Prof. Dr. Menelaos Gkartzios was educated in Ireland (PhD in Regional & Urban Planning; MSc in Environmental Resource Management, both at University College Dublin) and in Greece (MAgrSc in Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens). His scholarly work focuses on the theory and practice of sustainable rural development and planning; mobilities, social change and urban-rural relationships; as well as the role of artistic practice and cultural capital in place-based development. His research on these topics has been published in various journals such as the Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, Regional Studies, Land Use Policy, Geoforum, Population, Space & Place, World Development, and others. His recent books include: Postcapitalist Countrysides: From Commoning to Community Wealth Building (UCL Press, 2025); Town and Country Planning in the UK (Routledge, 2024); Rural Places and Planning: Stories from the Global Countryside (Policy Press, 2022); and The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning (Routledge, 2019). He has held academic posts at the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey, Newcastle University in the UK, University College Dublin in Ireland, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Most recently, he served as a Visiting Professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University in China. He is Associate Editor of Habitat International and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Rural Studies, Progress in Planning, Planning Practice & Research, and Rural Society. Within the  Association of European Schools of Planning, he co-leads a new AESOP Thematic Group on Rural Planning.

 

Education

PGCert            Advanced Studies in Academic Practice (2014)

                        Newcastle University

PhD                 Regional & Urban Planning (2008)

                        University College Dublin

MSc                Environmental Resource Management (2003)

                        University College Dublin

MAgrSc           Agricultural Economics & Rural Development (2002)

                       Agricultural University of Athens

 

Research Interests: Rural planning, rural governance, rural development, housing, urban-rural relationships, place, mobilities, culture, heritage, artistic practice, qualitative research, international comparative research

 

Publications

Books

Gallent, N., Gkartzios M., Scott, M. and Purves, A. (Eds.) (2025). Postcapitalist Countrysides: From Land Commoning to Community Wealth Building. London: UCL Press.

Cullingworth, B.., Davoudi, S., Webb, D., Vigar, G., Pendlebury, J., Townshend, T., Gkartzios, M., Hart, T., and Nadin, V. (2024). Town and Country Planning in the UK, 16^th Edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Gkartzios, M., Gallent, N. and Scott, M. (2022). Rural Places and Planning: Stories from the Global Countryside. Bristol: Policy Press.

Scott, M., Gallent, N. and Gkartzios, M. (Eds.) (2019). The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London and New York: Routledge.

 

International Peer Reviewed Journals (selected)

Lang, W., Gkartzios, M., Yan, J., Chen, T. and Tan, S. (2024). Community co-creation through knowledge (co)production: The engagement of universities in promoting rural revitalization in China. Journal of Rural Studies, 112, 103455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103455

Scott, M., Gkartzios, M. and Halfacree, K. (2024). Introducing climate-related counterurbanisation: Individual adaptation or societal maladaptation? Habitat International, 143, 102970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102970

Dilley, L., Gkartzios, M., Kudo, S. and Odagiri, T. (2024). Hybridising counterurbanisation: Lessons from Japan’s kankeijinkō. Habitat International, 143, 102967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102967

Gkartzios, M., Gallent, N. and Scott, M. (2022). A capitals framework for rural areas: ‘place-planning’ the global countryside. Habitat International, 127, 102625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102625

Dilley, L., Gkartzios, M. and Odagiri, T. (2022). Developing Counterurbanisation: Making Sense of Rural Mobility and Governance in Japan. Habitat International, 125, 102595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102595

Merrell, I., Rowe, F., Cowie, P. and Gkartzios, M. (2021). ‘Honey Pot’ Rural Enterprise Hubs as Micro-Clusters: Exploring Their Role in Creativity-led Rural Development. Local Economy, 36(7-8), 589–605. https://doi.org/10.1177/02690942221085498

Gkartzios, M., Toishi, N. and Woods, M. (2020). The language of rural: Reflections towards an inclusive rural social science. Journal of Rural Studies, 78, 325-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.06.040

Gkartzios, M. and Crawshaw, J. (2019). Researching rural housing: with an artist in residence. Sociologia Ruralis, 59(4), 589-611. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12224

Lowe, P., Phillipson, J., Proctor, A. and Gkartzios, M. (2019). Expertise in rural development: A conceptual and empirical analysis. World Development, 116, 28-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.12.005

Apostolopoulos, N., Newbery, R. and Gkartzios M. (2019). Social enterprise and community resilience: Examining a Greek response to turbulent times. Journal of Rural Studies, 70, 215-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.03.017

Gkartzios, M. and Remoundou, K. (2018). Language struggles: Representations of the countryside and the city in an era of mobilities. Geoforum, 93, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.04.016

Saxby, H., Gkartzios, M. and Scott, K. (2018). ‘Farming on the edge’: Wellbeing and participation in agri-environmental schemes. Sociologia Ruralis, 58(2), 392-411. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12180

Gkartzios, M., Remoundou, K. and Garrod, G. (2017). Emerging geographies of mobility: The role of regional towns in Greece's ‘counterurbanisation story’. Journal of Rural Studies, 55, 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.07.011

Scott, M., Murphy, E. and Gkartzios, M. (2017). Placing ‘home’ and ‘family’ in rural residential mobilities. Sociologia Ruralis, 57(S1), 598-621. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12165

Crawshaw, J. and Gkartzios, M. (2016). Getting to know the island: artistic experiments in rural development. Journal of Rural Studies, 43, 134-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.12.007

Remoundou, K., Gkartzios, M. and Garrod, G. (2016). Conceptualizing mobility in times of crisis: towards crisis-led counterurbanization? Regional Studies, 50(10), 1663-1674. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2015.1057561

Gkartzios M. and Scott K. (2015). A cultural panic in the province? Counter-urban mobilities, creativity and crisis in Greece. Population, Space and Place, 21(8), 843–855. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1933

Gkartzios, M. and Shucksmith, M. (2015). ‘Spatial Anarchy’ versus ‘Spatial Apartheid’: rural housing ironies in Ireland and England. Town Planning Review, 86(1), 53-72. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2015.4

Gkartzios, M. and Scott, M. (2014). Placing housing in rural development: exogenous, endogenous and neo-endogenous approaches. Sociologia Ruralis, 54(3), 241-265. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12030

Donovan, K. and Gkartzios, M. (2014). Architecture and rural planning: claiming the vernacular. Land Use Policy, 41, 334-343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.06.013

Gkartzios, M. (2013). 'Leaving Athens': narratives of counterurbanisation in times of crisis. Journal of Rural Studies, 32, 158-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.06.003