Open Seminar Alcalá, Spain, June 9-10 2010

Open Seminar Alcalá, Spain, June 9-10 2010 Interactive Workshop: EDORA (European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas)

The EDORA Project Objectives(According to the Specification) …to describe the main processes of change which are resulting in the increasing differentiation of rural areas. …to identify development opportunities and constraints for different kinds of rural areas… …to consider how such knowledge can be translated into guiding principles to support the development of appropriate cohesion policy.

The EDORA Project

Policy Rationale from “First Principles”… • Rural policy a long contested issue, strong traditions – need to rethink policy rationale from “first principles”. • …Not from “stylised fallacies” (half-true stereotypes?)… • Rural = Agrarian • The “rural exodus”… • Rural dependency culture… • Rural labour markets dominated by secondary segment, poor human capital, low activity rates, disguised unemployment… • Rural areas are not good environments for entrepreneurship and innovation… • The impacts of globalisation are predominantly negative in rural areas… • …But rather from EDORA generalisations: i.e Meta-Narratives of change, and Typologies of regions. • “Turning Diversity into Strength” means that we need to be careful to make generalisations at the right level only… always respecting the uniqueness of individual areas.

The EDORA Meta-Narratives • Overarching theme of increasing “CONNEXITY” • Agri-centric narrative (post-productivism, structural polarisation, mutifunctionality etc). • Urban-rural (core-periphery) narrative. • Economic Structural Change and Globalisation…

The EDORA Cube(Patterns of Differentiation) • …more of a three-dimensional framework for analysis, rather than a one-dimensional classification. • The three dimensions are: • Urban-Rural (remote/accessible) • Economic structure (diversification). • Accumulation – • Depletion • (performance).

Accumulation - Depletion Urban-Rural Economic Structure The Three Typologies…

Basic Rural Cohesion Policy Antecedents…(…derived from the Conceptual and Empirical Phases of EDORA) Space and Geography • Connexity  Rural-Global links are of increasing importance. • Relational/Organisational Space are increasingly important concepts. • But remoteness/peripherality and Euclidean space is still influential. Scope of Rural Cohesion Policy Needs to: • Recognise how far economic restructuring has progressed… • Adapt to big differences between different parts of Europe – macro scale patterns (Structural typology). Agrarian E and S, Consumption Countryside in N and W, NRE in W Cent., Manufacturing in E Cent. • Consider local development contexts/environments (hard and soft aspects). Appropriate Governance/Implementation Structures: • Diversity  flexible (endogenous?) approaches. • Coherence – abolish “sectoral silos”. • Territorial Cooperation (R-U, R-R, and R-G)

“Development Opportunities”…(… in the sense of activities which have growth potential…) Different “menus” in different kinds of rural area… • Agrarian – Para- or Peri-Productivism, diversification…. • Consumption Countryside – economic activity based upon environmental public goods (amenities) tourism, recreation… • Diversified (Strong Secondary) – structural shift towards higher value, information based activities, and market services… • Diversified (Strong Market Services) – “New Rural Economy” – similar opportunity set to that of urban and peri-urban economies. Attractive for residential development –QoL…. • All of these opportunities have different characteristics, in terms of labour market impacts, future prospects etc. • Analysis of specific opportunities will inevitably be partial and ephemeral. • Each region has a unique combination of resources and opportunities… • Globalisation and “Connexity” means that increasingly the opportunities are ubiquitous, and development is determined by “the supply side”; i.e. regional resources, assets or “territorial capital”. • This should be the principal focus of Rural Cohesion Policy.

Balanced Development based on Territorial Capital • Asset-based development (7 capitals approach) • Camagni Territorial Capital

BalancedRuralDevelopment based on Territorial Capital Rural cohesion policy should aim to support the exploitation of the full range of regional assets (forms of capital) not just the “traditional” ones.

The Role of Territorial Cooperation • Focus is upon various kinds of network. • Need to distinguish “networks OF development” from “networks FOR development”. • City region, functional region concepts tend to focus attention on urban end of the relationship, and benefits to rural areas tend to be postulated or assumed, rather than analysed (trickle down?). • Need to understand more about the (U-R, R-R and R-G) processes, and how to maximise the R benefits. • EDORA exploring this through two case studies: • Business networks - knowledge economy • Food chain networks – collective competencies • It’s a huge subject, complex, and with many definitional issues. • Probably mostly towards the soft/public goods corner….

Dissemination Strategy Underpinning Knowledge Transfer… • Summary Brochure – Policy Briefing. • Launched at presentation in Brussels (November?) • More in-depth “monograph” published by Nordregio • Copies of Policy Briefing and Monograph to be distributed to MEPs, CoR, etc. • National Briefing Workshops? • EDORA indicators available through ESPON database. • Presentations at ESPON Seminars, and elsewhere as invited. • Journal articles, book? etc.

…Thank you for your attention.

Open Seminar Alcalá, Spain, June 9-10 2010