BeNeLux Geography

Conference organised by BeNeLux, with a presentation by Eva Andersson, Professor in the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University and 2025–2026 fellow at the Paris IAS (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Chair).

Presentation of the event

This three-day conference on geography builds on a long tradition of bringing geographers together — the Belgian Geography Days and the Dutch Geography Days — and draws on this tradition to create something new: a joint forum for the geographical communities of the Benelux, which is also open to colleagues from beyond the region. It offers researchers the chance to meet their peers, present their work and immerse themselves in the discipline without having to travel far or fly.

The conference is structured around several key elements:

• A series of three plenary lectures, delivered by Erik Swyngedouw, Meredith Glaser and Bart Crezee;
• A track dedicated to early-career researchers, featuring workshops on topics such as positionality, scientific communication and storytelling;
• An opportunity to learn more about the geography of Leuven through social and physical geography field trips led by KU Leuven lecturers on the morning of the first day of the conference.

Program of the presentation by Eva Andersson

Friday 10 avril 2026, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Segregation, neighbourhood effects, geographical scale and theoretical concepts

Residential segregation is by necessity conceptualised as a relational phenomenon between geographical areas, describing how population groups live apart from one another. This is at least geographers’ understanding of residential segregation. Such segregation manifests across various spatial scales—within cities, across metropolitan areas, and between regions. So, this segregation between areas inevitably shows social inequality from a bird’s eye view, and segregation can cause mistrust and erode social cohesion and impede integration between areas that have more or less of certain qualities.

Theoretical framing of such segregation problems mostly uses structural perspectives. When it comes to neighbourhood effects on the other hand, the scale is zoomed in on a particular geographical context, and the influence one local context/place/region might impose on individuals. Thus, neighbourhood effects research is another type of issue than segregation, often implying more individual-focused theoretical approaches. The researcher will engage with concepts and theories from earlier scholars to advance human geographical understanding of both residential segregation and neighbourhood effects.

Organisers

• David Bassens (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB);
• Willem Boterman (University of Amsterdam - UvA);
• Sabine Dörry (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research - LISER);
• Freke Caset (Universiteit Gent - UGent);
• Xavier Fettweis (Université de Liège - ULiège);
• Sander van Lanen (Université de Groningue, RUG);
• Catherine Linard (Université de Namur);
• Michiel van Meeteren (Universiteit Ultrecht, UU);
• Ate Poorthuis (Katholieke Universiteil Leuven - KU Leuven).

Practical informations

For further information, please contact Marjolein Geerars in person at the registration desk during opening hours, or by email: beneluxgeo2026@kuleuven.be. And to find out more about the program: https://www.benelux-geo.eu/programme.html