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Analyze trends and dynamics of rural regions and learn to formulate ideas, strategies and actions to boost rural development, with a particular focus on younger generations.
After a course session ends, it will be archived.
Many rural areas around the world face a critical population and economic decline and struggle to attract younger generations to reverse this trend.
An aging population, youth out-migration, lack of employment opportunities, shift to large-scale agriculture and land acquisition by investment companies, are some of the challenges faced in rural areas.
Life in villages has also become ever more challenging: the economic viability of shops and services is under pressure, healthcare facilities are difficult to organize, less support for community work is available and governmental investments decrease.
To break this vicious circle of decline, which not only affects people’s lives but also the spatial quality of rural areas and their sustainable development, we need innovative initiatives that will have a broad impact.
This course provides ideas and insights that help to offer opportunities to young generations in rural areas. Such opportunities are based on international trends that influence the future of how we organize our lives and society. You will learn how these trends can be relevant for rural development.
Ruralization opportunities may include new businesses, sustainable farming techniques or, for example, shortening the food production chain so that areas benefit from the added value. These opportunities can be facilitated by innovative approaches to giving people access to land. We will explain different possibilities that have proven successful in different contexts and we will present several inspiring examples.
Each rural region is different and therefore needs a specific, tailored approach. After taking this course, you will be able to formulate region-specific strategies to enhance rural development.
This course is mainly for:
Join us and contribute to stopping the negative spiral of rural decline and enjoy the many benefits of ruralization.
None
After taking this course you will be able to:
Week 1: Mapping Strengths and Weaknesses of Rural Regions
You will learn the challenges that rural areas are currently facing and how these differ depending on the local context. You will also learn to apply SWOT analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of rural areas. You will have a chance to critically apply this knowledge to a rural region of your choice.
Topics we’ll cover:
Week 2: Mapping Opportunities in Rural Regions with Trend Analysis
You will learn to distinguish trends relevant to a specific rural area and the ways they may have a positive effect. Trend analysis is a tool not only to understand the present challenges, but also to develop strategies to counteract negative effects.
Topics we’ll cover:
Week 3: Understanding the issue of access to land
We will explore the importance of land for rural development strategies. Access to rural land is governed by complex mechanisms that strongly influence economic and agricultural development. You will learn to analyze the context of access to land and to select appropriate intervention possibilities.
Topics we’ll cover:
Week 4: Identifying promising practices for new generations
In rural areas, many economic activities and social practices are emerging that can represent a potential starting point for rural development. This week you will learn how to identify these promising practices and to analyze their potential for transferability in relation to your own region.
Topics we’ll cover:
Week 5: Developing strategies and actions for rural regions
After discovering the economy of rural regions, land management, demographic dynamics, trends and promising practices, this week you will learn about the tools to translate this knowledge into actions aimed at positive change for rural regions - such as strategies, policies and programs.
You will have the chance to evaluate the outputs of the previous four weeks and propose a strategy and actions for a rural region of your choice.
Topics we’ll cover in this week:
Professor in Land Development at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the Delft University of Technology • Delft University of Technology
Research Director at Finland Futures Research Centre • University of Turku, Finland
Postdoctoral Researcher with the RURALIZATION project at the Rural Studies Centre within the Discipline of Geography • University of Galway, Ireland