Given that, during the last four years, inequalities and marginality have increased instead of receding, the commission intends to continue to follow the objectives that were in its focus already in this period, that is:

1.     To further the understanding of marginality and the processes of marginalization in our globalized world, through the study and analysis of the forces responsible for the dynamics and structures of marginality at various scales. They will include, among other variables, issues of ethnicity, technology, gender, social structure and the environment.

2.     To analyze marginality as the result of power relations within societies, more precisely of human perceptions and decisions, leading to the understanding of the role of the various agents in those processes, and their response to prevailing conditions.

To develop comparative approaches in order to identify various types of marginality and to put them into perspective and assess their role in an increasingly globalized world. Emphasis in particular needs to be placed on the experience of the Global South.

To study policy/institutional/community responses to economic and societal problems where we can find marginal people – especially where they form clusters, at various scales in relation to local, regional and societal development; this includes to study human responses to global change, and their implications for marginalization.

The development of theoretical and methodological tools of understanding of marginality in itself, as well as for the processes of marginalization and demarginalization.

To improve the role of research, education and teaching in decision-making/politics in order to reduce inequalities et and marginality.

The use and development of appropriate theory and methodology is to be involved in each of the above.

1. Enlarging the participation of geographers from emerging economies 

One of the Commission’s special efforts is and will be to enlarge the participation of Geographers from emerging economies.

This has been possible to a limited extent only when the IGU provided the commissions with adequate funding. Any reduction of these subsidies will make such initiatives impossible in the future. Moreover, in this wake, due to the lack of funding, it is also quite difficult for colleagues of poorer countries to organise any scientific meeting in their countries.

2. Conferences and scientific meetings

We plan to (co-)organise seven scientific activities during the next four-year plan.

2024

·       35thInternational Geographical Union (IGU) Congress in Dublin

·       Co-organiser of the international symposium The Future of Tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic Region –  In memory of Zlatko Pepeonik, 1934-2004 held in Hermagor, Carinthia, Austria from 22-24 October 2024 in co-operation with the Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change.

 2025

·   Our Commission, as one of the co-organizers of the IGU Egypt 2025 Thematic conference will have a session on Perspectives on globalization and marginality in emerging economies. Conveners: Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Prof. Dr. Borna Fuerst Bjeliš, Kim Andreas Kessler, and  Dr. Mohana Basu.

·   Our Commission supports the IGU Thematic Conference 2025 "Diverse Geographies of Peace, Environmental Impacts, Territorial Conflicts, and War in the Contemporary World", Santa Marta, Colombia 2025.

·   EUGEO in Vienna, Austria, from  8 to 11 September 2025. The accepted session proposed by our Commission is 191: Micro-marginality and
fragmentation in urban areas (Prof. Dr. D. Sanchez Aguilera).

·   We have received an invitation to co-organise the international conference in Senj/Croatia on 18 and 19 September 2025, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of birth of Prof. Veljko Rogić, one of the doyens of Croatian and Central and Southeast European geography. The theme of the conference would be wide open to include all new research directions in geography, including issues of marginality. The working title is: Geography in its Complexity. More information in due course.

2026

No confirmed plans for the time being. Updates will follow soon.

2027

·   The Commission annual conference in Nepal. Proposed by Prof. Shobha Shrestha. The topic of the conference: water, climate change, disasters and marginality; Climate and marginal lands.

·   The Commission annual conference in Brazil. Proposed by Prof. Sara Medeiros. 

3. Publications

·   Two new books are expected to be published in our Series in 2025 and 2026.

·       Four Commission members are preparing a chapter titled Centers, peripheries and margins in a dynamic and diverse world to the book Research Companion to the Periphery and Peripheral Regions: Concepts, Diagnosis, Dilemmas, edited by J. Banski and published by Edward Elgar.The book is expected to be published in 2025.

4. Networking

We plan to continue to send two Newsletters per year (June and December) as well as several Newsflashes to our members, in order to keep them informed of the various activities organised by the Commission or some of its members. This paves the way for further networking among individual members as well as between members and the Steering Committee.

Networking between commissions:

·       We plan to continue the discussions and work with commissions whose objectives align with ours, depending on the opportunities.

1. Number of members

In January 2024, our Commission counted 322 members, an increase of 5% from 306 members in December 2015 and a decrease of 9% from 352 members in January 2020 (some of which is due to the updating the members list, e.g., removal of members who passed on).

2.     Conferences and scientific meetings

We have held 5 scientific activities (each can count as an achievement): 2021 (2), 2022 (1), 2023 (2). The COVID-19 pandemic has upset all plans and no meeting could be held in 2020.

3.     Publications

We continued to edit the book series Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, published by Springer. Since 2016, we have published eight books.

4.     Networking

We have published two Newsletters per year from 2020 to 2023 (total = 8) + several Newsflash bulletins to update and keep in touch with our members.

1) One of the Commission’s special efforts is and will be to enlarge the participation of Geographers from the Developing World

This has been possible to a limited extent only when the IGU provided the commissions with adequate funding. Any reduction of these subsidies will make such initiatives impossible in the future. Moreover, in this wake, due to the lack of funding, it is also quite difficult for colleagues of poorer countries (like Lao PDR, Cambodia, or sub-Saharan countries) to organise any scientific meeting. Our last meeting (2019) in Nepal has helped to enlarge the participation from South Asian countries.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings

We plan to hold seven or eight scientific activities during the next four-year plan.

            - 2020: virtual conference, organized by Laval University (Quebec) in December

            - 2021: Romania (Commission conference) and Istanbul (IGU congress)

*Note: we also have commitments from Namibia and Bangladesh for commission conferences to be held between 2021 and 2023. The current Covidian pandemic has changed our plans. The next steering committee will make decisions on this matter.

            - 2022: Paris (IGU regional congress)

            - 2023: Malaysia (Commission conference)

            - 2024: Ireland (IGU congress)

3) Publications

Two new books are expected to be published in our Series in 2020 or early 2021. And at least two more are planned for the rest of 2021-2024.

4) Networking between members

We plan to continue to send two Newsletters per year (June and December) as well as several Newsflashes to our members, in order to keep them informed of the various activities organised by the Commission or some of its members.

5) Networking between commissions 

We plan to continue the discussions and work with commissions which objectives are similar to our own, depending of the opportunities.

1) Number of members. 

Our Commission in January 2020 counted 352 members, an increase of 15% from 306 members in December 2015, including 36 from developing Asia and 13 from Africa.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings

We have held six scientific activities (each can count as an achievement): 2016 (2), 2017 (1), 2018 (1), 2019 (2)

3) Publications

We started to edit a book series, published by Springer: “Perspectives on Geographical Marginality”. Since 2016, we have published four books. Each can also be seen as one achievement in itself.

4) Networking

We have published two Newsletter per year from 2016 to 2019 (total = 8) + several Newsflash bulletins to keep in touch with our members, depending of the needs.

5) Networking between commissions

In 2018 (Quebec), we have successfully organised panels with the Commission on “Regional development” and more talks were done with this commission and also the commission on “Geography of governance” for the 2020 conference (Romania) and congress (Istanbul). For now, these conversations and potential organisations have been postponed to n2021.