News & Events

PLAAS
By In Home Slider

Living Landscapes in Action Masterclass: Landscapes, borders, and mobilities

Read Article
PLAAS
By In Home Slider

Seminar: Realities of land and water reforms in Limpopo’s Trichardtsdal-Ofcolaco area: 1994 to the present

Read Article
PLAAS
By In Featured

Vacancy: Administrator at PLAAS

Read Article
PLAAS
By In Blog

New book: Why addressing inequality requires a focus on land redistribution

Read Article
Living Landscapes in Action Masterclass: Landscapes, borders, and mobilities Home SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Living Landscapes in Action Masterclass: Landscapes, borders, and mobilities

Tuesday, 27 October 2026 10:00 to 13:00 CAT Register on zoom Abstract In this Masterclass we explore the institutionalisation of borders in ecologically inspired landscapes and how this process impacts mobilities in the human and non-human worlds. The discussions are structured around three thematic areas: the epistemologies of borders and fences in the context of environmentalism; reading and reimagining planetary…
PLAAS
October 7, 2026
Seminar: Realities of land and water reforms in Limpopo’s Trichardtsdal-Ofcolaco area: 1994 to the present Home SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Seminar: Realities of land and water reforms in Limpopo’s Trichardtsdal-Ofcolaco area: 1994 to the present

Thursday, 22 October 2026 13:00 to 14:00 SAST PLAAS seminar room, Jakes Gerwel Hall, University of the Western Cape Register on zoom Around 2006, based on global models of market-led reform, the Trichardtsdal-Ofcolaco area was considered a success case by the government for land redistribution and land rights restitution to historically disadvantaged individuals. More than 5.000 ha of fertile land…
PLAAS
October 6, 2026
Vacancy: Administrator at PLAAS FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Vacancy: Administrator at PLAAS

Vacancy: Administrator at PLAAS PLAAS seeks to appoint an Administrator to assist with departmental administrative procedures, ensuring alignment and compliance with central University administrative systems and processes. Reports to: Finance & Operations Manager Supervises: Student Assistants Location: On-site, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Western Cape Duration of contract: Full time, two years Application deadline: Friday, 23 October 2026, 17:00…
PLAAS
October 5, 2026
New book: Why addressing inequality requires a focus on land redistribution BlogFeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

New book: Why addressing inequality requires a focus on land redistribution

Written by Ian Scoones Photo: Artwork by Federico ‘Boy’ Dominguez At the UN General Assembly last week, a group of world-renown economists together with the governments of South Africa, Brazil, Norway and Spain demanded that inequality be taken seriously with the establishment of a UN international panel on inequality (IPI) modelled on the influential International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).…
PLAAS
September 29, 2026
Seminar: The green transition in Africa and beyond – a tale of extractivism, fossil capitalism, and green (neo)colonialism Home SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Seminar: The green transition in Africa and beyond – a tale of extractivism, fossil capitalism, and green (neo)colonialism

Monday, 14 September 2026 13:00 to 14:00 SAST PLAAS seminar room, Jakes Gerwel Hall, University of the Western Cape Register on zoom Human-made climate change undermines the ecological and socio-economic basis of African life. Addressing this global climate crisis requires a rapid and drastic reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. But while a transition towards renewable energies has become inevitable, justice has…
PLAAS
September 9, 2026
SEMINAR: Navigating the green energy dilemma: a case study of geothermal development in Kenya FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

SEMINAR: Navigating the green energy dilemma: a case study of geothermal development in Kenya

Navigating the green energy dilemma: a case study of geothermal development in Kenya Renewable energy technologies are characterised by their low energy density and therefore often require large areas of land. Current literature on the energy transition shows that solar, wind, and geothermal projects frequently lead to new land conflicts, displacements, and a concentration of ecological, spatial, and aesthetic burdens…
PLAAS
August 12, 2026
Apply: PhD scholarships: Digital Agrarian Futures project FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

Apply: PhD scholarships: Digital Agrarian Futures project

PhD scholarship in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies: Digital Agrarian Futures Digital Agrarian Futures is a joint project between the University of the Western Cape and University of Cologne in Germany. The project's purpose is to understand the current unfolding of digital agrarian futures and their politics among farmers in Kenya and Tanzania. PhD topics submitted will need to analyse…
PLAAS
August 11, 2026
Call for applications 2026: New Thinking on Integrating Biodiversity and Social Justice short course FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Call for applications 2026: New Thinking on Integrating Biodiversity and Social Justice short course

In-person short course 26-30 October 2026 Cape Town, South Africa Why are so many conservation approaches unable to do justice to people who live in these areas? What could an integrated approach to "living with" biodiversity rather than separating locals from nature achieve? Is conservation caught up in politics instead of focusing on transformation? The Institute for Poverty Land and…
PLAAS
July 8, 2026
What South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruling on the Tafelberg property means for equitable access to land and spatial justice BlogFeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

What South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruling on the Tafelberg property means for equitable access to land and spatial justice

By Nkanyiso Gumede, Ruth Hall, Deshnee Subramany Pictures: Zacharia Mashele/Ndifuna Ukwazi The Constitutional Court judgment on a Tafelberg property in Sea Point, Cape Town, sets an important precedent on equitable access to land and spatial justice. The state is obliged to deliver on equitable access to land as outlined in Section 25(5) of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court confirmed that…
PLAAS
July 2, 2026
Seminar: Decolonising tourism development at Victoria Falls: a new evolutionary economic geography perspective with Dr Mfundo Mlilo FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Seminar: Decolonising tourism development at Victoria Falls: a new evolutionary economic geography perspective with Dr Mfundo Mlilo

Dr Mfundo Mlilo, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne Wednesday, 3 June 2026 13:00 – 14:00 SAST PLAAS seminar room, 2nd Floor, Jakes Gerwel Hall, UWC Register for the in-person and online event via Zoom Evolutionary economic geography (EEG) perspectives have become dominant in regional development research, particularly in explaining regional industrial change. However, concerns are growing about EEG's relevance,…
PLAAS
May 28, 2026