It meets every two years in a different European country for lectures, discussions, working groups and landscape excursions.
It was established in 1957 at an inaugural conference held in Nancy, France.
Initially, it consisted mainly of (historical) geographers, but during the last few decades its membership has diversified to include ecologists, social scientists, rural planners, landscape architects, historians, archaeologists, landscape managers, as well as other scholars and practitioners interested in European landscapes.
Members undertake both fundamental and applied research on all aspects of the rural landscape or have a position in landscape management or heritage management.
PECSRL covers Pan-Europe which means that it connects researchers from Northern, Eastern, Southern, Central and Western Europe.