Deindustrialization

(Un)just Transitions?: Deindustrialization and the Environment
2026-06-18 - 2026-06-20
(Un)just Transitions?: Deindustrialization and the Environment
The call for papers is now available! Read and download it in French or English here.
What can the study of deindustrialization add to our understanding of environmental history? And conversely – what can the study of environmental history contribute to deindustrialization studies? Answering these questions will be the focus of the 2026 Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time (DePOT) annual conference, whose theme is “Deindustrialization and the Environment.”
Transitions are central in both environmental and deindustrialization studies. In environmental history, these transitions include the agricultural and industrial revolutions, and changes in energy sources from wood to fossil fuels, to renewables. These have been explored in the context of the legal system, labour, culture, economy and politics. Deindustrialization studies also centre on questions of transition. Studies might, for example, assess the impacts and transformations at work in the relationship between humans and nature in the decline, removal, or shift of industrial activity. The conference looks to explore these and other aspects of the intersection between deindustrialization and the environment.
Along with presentations and keynote addresses, the conference will include scheduled tours of relevant sites in Montreal.
We are pleased to welcome submissions for individual papers, panels, or roundtable discussions that speak to these and other themes including:

Toxic legacies, environmental remediation, “greening” and redevelopment initiatives.
Energy transitions
Worker health and safety, trade unionism and environmental justice
Citizen science
Climate politics, populism, and “just transitions”
Noxious deindustrialization
Industrial nature
Heritage and the environment

More information will follow in our conference program
