Several organisations are collecting and publishing local initiatives in response to the Covid-19 crisis. We are offering below the links to a number of these initiatives (section 1) and our own selection (section 2). We are also starting a series of reflections on what these initiatives could mean for local development. In section 3, Rosalba La Grotteria and Maria Joao Filgueiras Rauch present their thoughts and summaries of local … Continue Reading
Events & activities
Join the new LDnet / RSA intiative – Community solutions: When social Innovation meets local development
LDnet and RSA have been exploring the idea of a COST Action proposal. Covid-19 has led to a rescheduling of the deadline for proposals to 29.10.2020 and this offers an opportunity for researchers and practitioners interested in this topic to contribute in the development of a sound proposal. A first outline … Continue Reading
LDnet lab on social innovation and local development: linking urban and rural approaches
This lab took take place on Thursday 20.2.2020 at Scotland House, Rond-point Robert Schuman 6, 1040 Brussels, after the SIMRA conference. It aimed to explore how local initiatives or local action groups working in the context of CLLD can act as a motor and platform for social innovation at grass roots … Continue Reading
LDnet’s ‘discuss and debate’ session at the RSA conference in Ljubljana
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic this event has been cancelled. The next RSA Annual Conference will be in Florence, 25-28 May 2021. Then, the 2022 Annual Conference will be in Ljubljana. Elena Pisani and Stefan Kah LDnet are joining Urszula Budzich-Tabor and Robert Lukesch as speakers at the 'discuss and … Continue Reading
LDnet special session at the Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference in Zagreb
This event has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will be rescheduled for early 2021. The Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference 2020, "Maximising the Opportunities for Cohesion Policy in Challenging Times", will take place on 11-13 May 2020 in Zagreb. LDnet has proposed a Special Session … Continue Reading
EURegionsWeek 2020 – Master Class and University Sessions
RSA Europe is again actively involved in the Master Cass and University Sessions in the 18th EURegionsWeek, 12-15 October 2020 in Brussels. The Master Cass and University Sessions are organised by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the European … Continue Reading
Towards a Promising Season for Local Development – Notes from Porto’s URBACT CityLab and CITIES Forum
The upcoming new season of Cohesion Policy looks to be a promising one for local development; at least for what emerged during Porto’s URBACT CityLab and CITIES Forum (29-31 January 2020). The CityLab and the Forum touched upon key topics for the future of local development, including: the objectives and … Continue Reading
Articles
LDnet: a community of experts building bridges between research and practice
Local development is multi-faceted with practitioners split between the urban and rural domains, while researchers come from different academic disciplines. A community of experts dealing with local development could help harvest lessons learnt and overcome silo mentality. LDnet and the European Commission … Continue reading
The LEADER Approach and Social Innovation in Rural Areas – a Liaison?
R. Lukesch, H. Gassler, B. Ecker, L. Fidlschuster, M. Fischer, S. Mair, S. Philipp, N. Said[1] Abstract –The research project SILEA aimed at exploring the significance, extent and possible effects of Social Innovation in the framework of the LEADER Measure of the Austrian Rural Development Program 2014-20. … Continue reading
4th European Rural Parliament – Let Europe´s rural voice be heard
The 4th European Rural Parliament took place in the rural, green north of Spain, in the coastal village of Candás (Asturias) from 6th to 9th November 2019. Alistair Adam Hernández participated and his report is presented below. I attended the ERP as LDnet representative and was kindly invited to join the … Continue reading
Social innovation in LEADER areas in Austria
We present below the summaries of three case studies from the SILEA research project on social innovation in LEADER areas (2014-2020) in Austria. The first and second case studies are similar concerning the thematic field – local coordination of informal voluntary work – but different in their outcomes. … Continue reading
Resilient Villages: “Vibrant rural communities are not afraid to take risks”
In his current research, LDnet board member, Alistair Adam-Hernández examines why some rural communities are able to adapt to change better than others. During the European Rural Sociology Conference 2019, “Rural Futures in a Complex World” in Trondheim (NO), an international group of social scientists … Continue reading
Debating CLLD as experimental governance and task-specific space for policy action
The Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) instrument is one of the most interesting “territorial delivery mechanisms” of the current EU 2014-2020 programming period. Built on the former LEADER project, it attempts to overcome the sectorial (rural or maritime) approach of the previous instrument through a … Continue reading
PUBLICATIONS
Delivering CLLD effectively: a new guide on how to design delivery systems that strengthen the bottom-up approach
FARNET has just published its latest guide, on “Delivering CLLD effectively”. Although labelled “A guide for EMFF Managing Authorities”, in fact, it can be useful for the managing authorities of CLLD under any of the ESI Funds and it is, of course, of considerable interest to local development experts. The … Continue reading
The European Parliament’s role in cohesion policy since the Lisbon Treaty
This new study was commissioned by the European Parliament's REGI Committee and was carried out between April and July 2019. On 4 December 2019, it was presented by its authors, Haris Martinos and Serafin Pazos-Vidal, and was discussed by the REGI Committee. The study highlights the crucial role of the … Continue reading
The agripolitan city, the cosmopolitan village
“La ciudad agropolitana. La aldea cosmopolita” (The agripolitan city, the cosmopolitan village) is a new book by Jaime Izquierdo Vallina who has written extensively on urban-rural issues, nature conservation, and new perspectives for approaching rural areas. In his prologue to the book, Yves Champetier has … Continue reading
Implementing cohesion policy funds through multi-Fund CLLD
Community-led Local Development (CLLD) was introduced in the 2014-20 programme period and is based on the well-established LEADER tool. While LEADER is distinctly rural, co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), CLLD allows Member States to make use of up to four different ESI … Continue reading
Urban CLLD – The case of FatorC in Cascais, Portugal
CLLD Community Led Local Development (CLLD) is a territorial bottom-up approach, through which Local Development Strategies (LDS) are implemented. Local communities are encouraged to participate in the decisions about the implementation of community funds, by identifying the needs and challenges faced with … Continue reading