Seminar: "Bringing property reform to the heart of sustainability transformations", by Adam Calo

The ICTA-UAB will host the "Bringing property reform to the heart of sustainability transformations" by Adam Calo.

Title: "Bringing property reform to the heart of sustainability transformations"

Speaker: Adam Calo, Radboud University & Visiting Researcher at LASEG.

• Date: Thursday, November 19th, 2026
• Time: From 14:00 to 15:15
• Venue: Sala Montseny (Z/022 - Z/023) and online

Transitions to sustainability are envisioned as societal shifts to new systems of production and consumption, with the aim of resolving pressing environmental problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. These ambitions manifest in green transition policies, legally binding targets at the national level, and grassroots or individual campaigns for change. Yet, the ambition of sustainable land use transitions in developed economies has been met with considerable resistance.

In this presentation, Adam Calo will argue that efforts to make land use sustainable across the Global North stall because they collide with entrenched property regimes—the rights, norms, and institutions that govern who controls and benefits from land. Treating property as a neutral backdrop within debates about how best to transition to sustainable land use is a profound neglect. Current sustainability transition frameworks emphasize innovations and technologies, yet they largely ignore how property regimes structure transition dynamics. Without understanding property as an arbiter of landscape change, the idea of societal transition risks misdiagnosing sources of resistance and overlooking the mechanisms through which transformative change becomes possible. Therefore, a meaningful transformation agenda demands a theory of how to reform dominant property regimes, especially where they appear settled.

Adam Calo is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Politics in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Radboud University, and a Visiting Researcher at LASEG (ICTA-UAB). His research critically examines the political economy of agricultural and land systems, focusing on land access, property regimes, agroecology, and the structural barriers that hinder sustainable and equitable food systems transitions.