Catching up with RURALIZATION: Promoting a more populated, diverse and sustainable rural society
In 2019, the RURALIZATION(opens in new window) project set out to combat the unequal development of rural and urban areas. Its aim was to help develop a new rural frontier by overcoming population and economic decline and generating new opportunities for young people. To trigger this process of ruralisation, the project team needed new policy-relevant knowledge. They therefore explored trends, made an inventory of young people’s dream futures, and studied promising practices enabling rural newcomers, new farming entrants and farm successors. They also analysed rules, policies and practices and launched pilot actions related to access to land. These efforts are bearing fruit even today, even after the project ended in 2023.
Inspiring further research and collaborations
An online handbook(opens in new window) released by RURALIZATION in its final year has provided the impetus for further cooperation aimed at protecting Europe’s farmland. The work of project partners who were members of Access to Land (A2L)(opens in new window), a European network of grassroots organisations securing land for agroecological farming, the handbook offers local governments guidance on how to improve the way agricultural land is used and shared. Today, as a follow up to the handbook, A2L members have undertaken a number of actions and programmes involving local authorities. In May 2024, RURALIZATION partners held an event titled Farmland for Public Good #2(opens in new window). The second in a series of planned encounters between civil society organisations and local authorities interested in promoting Europe’s agroecological transition, the event was a follow-up to the project’s 2023 seminar Making Farmland Work for the Public Good(opens in new window). “Farmland for Public Good #2 is an interesting continuation of the Horizon 2020 project,” comments William Loveluck, research officer at French project partner Terre de Liens. “Indeed, this event drew heavily on the lessons learned from RURALIZATION.” Cooperation between project partners and A2L is continuing, as are publications relating to research and innovation building on RURALIZATION topics. Some project results are also contributing to another EU-funded project, FLIARA, whose coordinator and many other partners are from RURALIZATION. Trend cards developed during the project are now being used in FLIARA to research the role of women in the innovations demanded for sustainable farm and rural futures. These cards are also discussed in a report(opens in new window) published by the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Another example of further research based on RURALIZATION findings is a recent paper(opens in new window) discussing rural gentrification and local food networks in Hungary. Also, investigations into the links between the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) and land issues resulted in a document(opens in new window) that is now providing A2L with valuable support in its efforts to formalise a policy position for the next CAP. Willem Korthals Altes, lead researcher of RURALIZATION (The opening of rural areas to renew rural generations, jobs and farms) at project coordinator Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, states: “None of these outcomes would have been possible without EU funding.”