REGIONS ON THE RISE

REGIONS ON THE RISE focuses on fresh concepts and rethought design approaches to understand and plan rural regions. Our age of urbanisation has focussed primarily on city inhabitants, while developments in rural areas drifted into the background. As a result, a binary differentiation between centre and periphery no longer took (inter)dependencies into account. Conceptual understandings of the region as only a supportive hinterland for the city appear invalid, out of date and ineffective; as are the design and planning tools and instruments grown from this thinking.

Rather, as an examination of recent generations of economic, environmental and rec- reational activities in the rural region can demonstrate, the region is built upon spatial interdependencies that are increasingly autonomous of the city. The goal of the theme is to identify and highlight strategies for the development of a future sustainable rural area, connected to the metropolitan areas and cities in the digital age.

Society, these days, is fundamentally questioning the various processes and practic-
es that agriculture had developed under the pressure of the producer prices and cost savings. The lost knowledge about modern agriculture and animal husbandry is now followed by a phase of new appreciation and increased interest in supply, animal welfare and sustainability. The interrelationship between rural production and urban culture is increasingly being placed in the centre of society. This includes awareness in the con- text of urban agriculture, local markets, organic food stores, regional and seasonal con- sciousness and ecological strategies, as well as a new density and rising consumption.

What choices, offers and services are needed to identify a new regional confidence and create an attractive environment for the next generation of rural citizens? How can new visions and opportunities for a circular economy and local products be created?