;
  • Spatial analysis and georeferencing of (national) food production routes: innovations and challenges;
  • Analyzing the changing landscapes of food consumption: the return of traditional and sustainable products and the role of shorter supply chains;
  • Rethinking public policies and incentives regarding local and traditional agricultural productions and development;
  • From the 'power to design' to the (transformative) 'power to delivery - the challenges of the insertion of local networks of production, consumption and distribution in public policies of rural development;
  • Food and Tourism: contributions of food to rural tourism destinations' attractiveness and development; the role of local food in tourism experiences.