Suchergebnisse

Questions and issues about local development in the new Lander: Living conditions in rural areas
How to ensure basic services in rural areas where the population is ageing and decreasing? What effects do new population patterns and socioeconomic changes have on peripheral areas in the new German states? What political issues are at stake? The theory of "central places", which has been used to analyze and manage access to services, is unsatisfactory. A case study of the small Prignitz area draws attention to the flexibility and inventiveness of local initiatives for coping with the drawbacks of isolation and distance. It is necessary to pay more attention to local actors' ability to react. Demographic ageing and the requisite services provide an opportunity for studying this problem from a geographical dimension. Depending on the type of "space", the question of services for the elderly arises in radically different terms; and political issues change. To find solutions, close attention must be paid to the territorial, social and behavioral dimensions of these differences.