Fostering Sustainable, Balanced, Equitable, Place-based and Inclusive Development of Rural-Urban Communities' Using Specific Spatial Enhanced Attractivenes Mapping ToolBox

Project Information

PoliRuralPlus

Grant agreement ID: 101136910

DOI

10.3030/101136910

EC signature date 6 December 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 6 201 312,50

EU contribution

€ 5 498 673,50

Coordinated by

CESKE VYSOKE UCENI TECHNICKE V PRAZE
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PoliRuralPlus (Fostering Sustainable, Balanced, Equitable, Place-based and Inclusive Development of Rural-Urban Communities' Using Specific Spatial Enhanced Attractivenes Mapping ToolBox)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

PoliRuralPlus addresses persistent disparities and weak urban–rural cooperation in Europe, building on the achievements of the H2020 PoliRural project. Its aim is to extend foresight-based planning methods to integrated rural–urban territories, supporting sustainable, inclusive and innovation-driven regional development. The project contributes directly to the European Green Deal, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, while aligning with initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus.

The central objective is to provide regions with advanced, AI-enabled planning tools and harmonised data frameworks that strengthen governance, foster innovation, and ensure balanced rural–urban partnerships.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first period, activities focused on preparing Regional Action Plans (RAPs) through a Multi-Actor Approach (MAA), ensuring strong stakeholder engagement across all nine pilot regions. Major progress includes:
Methodological advances: Delivery of an updated foresight-based RAP methodology integrating co-design practices, no-code solutions, and AI-assisted workflows such as Work Awareness Journaling.
Stakeholder engagement: Comprehensive mapping of local communities, authorities, SMEs, NGOs and knowledge actors to inform RAP co-creation.
Platform development: Enhancement of the PoliRuralPlus Hub with a new integrated dashboard, upgraded Rural Attractiveness Explorer and Policy Options Explorer, and deployment of AI/GeoAI functionalities.
Data innovation: Implementation of a centrality-based analysis methodology, producing 170 harmonised grid map layers for Europe and the Czech Republic, now embedded in the Hub’s Map service and supporting AI training.
Knowledge Base: A consolidated repository of validated project resources (blogs, training materials, datasets) actively used for AI grounding.

Open calls: The Outreach Call concluded successfully; the Mobilise Call is ongoing; and the Develop Call attracted more than 100 applications, showing strong external interest - the administration with selected applicants is currently underway; the Enhance call was announced.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

PoliRuralPlus provides a suite of interoperable, AI-enabled tools that surpass current planning practices:
JackDaw – GeoAI chatbot for scenario modelling, spatial intelligence and policy gap analysis.
Vulture – Automated AI system for large-scale data processing and trend detection.
Magpie – Semantic metadata discovery across spatial and non-spatial datasets.
Dashboard – Real-time RAP monitoring and indicator tracking.
MAA Tool – Stakeholder engagement and co-creation management instrument.
Rural Attractiveness Explorer (RAE) – Composite index tool integrated with JackDaw and the Dashboard.
PoliRuralPlus Hub – High-TRL digital ecosystem for data integration, Digital Twins, and support of AKIS.

The integration of centrality-based datasets establishes a harmonised spatial framework for Europe, enabling more robust cross-regional comparison, policy analysis, and AI-supported modelling.

Jackdaw featured at the GEO Symposium workshop, Hangzou, China 10/2024

PoliRuralPlus Consortium at the kick-off meeting, Prague, Czechia, 1/2024

Jackdaw featured at the INSPIRE conference, Strbske Pleso, Slovakia, 11/2024

Social media banner for Outreach Open call launch, June 2024

PoliRuralPlus project featured at the Zeme Zivitelka workshop, Ceske Budejovice, CZ, 08/2024

PoliRuralPlus project featured at the Synergy Days, Barcelona, Spain, 10/2024