Chapter: 5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services ...apps.thueringen.de/.../5.2.2_transnational_strategy_for_public_services...Content 5. General thoughts and structure about

European Territorial Cooperation Objective

CENTRAL EUROPE Programme

European Rural Futures

New Opportunities to secure the provision of public services in rural cities and municipalities

EURUFU - WP 5 – Joint strategy:Recommendations and solutions for rural areas in Central Europe

Chapter:5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services in rural cities and towns

The Eurufu StrategyBy Philipp Vesely, Manuela Brückler and Robert KrasserSIR - Salzburg Institute for Regional Planning and HousingCommunity DevelopmentA-5020 Salzburg / Schillerstraßen 25 / Stiege NordZVR: 724966124Tel.: +43 662 623455 / Fax: +43 662 623455-15Email: [email protected]:manuela.brü[email protected]: [email protected]

Content

5. General thoughts and structure about Work package 5 ..........................................................45.1.1 Transferability. Categorization for transferability. ..........................................................9

What are the elements of transferability? How can it be categorized? ..................................................................9How are the pilot actions evaluated regarding to transferability? .......................................................................22How can the pilot actions be overall evaluated? What is useful for transferability? (LAMORO, 2010) ...............22Pilot sites: ............................................................................................................................................................37Where are the limitations of this evaluation? .......................................................................................................49Rural Areas ..........................................................................................................................................................51Categorization: .....................................................................................................................................................55

5.1.2 Adaptation for destination regions ................................................................................66Typology of rural regions .....................................................................................................................................66How can the results of the pilot actions be adapted? ..........................................................................................66

5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services in rural cities and towns .........................73Meeting of Stakeholders ......................................................................................................................................73New opportunities to secure the provision of public services in rural cities and municipalities ...........................86Problems ..............................................................................................................................................................87What are the elements of transnational strategies for public services in rural cities and towns? ........................92

5.2.3 Eurufu tool ........................................................................................................................96Regionalmanagement ........................................................................................................................................100

5.3.1-3 Preparation of adoption for implementation of Eurufu tool in municipalities ..... 111How can the guideline be extended to the rest of the EU rural regions (central)? ............................................ 111How can an adapted action plan for the selected municipalities look like? ...................................................... 112How the capitalization works? Is there a financing support? ............................................................................. 112

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 114Table of Figures ...................................................................................................................... 115List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... 117

Partner No.

Name Organisation City/Country

LP Klaus Bongartz TMBLV Erfurt, DETillmann Scholbach TMBLV Erfurt, DE

PP2 Jörn Berding FHE Erfurt, DEPP2 Attila Lüttmerding FHE Erfurt, DEPP2 Matthias Gather FHE Erfurt, DEPP2 Guillermo Pablos FHE Erfurt, DEPP2 Christine Große FHE Erfurt, DEPP3 Petra Ludwigova Ústí Region Ústí nad Labem, CZPP3 Jan Kadraba Ústí Region Ústí nad Labem, CZPP3 Josef Mares Ústí Region Ústí nad Labem, CZPP6 Nikolett Kantz CTRDA SzekesfehervarPP6 Janos Juhasz CTRDA SzekesfehervarPP6 Tamas Molnar CTRDA SzekesfehervarPP7 Sonia Abluton LaMoRo Asti, ITPP7 Umberto Fava LaMoRo Asti, ITPP8 Rok Simenic RA Sora Škofja Loka, SIPP8 Jerneja Lotric RA Sora Škofja Loka, SIPP9 Nuša Žibert BC Naklo Strahinj, SIPP9 Martina Kramarič BC Naklo Strahinj, SIPP9 Tina Kosir BC Naklo Strahinj, SI

Tomaz Cör AASPP10 Steffan Ressler EUREM Zeltweg, ATPP10 Johanna Kaltenegger EUREM Zeltweg, AT

5.2.2 transnational strategy for publiC serviCes in rural Cities and towns

Meeting of Stakeholders

Before preparing the final action plan and guideline a meeting of stakeholders were orga-nised in Asti. The duration of the meeting was two days and around 50 people took part. Below the minutes and results are to be found.

List of Participants:

73By SIR | Gemeindeentwicklung Salzburg | Philipp Vesely | Robert Krasser | Manuela Brückler

EURUFU5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services in rural cities and towns

PP11 Daniel Luchowsky Municipality BD Brzeg Dolny, PLPP11 Anna Gawarecka -

SiewrukMunicipality BD Brzeg Dolny, PL

PP12 Csilla Hoffmann ONEP Budapest, HUPP12 Bence Mészáros ONEP Budapest, HU

Julio A. del Pino Artacho UNED Madrid, ESFranc Vidic GEA College Ljubljana, SICarla Carlucci Ministry of Economic

DevelopmentRome, IT

Maria A. Guerizzo Ministry of Economic Development

Rome, IT

Verena Peer BoKU Uni Vienna Vienna, ATKinga Kerekes Banes Bolay Univer-

sityCluj-Napoca, RO

Noelia Morales Romo Uni Salamanca Salamanca, ESKathy Walsh KW Research Dublin, IRFrancesco Scalfari Uni Asti Asti, ITGiorgio Garrone Uni Asti Asti, ITFranc Vidic GEA CollegeVerena Peer BoKU Uni Vienna Vienna, ATKinga Kerekes Banes Bolay Univer-

sityCluj, RO

Kathy Walsh KW Research Dublin, IR



PP11 Daniel Luchowsky Municipality BD Brzeg Dolny, PLPP11 Anna Gawarecka -

SiewrukMunicipality BD Brzeg Dolny, PL

PP12 Csilla Hoffmann ONEP Budapest, HUPP12 Bence Mészáros ONEP Budapest, HU

Julio A. del Pino Artacho UNED Madrid, ESFranc Vidic GEA College Ljubljana, SICarla Carlucci Ministry of Economic

DevelopmentRome, IT

Maria A. Guerizzo Ministry of Economic Development

Rome, IT

Verena Peer BoKU Uni Vienna Vienna, ATKinga Kerekes Banes Bolay Univer-

sityCluj-Napoca, RO

Noelia Morales Romo Uni Salamanca Salamanca, ESKathy Walsh KW Research Dublin, IRFrancesco Scalfari Uni Asti Asti, ITGiorgio Garrone Uni Asti Asti, ITFranc Vidic GEA CollegeVerena Peer BoKU Uni Vienna Vienna, ATKinga Kerekes Banes Bolay Univer-

sityCluj, RO

Kathy Walsh KW Research Dublin, IR

Day 1 (Venue: University, Asti): 13:00-18:00

EURUFU Scientific Conference: opportunities in rural areas

Minutes:

14:00 Welcome and moderation by Prof. Matthias Gather, Transport and Spatial Planning Institute of the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt

14:10 Dr. Noelia Morales Romo (ES)

Rural schools in Spain. Past, present and future: A sociological framework.

Objectives:

• Analyse rural schools in Spain from a sociological viewpoint • Study the past, present and future of rural schools in Spain• Establish differences between rural and urban schools• Identify changes to cover needs in rural schools

Conclusions:

• Rural schools have dramatically changed last decades. • Differences between rural and urban schools have reduced in terms of resources and quality

of education (some of the main problems mentioned by studies in the 70s and 80s).• There is a lack of continuous training for rural school teachers aiming to keep pace with new

didactical approaches, with the use of new technologies in the classroom, with dealing with diversity, and for professional development.

Future:

• Differences between rural and urban schools are due to environment rather than to the school itself. Its law regulations, teaching hours, curriculum, courses, tutorials, etc. are the same in theory. In practice, teachers working in small schools have to make adaptations to cover the needs of their students.

• Heterogeneity of rural schools and its uncertain future in some areas make difficult to predict the future of these schools.



• Educational policies supported on teachers experience, and the insertion of new technolo-gies will be key to its evolution.

• New technologies seem to have more and more importance among rural teachers. Inter-views show how technologies are seen as a mechanism for reducing differences between rural and urban education.

14:35 Dr. Verena Peer (AT)

The impact of decentralized rural Higher Education Infrastructure (HEI) on the migration behaviour of highly qualified – empirical evidence from Austria

Background

• Demographic change is one of the most crucial challenges rural regions are facing: low birth rates, aging and outmigration

• Especially the outmigration of highly qualified young inhabitants has several negative ef-fects on the rural community

• the declining number of population has negative effects on the financial situation of the com-munity

• the absence of employment record within the community has an influence on the municipal tax

• the family founders are missing as inhabitants, who themselves request certain services on a regular basis

• the regional potential to innovate is declining.

Task

• Investigation of graduates of three selected decentralized HEIs in rural regions in Austria, striving to elaborate the factors that influence their decision to stay or to move.

Results

• The interest for a certain study programme dominates the decision for a certain HEI• The orientation phase on the job market is marked by the available information, personal

priorities and subjective estimations



• From the willingness to move to the realised mobility – entrance into working life the urban areas seem to dominate as working place, nevertheless communities in rural areas and in suburban areas are still preferred as residential location

Conclusions

• The ‘rurality’ of a region is not per se a push factor for highly qualified graduates • The willingness and ability to move varies between female and male graduates as well as

between different fields of study => this has to be taken into account when thinking about possibilities to influence the (out)migration behaviour

• The decentralization of HEIs alone will not be sufficient to impede these trends towards out-migration of young highly qualified graduates

Nevertheless the presence of HEIs can be an incentive for regional development as they:• Are part of the “soft” location factors of a region and thus have influence on the quality of

location• HEIs attract investments in other areas e.g. services, sports and leisure facilities• HEIs influence the image of a region• HEIs broaden the spectrum of education and education possibilities• HEIs are themselves attractive employees

15:00 Dr. Franc Vidic (SI)

Entrepreneurship and sustainable development

Thesis

• Knowledge has to become the key economic resource and the dominant – and perhaps even the only – source of competitive advantage.

• Knowledge based success is a multi-dimensional construct of various variables and their specifics: personal traits, social environment and the possibilities of transferring personal potential.



16:00 Kinga Kerekes (RO)

How realistic is to achieve the “smart growth” goal in Romanian rural areas?

Objective

• To identify the major disadvantages of Romanian rural areas compared to urban areas, res-pective to the ‘smart growth’ objective of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy

Rural Disadvantages

• high proportion of elderly and low proportion of working age population• low level of education and difficult access to high school education• poorly diversified local economy, depending upon agriculture• importance of self-employment and prevalence of part-time work• lower incomes and higher poverty incidence than in urban areas• limited range of job opportunities in the rural areas, both quantitatively and qualitatively• almost no R&D activities are located in the rural areas

Recommendations

• Ensure access to quality education for rural children, also in remote areas• Organise pre-school, primary and secondary school education where the children live• Support rural children attending high school• Education (inclusive literacy courses) and vocational training for those over 18 years of age

tackled at programme level (preferably within the official system of education)• Job creation in: producers groups (crops and animal breeding), agricultural services, proces-

sing of agricultural products, services for the local population, tourism, banking and financial services, retail

16:25 Dr. Kathy Walsh (IE)

Employment and inclusion in rural Ireland: A fresh start

Objective

• Capture key trends and issues in rural communities in Ireland arising from the economic contraction post-2008 (examining newly-available 2011 NUTS 3 level census data)



• Make recommendations to address employment and related social inclusion issues in rural Ireland

Findings

• Need to consider the use of broader definitions of rural that consider the relationships with rural areas and the towns that service them

• The Irish experience is that the nature of employment and inclusion in rural areas has dra-matically changed with ‘Towns 3000-5,000 faring worse’ than many other places…..

16:50 Sabrina Lucattelli, Maria Allessandra Guerizzio, Carla Carlucci (IT)

A strategy for “Inner areas” in Italy

Background

• The greater part of Italian territory is characterized by small towns and villages which often have restricted access to essential services.

• We define these territories “Inner areas”, that is, areas far away from large and medium-sized urban centers, and from their associated infrastructure.

• Italy is developing a National Strategy in favour of Inner Areas with the final aim of improving the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in its relatively isolated and spar-sely populated areas.

Characterization

Availability and access to basic services: Education, Healthcare, Transport and Commu-nications

• negative impact of geographical and demographic features of inner areas on the availability and accessibility to basic services (education, health, transport and communications);

• the lack of such services makes these territories less ‘appealing’ to live (younger people of working age).

The Department of Development and Economic Cohesion is working on the final draft of a National Strategy for the development of Inner areas within the Country.



Aims of the strategy:

• put back Inner areas in a strategic position for the Country, the Regions, the Municipalities • set up a set of interconnected projects focused on few selected priority fields of intervention

and linked with the ordinary policy.

Remarks

The Strategy recognizes heterogeneity of Inner Areas, but also their common features and trends that makes necessary a common national policy – with complex multilevel gover-nance- , from the very North to the South of the Country.The future of the strategy will be strictly linked to:

• the political commitment, both at national and regional level; • the capability to find out simple and transparent operational solutions;• the clear set up of measurable results; • shared approach (the Federation);• involvement of local Authorities and Communities.

Day 2 (Venue: Camber of Commerce, Asti)9:00 – 13:00 EURUFU Meets Stakeholders and ScientistsWelcome by host and Lead PartnerPresentation of selected Pilot actions

Presentation of pilot action improving the situation on local labour market by language courses and job fair in Usti Region

Feedback to language courses

• Great demand of local innhabitants to participate• Overall very positively accepted by local innhabitants and actors• Not fully successful activization of clients (Job Centre sent many not enough motivated and

not well suited clients – esp. socially excluded Roma people)• To short for most clients/ to small progress made by clients



Feedback to job fair

• Positive feeling about high number of participants• Many jobseekers were well prepared (esp. as a result of language courses)• Representatives of Job Agencies found many jobseekers suitable for getting a job• Lack of German language knowledge (majority of clients very limited or no knowledge)

Combination of language courses and job fair is the right measure for the pilot region.Language skills might push the people abroad.

Presentation of Training Program “Discover innovative solutions to sustainable development” in Gorenska Region, Slovenia

Overall Aim: • Foster the Sustainable development in the region: environmental, economic and socialopili-

tical sustainability. • Meet and connect the aims and needs of Environment - Local people – Future (ELF).• Discover job opportunities in local area – to stay people at rural area

Experiences from implementing pilot action

• developed on the basis of business opportunities of local area (wood, tourism, food, supple-mentary activities)

• possible connection of unemployed people and the pilot program with Employment Services, Active employment policy

• good starting points of participants in their self-employment process• motivated participants in the selection process of Employment service – include at the Active

employment policy (5.000 EUR grant)

The results of training program:

Numbers of participants:

• 2012– 27 (17 from ESS)• 2013 - 28 (26 from ESS)



Numbers of realised self-employments:

• 2012 – 10 (4 employments, 6 self-employments)• 2013 – 13 (5 employments, 8 self-employments)

Presentation of Pilot Action Triple I Individual Innovation Intelligence and Regio Talents

Target• solving regional innovation challenges by enabling the individual & collective innovation in-

telligence

Content• development & implementation of a training-program for innovation-skills + collaboration bet-

ween generations

•implementation of pilot action “Zukunfts-Stubn’n Weißkrichen” on 09th and 10th November 2012

• main question: “How can families and trucks move safely within the community?” • 18 participants involved • various press releases and online-reports • results: • 9 ideas for “save mobility in Weißkirchen”

activities for transfer

• acquisition of 2 transfer-projects incl. full funding achieved (Naturpark Zirbitzkogel-Greben-zen, Stadtgemeinde Judenburg)

• networking-activities and planning in order to implement a “Summer-Camp RegioLab Ta-lents” as extension and anchorement of “Triple I”



Presentation of Pilot Action Adult Education in Biotechnical Centre Naklo

Purpose:

• Provide useful educational theoretical and practical contents that can lead to greater emplo-yability and social inclusion in rural areas

• Reactivate /motivate population in rural areas to recognize unexploited opportunities of rural areas

• To encourage development of supplementary and service activities which are integrate with the tradition and preservation of cultural and natural heritage of rural areas

Developed material:• 5 catalogues of knowledge - goals and competences of individual modules are defined in for

each individual unit/module• Implementation curriculum• 5 scripts – theoretical content• Learning material – during implementation

Competences developed:

• Self- reliance, Self-promotion, Creativity, Innovative approaches, Attitude to cooperate, Sha-re ideas and work in common interests, Skills of public performance….

Introduction of Stakeholder Problems in their practical work regarding pilot actions

Role of Slovenian Agricultural Advisory Service in education, local economy and job crea-tion in rural areas

AAS should be the link of knowledge transfer between scientists and farmers.Problems AAS is facing in the field of education, local economy and job creation in rural areas:



• Small farms with a lot of plots, 80 % of UAA in LFA; • Low level of formal education of the farm owners; • Conservative older population; • Computer illiteracy of farm owners; • Liberal (sometime suicidal) economic approach of the younger population without wider pic-

ture for strategic or sustainable development; • Lack of entrepreneurship – not many of them dare; • Lack of economic data for the farms.

What was different for us in EURUFU pilot project?

• Possibility to choose the participants. • Highly motivated group. • Not only farmers in the group so we heard a lot of different ideas. • Participants were able to work with the computer.

Adult Education in Biotech Centre Naklo BC Naklo is a central institution in Gorenjska region regarding education in the fields of agriculture, gardening, floristic, food processing and nature care.

Adult education department: 3 employees Formal education (13 diff. programs, cca. 120 participants) Informal education (cca. 150 courses and cca. 3000 participants)

Advantages:

• Lifelong learning• Satisfying different needs for knowledge• Learning practical skills• Individual approach• Advising people• Good infrastructure



Needs and Considerations

• Researches of educational needs• Researches of knowledge usefulness• Lack of money and time are among most frequent obstacles for participation in educational

programs• Features of the participants

Frequently bad experiences with educationUnderestimation of general education Deficient of literacy skills and fundamental knowledgeLower flexibility Deficient recognition of their potential and opportunities in the environment.

Advantage of organized learning

• motivating and encouraging people for education and to put their ideas into practice• equiping people with appropriate knowledge and skills• showing them the examples of good practice• connecting people • raising awareness of their potential and possibilities in the environment

Programs developed in project EURUFU can be an answer to that.


EURUFU 5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services in rural cities and towns

European Rural Futures – New opportunities to secure the provision of public services in rural cities and municipalities

Introduction

Demographic change as a global issue affects the rural regions in whole Europe. More people now live in cities than in rural regions. To many people, especially to the young and the educated, urban areas are more attractive than rural regions. Even though the rural areas offer lower building and land prices, a lower cost of living and better quality of life there is a massive loss of population. The consequences include empty local shops, a drop-off in local business, unappealing town centres, increased traffic (through-traffic), in-creasing anonymity in villages, disappearing communal life and long-term loss of identity. More and more, rural regions are no longer able to fulfil the requirements of daily life. Good transportation links with the conurbation make it possible to commute by car everyday, which results in more traffic and turns rural areas into dormitories. Their residents mainly live their social lives (shopping, culture, friends, leisure time etc.) in the conurbation, only returning to their homes to sleep.

The overall goal of EURUFU is to promote actions for the provision of innovative solutions to reinstall or restructure services and infrastructure in shrinking regions and cities and thus support the sustainable development of rural regions by developing and adapting integrated measure and strategies for regional problems at transnational level.

The EURUFU pilot actions attempt to suggest innovative measures for motivating and acti-vating public institutions, local government authorities, regional stakeholders and the inha-bitants themselves to seize the opportunities that have been indicated by the experience. The aim is strengthening attractiveness and inhibiting rural exodus by reactivating local economies and social infrastructure. Innovative corporate solutions and social creative strategies for consolidating social fabric will stimulate the youngsters to stay in the region.



Characteristics of EURUFU regions in brief

• Rural exodus• Ageing small villages• Lack of services or general interest and mobility (especially for elderly people)• Young unemployment• Small farms are increasingly unable to survive due to declining income, agricultural political

and subsidy mechanisms• Ethnic minorities (only in some of the EURUFU regions)

Due to these characteristics, EURUFU regions are subject to various disadvantages that are detrimental to overall appeal, quality of life and local creation of added value.

Problems

The problems ascertained in Central European rural regions, in EURUFU pilot actions and analysis can be broken down into the following categories:

1. Demographic Change

The main challenge of rural areas is ageing population, generational turnover and hu-man capital qualification. Because EURUFU regions lack variety, jobs and overall appeal, young, active, creative and well-educated people in particular are drawn (brain-drained) to the big city. The elderly and families with children (with the parents frequently commu-ting), stay on in the EURUFU region. The latter „sleep“ in the small town but do not „live“ there. Many commuters barely participate in the town‘s social life and have no interest in its development.

Brain drain is a major problem in many rural areas. The absence of job opportunities in the field of their expertice is a big constraint for young people especially for academics trying to move back to their native country or region. A vicious circle begins when young people move to more attractive urban areas. Then there are not enough children to finance proper education and daycare facilities for children, which are important criteria for young families when deciding to move into the region.



Village centres with their old buildings are at risk of dying while at the edge sprawling de-velopments are setting in. Young people are needed in the villages as they are the future generation who keep the area alive. The strengths of rural areas are the scenery with its calmness and the high quality of living, which is not comparable to urban areas characte-rized by pressure and noise.

2. Business & Commerce, local economy and job opportunities

The market in general is increasingly dominated by retail chains, therefore individual retai-lers in EURUFU regions and towns are unable to compete and are forced to shut down, despite having an important role to play in the town‘s character, identity and vitality. Retail chains cause deficits in the sector mix and the diversity of products and services available. In particular there is often a lack of ranges targeted specifically at young people. However, a strong, innovative merchants‘ association can help businesses in direct competition with shopping malls to survive.The availability of suitable jobs is the main incentive for people, especially the young and highly skilled professionals to remain in the rural region. The focus has to be on adding value in the rural region or at least on the prevention of development decrease. Some EU-RUFU pilot actions were supporting business performance linked with the regional cultural and natural heritage with the aim of developing an innovative approach to launch new (or relaunch traditional) products, goods, projects and job opportunities based on regional products (e.g. green economy, organic farming). The common point of matter here is the establishment of sustainable partner networks.

3. Quality of life; overall appeal

The decreasing economic and demographic development in rural areas can lead to a further problem in small towns and villages; they run the risk of losing their attractiveness and vivid appearance. When enterprises move to agglomerations, the labour market in rural areas deteriorates, and regional creation of added value decreases. Municipalities often lack the financial means for infrastructure measures such as remodelling of the villa-ge square, or construction of roads, sewers and schools. Town centres therefore become deserted and unappealing, and their quality as destinations deteriorates. This can turn into a vicious circle, causing further companies to close. Due to this lack of overall appeal, communal events and activities such as markets, cultural events and festivals in the town centre disappear.



4. Mobility and public transport

Mobility is a problematic issue in EURUFU regions as the main means of transport is the private car. Thus a sustainable, efficient public transport system is needed. Several EU-RUFU pilot actions have supplied recommendations and solutions for the improvement of the public transport system, alternative means of transport in rural cities and regions, redesign of traffic ways in villages and small towns that suffer from rural exodus, linked with social, cultural and health initiatives, people-to-people networks and training activities.

Mobility levels are basically higher in rural regions (average figure for Austria: approxi-mately 600 passenger vehicles per 1000 inhabitants) than in urban agglomeration. Since public transport is insufficiently attractive, many inhabitants use private cars to commute to the agglomerations. In recent decades, regional transport planning has mainly been oriented to motorised individual transport. Average commute times have been reduced by building the roads into the agglomerations in star-shaped layouts. Anticipated com-mute distances are based not on absolute distances but rather on the time required to cover the distance in question. Improving transport infrastructure reduces commute times and makes commuting more attractive. Because of this orientation to motorised individual transport, the number of parking spaces in the centres of small and medium towns has in-creased steadily. For pedestrians and cyclists this has a significant impact on the utilisation options, safety and destination quality of public space. Among specialists, the saying „sow streets, reap traffic“ has been familiar for over thirty years, but it has been and continues to be disgracefully neglected by decision-makers.

5. Regional and urban planning; regional structure

Uncontrolled development is one of the main issues in Central European rural areas. The main problem in regional planning is that within towns there is too little space for the expan-sion of businesses that require increasing amounts of space (and have larger businesses associated with them). Due to the lack of limitations, unsatisfactory planning permission policy, and the question of user convenience (e.g availability of parking spaces, lot costs, architecture), numerous large buildings are erected on the edges of towns.Poor municipal planning and policies (bad governance) are mainly to blame for these prob-lems. Over the past twenty years in many EURUFU regions, supermarkets have frequently been built on „green land“, outside historic town centres. Larger cities have shopping mall



statutory orders that are supposed to prevent shopping malls from being built in periurban areas. However, they get built, due to poor regional policy, negotiating tricks on the part of retail chains, and unsatisfactory application of legislation. In many countries the large retail chains are powerful and can put pressure on small municipalities. Local politicians tend to prioritize job growth in their municipality. Shopping malls on the edges of towns are therefore frequently tolerated, to ensure jobs do not migrate, perhaps to neighbouring municipalities.

6. Tourism

In tourism, it is generally the case that rural areas and small towns are insufficiently attrac-tive to compete with large metropolises. The only exceptions are winter sports locations and thermal regions with unique selling points. Moreover, some of the EURUFU regions are becoming less and less attractive than big cities due to changes in visitor behaviour. Holidays are becoming shorter and more spontaneous, tourists more demanding. In EU-RUFU regions accommodation is frequently on a small scale and run as a family business, and thus unable to build infrastructure of a high standard. There are few regular guests and bookings are often made at short notice. Furthermore, some EURUFU regions have a large number of secondary residencies. Residents of large cities use these second homes for relaxation and at weekends, for a total of just a few weeks a year. Meanwhile local au-thorities have to build the necessary infrastructure and maintain it throughout the year. For many municipalities this is a major financial expense that barely pays off.

Nevertheless tourism must be considered as a big opportunity for all EURUFU pilot sites and maybe for all rural areas in whole Central Europe as well. Rural regions have a huge potential for developing sustainable “soft” tourism measures which can be linked with the whole regional context concerning sustainable public transport systems, local economy and job opportunities, regional products, quality of life, etc.



Solutions

The fact EURUFU regions near large cities tending to be less and less attractive have been discussed extensively in many publications in the last twenty years. At the end of the 1990s many of these regions were developing countermeasures, in a variety of fields and at different levels. Many municipalities and rural regions are trying to address the problem via regional planning and transport planning. Others are trying to enhance the overall appeal of town centres via classic town centre marketing measures such as business im-provement districts and town centre management. Some municipalities are also trying to enhance community life in villages via social activities, festivals, events, and sports („soft“ location factors).

Over decades inhabitants were meant to leave all tasks to the local authority, but a new paradigm needs to be evolved. Power structures are changing, which is welcomed by the local authorities. Communities don’t have the money to care for everything and rely more and more on active, dedicated inhabitants. This leads to develop a step-by-step and botten-up approach with a wide range of variety, adapted to the particular circumstances of each village, community or region. As shown in the EURUFU pilot actions a network with all involved regional and local stakeholders was established. This helps to strengthen the local communities and their social capital, to enhance the acceptance of the implemented measures to solve the particular problems and to achieve sustained success.

EURUFU as a project and strategy aims to implement decision making tools and metho-dologies for local stakeholders and policy makers.



What are the elements of transnational strategies for public services in rural cities and towns?

In WP4 a short EURUFU model is introduced. Sustainable rural development itself is a very complex topic changing one component can make it worse. Like the issue mobility, an inadequate structure can be very negative for the region, but it is covering the region from the negative effects of globalization. Removing this protection by building up an effective system which support mobility without strengthen the economy will make the situation much worse.

There is no unique solution it only can be transferred until a certain point. The EURUFU project points out by providing different innovative ideas and solutions the complexity of this topic. Furthermore it carried out that change in an environment doesn’t happen from alone, it need normally an impulse.

In all pilot actions an interaction with the stakeholders happened. This approach has been proven in the Pilot Actions that this access should be enhanced.



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Chapter: 5.2.2 Transnational strategy for public services ...apps.thueringen.de/.../5.2.2_transnational_strategy_for_public_services...Content 5. General thoughts and structure about