Suchergebnisse

Viele ländliche Gebiete Westeuropas sind in den beiden letzten Jahrzehnten nicht mehr allein von Abwanderung, sondern verstärkt von internationaler Zuwanderung geprägt. Da diese Veränderungen weitreichende Auswirkungen auf das Selbstverständnis der BewohnerInnen haben und eine Auseinandersetzung mit "fremden" Lebensentwürfen und kulturellen Zugängen beinhalten, ist eine angepasste Integrationsarbeit in der regionalen Entwicklungsarbeit von zentraler Bedeutung. War der Diskurs über Ländlichkeit bisher vor allem durch "Homogenität" und "Tradition" geprägt, so werden diese Vorstellungen von ländlicher Homogenität und Tradition durch die stetig positiven Zuwanderungsraten in die ländlichen Regionen Österreichs, aber auch in anderen westeuropäischen Ländern wie z. B. Italien, Frankreich, Deutschland und Großbritannien herausgefordert. Die zunehmende soziale Vielfalt an Menschen mit unterschiedlicher Herkunft, Sprache und Kultur wird auch im dörflichen Leben sichtbar und beginnt die anerkannten Werte der lokalen Gesellschaft zu beeinflussen. Die Ausweitung der internationalen Zuwanderung auf nahezu alle ländlichen Regionen Österreichs unterstreicht, dass dieses Wanderungsverhalten auch zu Änderungen in der sozio-kulturellen Struktur der ländlichen Gemeinschaften führt. Aus der steigenden Zahl von Projektbeispielen aus Österreich, die sich um die regionale Integrationsarbeit bemühen, werden Initiativen mit ihren Wirkungen auf die lokale Kultur präsentiert. Diese werden in jüngster Zeit bewusst im Rahmen des Programms zur ländlichen Entwicklung über die kleinregional fokussierten Maßnahmen der LEADER-Aktivitäten unterstützt. Darin geht es vor allem darum, wie in Auseinandersetzung mit der zunehmenden Internationalisierung der ländlichen Regionen neue Repräsentationen des Ländlichen entstehen können, die sich vor allem der (Weiter)Entwicklung der interkulturellen Kompetenz in einer Region im Rahmen einer proaktiven Regionalentwicklung widmen.

In recent years concern about social exclusion processes has reached also rural areas. The rising unemployment and the limited opportunities for young people have turned the attention of policy analysis to this social group and to processes of social exclusion under these specific regional conditions. The results presented are drawn from the EU-project "Policies and young people in rural development" under the 4th Framework programme (FAIR6 CT-98-4171) where different aspects of economic and social integration/exclusion of young people in rural areas and their recognition in rural development programmes of the EU has been analysed. The paper focuses on the scope to enhance the aspect of young people integration in rural/regional programmes. To this end, it starts with a presentation of the policy background and its evaluation, particularly with regard to its rising priority over the last EU-reforms. It continues with the investigation of selected exemplary cases of policy measures and initiatives specifically addressing young people in rural development provided by the seven project partners study areas. The concluding part draws on evaluation studies on rural development programmes all over the European Union with regard to youth participation and explores the scope for future strengthening of respective activities and inclusion of young people concerns in rural development programmes. Experiences from this analysis suggests that with fundamental changes in the market structures and relations programmes targeted at specific rural areas cannot neglect the emerging interrelations to other areas. Hence a rural policy addressing the needs of young people has to address directly its insertion into the regional framework and its relation to regional policy. (Paper for conference theme "Socio-economic cohesion and regional/local development", thematic area Socio-economic exclusion")

This collection of essays highlights how given Alpine territories in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland are currently facing challenges imposed by migration, the barriers and limitations they are encountering, and the extent to which migration triggers policy and territorial innovations that can generate beneficial impacts for both migrants and local inhabitants.Contributors here include practitioners and social workers who have experimented with innovative reception and integration pathways, as well as researchers with diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including geographers, sociologists, political scientists, social anthropologists, economists, and legal experts. The book draws on empirical and theoretical investigations, research actions implemented within the framework of large EU projects, and exploratory case studies and storylines of welcoming reception initiatives. It will appeal to practitioners, social scientists, and policy makers interested in both understanding the determinants that affect migrant exclusion and inclusion in Alpine territories and developing reception and integration initiatives of advantage to both sides when hosting asylum seekers in mountain areas.

This report presents the conceptual framework developed in the H2020 MATILDE project to analyze international migration processes towards rural and mountain areas. The publication's specific focus is on transdisciplinary concepts that are mobilized to examine the interactions of Third Country Nationals with local structures, institutions, and communities in this type of region. The report begins by providing working definitions of Third Country Nationals (TCNs), rural and mountain areas, as well as territory. It then moves on to elaborate conceptual frameworks relating to the specific interactions between newcomers and local communities in rural and mountain areas. The new mobilities paradigm is presented as an adequate concept to address both the local and regional variety of migration phenomena and related impacts. Processes of staying and attachment, commonly acknowledged as a prerequisite for evoking changes and impacts, are also elaborated. Migrants' interactions with places are pointed out, whilst the agency of migrants is highlighted as crucial in this context, along with migration governance. This report also provides an overview of concepts on the settlement of migrants and the individual's strife for participating in the economic, social, cultural, and political life of the host society. It subsequently introduces the migration-development nexus, both in conceptual terms and its manifestation in current European rural development policies. Finally, an outlook on the measurement of social, economic, and territorial impact, is given. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, the report combines insights from the disciplines of migration studies, sociology, geography, and rural studies.

If you want to know how the Alps area will look like in 2050 our ESPON project Alps 2050 is the best source of information. The project focused on the challenges the broader Alpine area is facing such as specific geographical position, globalisation, demographic trends, climate change and its impact on the environment, biodiversity, territorial pattern of activities and living conditions. The major challenge for the Alpine area is to balance economic development and environmental protection in a way that will ensure quality and sustainable living standards for its inhabitants.The Alps 2050 project developed a unique atlas, to project these challenges and develop spatial visions and perspectives for the Alpine region towards the year 2050. It visualises the existing data from the project that show structures, patterns and trends that contextualise the spatial development, to fuel the debate on territorial development in the Alps.What is evident when reading the Atlas is that the Alpine region is certainly a very dynamic region offering multiple opportunities for future development without focusing solely on growth dynamic. But the territorial development in the Alpine Region is complex and diverse. Different maps tell different stories as sometimes it is the morphological context that sets the picture, the contrast between urban and rural areas or the differences between North and South or East and West.This complexity underlines the fact that spatial development is not determined only by mountains and morphology, it is equally a political process open for political struggles, societal debates and democratic decisions.Policymakers should consider this reality in their designing of territorial strategies. From a transnational perspective, the parallels can be perceived as common challenges that stand in the heart of macro-regional strategy implementation. At the same time, regional and national differences can be a potential for diversity, best developed on political levels of the European multi-level system in ...