Episode 13: Outcast or attractive after all?

02.02.2023

„Villages are much more than the substitute space for cities. Several elements that stand for quality of life are much better developed there than in the cities..“
Dr. Thomas Dax, Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research, Vienna

At one time, villages are supposedly on the verge of extinction; at another, the village is the place for the better life. In times of rising rents and property prices, and exacerbated once again by the Corona pandemic and lockdowns, the seven largest cities in Germany are experiencing population losses. In contrast, rural regions - even far away from the big cities - are experiencing growth rates for the first time in years. For the municipalities, this development is both a curse and a blessing. For life in the countryside is also becoming more expensive: property prices are rising due to demand, a large number of ageing people need care close to home, there is a lack of fast internet for home offices and local public transport for commuting. This lack of infrastructure leads to a large ecological footprint: a recent study by the OECD, for example, has shown that people living in rural areas leave behind three times as many climate-damaging traces as residents of cities. 

Annett Steinführer, a researcher at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies who deals with people who move to villages or small towns for various reasons, accordingly advocates looking at the overall package of living costs in rural areas and using this to develop concepts for sustainable village development. 

Thomas Dax also conducts research on regional development at the Austrian Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research. He has been observing positive migration balances for rural areas in Austria and in south-western Europe for 15 years. In Finland, every second person has a second home in a remote area and spends several months a year there. Multi-local living is becoming the norm, but also a challenge - again in terms of infrastructure.  

So do we need a master plan for rural areas or do they develop wonderfully without state guidance? Is the solution for densely populated urban areas to make the neighbouring rural areas more attractive, to equip them with the amenities of modern life - or is the village then already a city en miniature?