Rural Regions in Europe: Territorial Potentials and main Challenges

1. Rural Regions in Europe: Territorial Potentials and main Challenges Potentials of Rural Regions Marjan van Herwijnen ESPON Coordination Unit 15 December 2010

2. PURR: examples of smart rural areas • Content • The PURR Project • The PURR regions • The research • The expected results

3. The PURR Project • PURR: Potentials of Rural Regions • Priority 2 project: • Targeted Analysis based on User Demand • Contents of project function of Stakeholders’ demand • Stakeholders (2008): • Notodden Municipality, Norway • Amata (Cēsis) District Council, Latvia • North Yorkshire County Council, UK • Welsh Assembly Government, UK • Dumfries and Galloway Council, UK

4. The PURR Project • Aims of the project: • To create and test new ways of exploring the territorial potentials of Stakeholder regions – and develop a method • Combine quantitative information on European level with qualitative and quantitative local information • Based extensively on dialogue with Stakeholders • Can method be applied in other parts of Europe? • The Project Partners: • Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR), Norway • Department of Urban, Environmental and Leisure Studies, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences of the London South Bank University, UK • Vidzeme University College, Latvia

5. The PURR regions • Norway: • Nottoden municipality (in the Telemark NUTS3 region) • Latvia: • Amata District (in Vidzeme NUTS3 region) • UK: • Cambrian mountains (in Wales, 12 NUTS3 regions) • Dumfries and Galloway • North Yorkshire Telemark Vidzeme Dumfries & Galloway North Yorkshire CC Wales

6. The PURR regions

7. The PURR Regions • DPType • 21 = IA • 31 = PRA • 32 = PRR • SType • 1 = Agrarian economies • 2 = Consumption countryside • 4 = Diversified (with important Market Services Sector) • A-DType • 1 = Accumulating • 2 = Above Average • 3 = Below Average • 4 = Depleting

8. Notodden municipality (in Telemark, Norway) • Some facts: • Landscape:forest and agriculture • Late 1980: Two industrial companies shut down  >1000 people unemployed • Unemployment rate: 2.2% • Employment: 77% Tertiary sector • Commuting: 400 into and 400 out • Famous for: their black metal bands (Emperor, Mortiis, Peccatum, Star of ash, Leprous and Zyklon) 3224

9. Amata District (in Vidzeme, Latvia) • Some facts: • Landscape:Surrounded by national park;forest and agriculture • Late 1980: Two industrial companies shut down  >1000 people unemployed • Unemployment rate: 4.5% • Employment: 20% in agriculture;small companies in service and retail industries • Famous for: The Zvārte rock 3211

10. North Yorkshire CC (England) • Some facts: • Landscape:nature areas;protected landscapes;forest and agriculture • Settlements: Harrogate and Scarborough(York) • Unemployment rate: 4.1% • Employment: 86.1% (highest of UK) • Famous for: Rock-It-Ball which was developed here 2124

11. Dumfries & Galloway (Scotland) • Some facts: • Landscape:coastline;hills, lochs and valleys;small towns;nature reserves • Settlements: Dumfries and Gretna • Employment: agriculture and forestry;light industries; tourism;16.3% is self employed;92% of firms are micro-businesses (<10 empl.) • Famous for: many artists and writers James Matthew Barrie, author of Peter Pan 3142

12. Cambrian mountains (Wales) • Some facts: • Landscape:mountainous;agriculture • Settlements: Cardiff, Newport and Swansea • Unemployment rate: 3.9% • Employment: rural Wales: 72%management of woodland • Famous for: Devil's Bridge Waterfalls 3123

13. The PURR regions • Shared challenges: • Rural regions all outside the Pentagon • Peripheral regions • Sparsely populated regions • Rather poor accessibility • Problems of ageing and out- migration of young people • Characteristics: • Urban influence is relatively weak • Regions with market towns serving an agricultural hinterland • Relation between the towns and their countryside is important • Variations in accessibility • Extensive areas not connected to major road or rail networks

14. The Research • Benchmark Stakeholder regions in European context • Applying a magnifying glass to the region – what does it look like? • Collect more info from Stakeholder regions • Territorial assets, governance, policy integration • Develop innovative methodology for assessing territorial potential together with Stakeholders • Inductive methodology – developed ”as they go” • Template or guidelines • Test method by applying it to each Stakeholder region • Develop set of policy options for sustainable regional development in each Stakeholder region • The definition of ”sustainable” is currently being discussed. Might vary from region to region • Guideline on to develop and apply the method in other parts of Europe

15. The Expected Results • An Assessment of Territorial Potential in five stakeholder regions, including Policy Options (five reports) • A Synthesis of these five reports • A Template for assessing territorial potential • Should it be ”easy to use” by non-experts? • Can it also be applied on the European Scale? • Can it also be applied to more urban regions? • Typologies of Rural Territories, based on their territorial potential • Typologies of Policy Options for these regions • Seminars in March 2011 in Latvia and in September 2011 in Oslo

16. Thank you for your attention!