Place du 20 août, 7- 4000 Liège 

• 10:00 Welcome
• 10:30 Visit to Liège's hypercentre
• 12:30 Free lunch

B11 - auditoire Sporck - Clos Mercator 3 - 4000 Liège

• 2:00 pm Academic introduction
  S.Mertens, Advisor to the Rector on Environmental and Social Transition
  A.Gasnier, President of the CNFG Commission Commerce, Consommation et Territoire
  G.Devillet, Symposium organizer
• 2:30 pm Inaugural lecture: Shops, Consumption and Territories: a time of transitions and uncertain futures, by Samuel Deprez, MCF HDR in urban planning and development
• 15:30 Workshop Session 1: Methodological approaches
  Chairmen : N. Lemarchand and P. Dugot
  
  • Mapping the food environment: reliability of data sources and challenges for the transition of food systems (Simon Vonthron, Coline Perrin, Christophe-Toussaint Soulard)
  • The reconfiguration of food outlets in Belgium in the first decades of the ^21st century (Benjamin Wayens)
  • Spatial proximity in the case of alternative food supply circuits? The case of AMAPs in France (Juliette Benedetti, Alessandro Araldi)
  • Mapping and photographing commercial food supply in the suburbs. From the need to (re)question French food deserts (Angélique Dupont, Emmanuelle Faure, Nicolas Lebrun, Corinne Luxembourg)
• 17:30 Conclusion Session 1
• 18:30 Visit to the Christmas market

B11 - auditoire Sporck - Clos Mercator 3 - 4000 Liège 

• 9:00 Workshop Session 2: Planning, urbanism, transport and logistics
  Chairs: R.-P. Desse and N. Lebrun
  
  • Towards a territorial construction of alternative food hubs in Wallonia? Exploratory results of an action-research conducted with the 5C collective (Kevin Maréchal, Florence Lanzi, Julien Noël and Céline Raimbert)
  • Understanding the diversity of logistics practices for better planning? The case of food retailing in Hauts-de-France (Véréna Bourbia)
  • Getting around for food shopping: analysis of household carbon emissions in the Montpellier metropolitan area (Hélène Charreire Charreire, Pascaline Rollet, Simon Vonthron, Maria Somaraki, Coline Perrin, Marlène Perignon, Caroline Méjean)
• 10:30 Break
  Chairmen : J. Soumagne and C. Renard-Grandmontagne
  
  • Holistic assessment of food systems in transition: the case of Mouans-Sartoux (Andrea Lulovicovaa , Stéphane Bouissoua)
  • Urban location: an asset or a constraint for urban agriculture logistics? A case study from Paris (Fanny Provent, Gwenaëlle Rafon)
  • Transitions or permanence? The perseverance of local authorities to maintain commerce in rural areas. A case study of towns in Normandy with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants (Adeline Graby, Philippe Madeline, Michaël Pouzenc)
• 12:00 Conclusion Session 2
• 12:30 pm Lunch
• 13:30 Workshop Session 3: Sectors, innovations and experimentation
  Chairs : M. Pouzenc and B. Wayens
  
  • Transitions and retailing in Wallonia, supply and demand signals (Guénaël Devillet, Gilles Condé)
  • Towards an alternative food retailing network for transitions? Geographical reflections on Nantes Métropole (Julien Noël, Sécou Omar Diédhiou, Christine Margetic)
  • Food transition in Corsica: GMS unavoidable ... ? (Sarah Bernard, Caroline Tafani)
  • Vingt ans d'observation des circuits courts alimentaires en Midi-Pyrénées, Des innovations de niche aux trajectoires inégales (Michael Pouzenc)
• 3:00 pm Round table: Supermarkets, short distribution channels and transition
  Moderator: B. Mérenne-Schoumaker
  
  • Eric Verstraete, Expansion Manager Colruyt Group
  • Pascal Hennen, Les Petits Producteurs (LPP), Ceinture Aliment-terre liégeoise (CATL)
  • Cédric Lambrechts, Intersectio, Brussels
  • Raja Lachhab, CBRE Investment management (to be confirmed)
• 16:00 Doctoral students' poster session
• 4:30 pm Commission ^50th anniversary ceremony and Cocktail
  Chairmen : A. Gasnier, Chairman of the CNFG's Commerce, Consumption and Territory Commission
• 20h00 Festive meal

B11 - auditoire Sporck - Clos Mercator 3 - 4000 Liège

• 9:00 Workshop Session 4: A transition for all? 
  Chairmen: E. VanHecke and S. Vonthron
  
  • Solidarités alimentaires : entre complémentarités et divergences au regard des enjeux de transition (Clémence Rebourg)
  • Urban food transition: what place for markets in Paris (Armelle Boume Njateng)
  • The rise of imported supermarket chains in two African metropolises: the spread of food capitalism in Douala and Kampala (Sylvain Racaud, Thomas Jourda)
  • When the emergence of new food services generates new social inequalities in Daloa - Côte d'Ivoire (Bourdeau-Lepage Lise, Ouattara Sahoti, Traore Fousseni).
  • The new recomposition of commercial space in the light of sustainable development issues. The case of Dakar, Senegal (Malick Mboup)
  • Determination of food marketing practices and representations of the city center by qualitative survey as an indicator of the attractiveness of central spaces (Marianne Petit)
• 11:30 a.m. Break
• 11:45 General conclusion: What transitions? Major obstacles, facilitators, prospects..
  • Arnaud Gasnier, Chairman of the CNFG Commerce Commission
  • Nathalie Lemarchand, Past President of the CNFG Commerce Commission
• 12:30 pm Lunch
• 14:00 Visit to the Vin de Liège cooperative

Today's food systems face numerous environmental, economic, social and health challenges (Shukla et al. 2019; Swinburn et al. 2019). Their transitions towards greater sustainability are underway and remain multiple.

Innovations in new emerging distribution and marketing modes then form niches, sometimes grouped into more structured movements, entering into confrontation and potentially changing the regime in place (Roep and Wiskerke 2013; Duncan and Pascucci 2017; Geels 2019).

Research mobilizing transition theories, and in particular the Multi-Level Perspective framework, has been developing strongly since the 2010s (Geels 2019; Köhler et al. 2019).

However, this work remains to be completed. On the one hand, approaches in terms of food systems shed more light on supply and its governance (Arthur et alii, 2022) than on marketing; they primarily study distribution channels, in a certain filiation with work on agri-food chains. However, major changes are also taking place in terms of points of sale and, more broadly, forms of sale. What's more, while the craze for transition has largely taken over from the craze for sustainable development, we still need to take a critical look at these catchwords, which tend to cover a lot of greenwashing. What limits have the transition approach overcome? Which ones persist, or are posed in new terms? What's more, this work has primarily been carried out by researchers in sociology and economics, leading to a lack of spatialization (Coenen et al. 2012; Lawhon and Murphy 2012). Faced with this observation, a geography of transitions aimed at understanding spatial differences in transitions and their explanatory factors has emerged (Hansen and Coenen 2015; Murphy 2015; Köhler et al. 2019). Nevertheless, despite growing interest in the food issue in transition research (El Bilali 2019), the spatial dimension of innovation development remains little addressed, even less so in urban settings.

Spatial questions therefore arise:

• How are institutions (major retailers, public regulatory and planning bodies, local agents...) anchored in specific spaces, places and territories?
• What are the geographical inequalities of transition processes?
• More specifically, how can we integrate geography's critical vision of spatial, social and environmental justice across space (different transitions at different socio-economic levels)?
• How are innovative technologies adapted to specific geographical and institutional contexts?
• What relationships exist between local innovation networks and the global diffusion of socio-technical regimes?
• How does transition manifest itself at city level?

In addition, the Observatoire prospectif du commerce en France was commissioned in 2021 to launch reflections on the sector's socio-ecological transition. The priority themes that have emerged mainly concern consumption, and tend to revolve around the following elements when transposed to food:

• Product quality (nutrients, additives, etc.)
• Local products
• Sustainable sourcing
• Do-it-yourself", integrating dimensions of "self-care" and "uses and services"
• Waste management
• Customer delivery
• Food destockers..

The CNFG's Geography of Commerce Commission is a particularly appropriate forum for discussion of these issues. Almost twenty years after its first work on the theme of "commerce and sustainable development" (Soumagne et alii 2004; Dugot and Pouzenc 2006), the transitions in food retailing continue to be regularly discussed, even in their most recent developments. What's more, beyond the socio-ecological transition, urban food retail is not just about short circuits (Pouzenc, 2019). In terms of commercial offer, new forms of retailing are emerging and require in-depth approaches: bulk, mini formats, delivery in less than an hour, berk stores, markets, vending machines..

The aim of the symposium is to structure the debate around the evolution of the current system and the capacity of niches to really develop. This theoretical framework cuts across the various sessions, and contributors are asked to position themselves on this point as soon as possible.

Papers can be organized around four main types of session.

This first point aims to highlight the niches of transitional innovation: on the producer side (distribution cooperatives, etc.) and on the distributor side (citizen/consomm'acteur): 

• What are the new forms of distribution: direct sales, short and ultra-short circuits, neo-artisans (food artisans), cooperative supermarkets, etc.?
• How are new logistics circuits organized, deliveries and new forms of trade, last-mile logistics, supplying food shops and markets (towards a renewal of open-air markets today?), food e-commerce, in short circuits or not.
• How are we rethinking the new forms of proximity in relation to the growth of specialized food retailing in city centers, neighborhood centers and outlying areas?
• How are existing players adapting to the development of these niches? Changes in supermarket assortments, which explains the recent expansion of many (hard) discounters and the acquisition of agricultural land..

The social dimension of new forms of activity:  

What ethics? What practices? What local consumption? What food choices? Who consumes locally? How? Where? Where? How much in terms of volume, value, share of localism in the consumer's extended catchment area? Is it possible to produce one's own vegetables without resorting to trade?

- What role does food retailing play in the transition of regional policies on trade, food, planning, transport, the environment and health? How do these policies fit together? 
What visions and models of food distribution do these policies support? In particular, how can retail be integrated into urban planning documents?
What about strategic planning projects (French SCoTs, etc.)?
What are the implications for local retailing (safeguarding, protection, local logistics, construction of storage buildings, etc.)?
How do mobility plans address the movement/transportation of goods? To what extent do urban envelopes and the remobilization of undeveloped inner-city plots enable the emergence of local food and commercial relocation initiatives?
What role do cooperatives, associations and AMAPs play?

How are obsolete commercial sites being redeveloped?

- Urban and suburban agriculture in relation to sales: what place for it in and/or near the city? What kind of urban planning? Relationship to retail trade?

- Planning/regulation: what are the key levers at European level?

Are adaptations of socio-technical systems developing in terms of legislation to support mechanisms for locking in the players in the current regime?

The socio-economic conditions for the transition in food distribution: can all customers afford to make this transition? Is it not an elitist movement? How does the question of access arise in terms of finance, mobility, access to information, etc.?

The question of transitions in food distribution is also a highly topical issue in the South, with major differences between the situation in South America, where the system is already well-equipped with large-scale food distribution, and Africa, where large-scale distribution, via multinational firms and/or local investors, is expanding rapidly, leading us to rethink not only the place of "markets" but also the producer/distributor relationship.

Questions of equitable access to sustainable food also call into question food access schemes dedicated to precarious populations. How does the renewal of food aid (social food security, social grocery stores, social prices in cooperative supermarkets, etc.) fit in with traditional food retailing?

How does this emerging theme relate to approaches to spatial justice and food justice? While many scientists have tackled the field of environmental justice and injustice, food justice is a more recent phenomenon: how can we address the issue of access to products and shops for all? What are the consequences for local production of importing processed industrial products (e.g. poultry, fish, waterlogged ham sold more cheaply than local produce)? 

Arthur, H., Sanderson, D., Tranter, P., & Thornton, A. (2022). A review of theoretical frameworks of food system governance, and the search for food system sustainability. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 46(8), 1277-1300.

Coenen, L., P. Benneworth, et B. Truffer. 2012. Toward a spatial perspective on sustainability transitions. Research Policy 41(6). Elsevier B.V.: 968‑979. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.02.014.

Dugot, Ph. et Pouzenc, M. (dir.). 2006. Commerce et développement durable, Actes du colloque international de la Commission de Géographie des Activités commerciales-CNFG, 10-12 mars 2005, Géodoc n°54-format CD-Rom, Toulouse, Département de Géographie et Aménagement.

Duncan, J., et S. Pascucci. 2017. Mapping the Organisational Forms of Networks of Alternative Food Networks: Implications Forms Transition. Sociologia Ruralis 57(3). doi: 10.1111/soru.12167.

El Bilali, H. 2019. The Multi-Level Perspective in Research on Sustainability Transitions in Agriculture and Food Systems: A Systematic Review. Agriculture 9(4). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute: 74. doi: 10.3390/agriculture9040074.

Geels, F. W. 2019. Socio-technical transitions to sustainability: a review of criticisms and elaborations of the Multi-Level Perspective. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 39. Open Issue 2019: 187‑201. doit: 10.1016/j.cosust.2019.06.009

Hansen, T., et L. Coenen. 2015. The Geography of Sustainability Transitions: Review, Synthesis and Reflections on an Emergent Research Field. The Geography of Sustainability Transitions: Review, Synthesis and Reflections on an Emergent. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 17: 92‑109. doi: 10.1016/j.eist.2014.11.001.

Köhler, J., et al. 2019. An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 31: 1‑32. doi: 10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004.

Murphy, J. T. 2015. Human geography and socio-technical transition studies: Promising intersections. In Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 17:73‑91. doi: 10.1016/j.eist.2015.03.002.

Pouzenc, M. 2019. Portrait des circuits courts 2001-2018 en Midi-Pyrénées. Rapport de recherche. LISST.

Roep, D., et J. S. C. Wiskerke. 2013. Reshaping the foodscape: The role of alternative food networks. In Food Practices in Transition: Changing Food Consumption, Retail and Production in the Age of Reflexive Modernity, 207‑228. Taylor and Francis.

Soumagne, J., Gasnier, A. et Pouzenc, M. 2004. « Commerce et développement durable », Historiens et Géographes, Paris, n° 387, p. 131-143.

Shukla, P. R., et al. 2019. Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Special Report. IPCC. Geneva, Switzerland.

Swinburn, B. A., et al. 2019. The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report. The Lancet 393(10173): 791‑846. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32822-8