One-day showcase training offers insights into the REBOUND accredited course on fostering resilience in rural communities. The REBOUND project, supported by the EU through ERASMUS+ programme, developed and piloted an accredited (15 ECTS) training and capacity-building programme on rural community resilience. On the 8th of November 2023 a small group of around 15 experts, practitioners […]
Rural/urban: Laying bare the controversy
In this paper, published in Geographia Polonica, Mirek Dymitrow of the University of Gothenburg examines the “rural/urban controversy”. Abstract Concepts are the basic building blocks of all knowledge, while the strength of any societal project is dependent on the quality of those concepts. As two of the oldest geographical concepts still in widespread use, ‘rural/urban’ […]
Social Innovation: The Promise and the Reality in Marginalised Rural Areas in Europe
This paper by Bill Slee, Robert Lukesch and Elisa Ravazzoli explores the idea of social innovation as both a conceptual and practical means of delivering positive social, economic and environmental outcomes in marginal rural areas. Definitions are critically appraised, and the dual contemporary origins of the term social innovation (in management sciences and critical social […]
REBOUND – Training and capacity-building programme
REBOUND is an inter-territorial project supported by the EU through ERASMUS+. It pursues an action-research approach to promoting rural community resilience. LDnet experts participate in the project and its first report on the State of the Art and Practices of Rural Community Resilience has alredy been published. An update on the progress of the REBOUND […]
PARTENALIA ConferenceT (Timişoara): Cultural Catalysts
The PARTENALIA Association, the pan European network of Local Intermediate Authorities, held its 2023 annual conference on 15 November 2023 in Timişoara (RO). The conference was titled ‘Cultural Catalysts: Local Intermediate Authorities Nurturing Heritage, Collaboration, and Funding for the Arts’. The programme included sessions on: Brussels, Patron of the arts: a European perspective Empowering Europe’s […]
Euracademy – Györ 27-31 August 2023: Rural communities responding to the climate crisis and commiting themselves to a regenerative future
The Euracademy Association and Széchenyi István University invite participants in the 20th Summer Academy, to be held in Györ, Hungary from 27th to 31st August 2023. Theme: How can rural communities respond to the climate crisis and commit themselves to a regenerative future by changing farming practices? The Euracademy wishes to redefine sustainable rural development […]
State of the Art and Practices of Rural Community Resilience
The REBOUND project (Fostering Resilience in Rural Communities) has published a report on the State of the Art and Practices of Rural Community Resilience. The aim of this report is to provide an analysis of innovative processes and patterns pertaining to rural resilience across Europe. It is the first major output of the REBOUND project […]
LDnet General Assembly & the debate on “Capacity building for local development”- Key messages & full recording
The General Assembly of LDnet took place online on 14 February 2023. As in previous years, it was open to LDnet members, friends and contributors. The full recording is available HERE. Key points from the presentations and discussions are summarised below. Capacity building for Community Led Local Development Its main theme was devoted to […]
The launch of the Michael Dower Award for European Rural Resilience
Michael Dower a great champion of rural communities, leading light in rural development, long-standing friend and member of LDnet, passed away on 7 November 2022. On Saturday 22 April 2023, the Michael Dower Award for European Rural Resilience will be launched in his honour at an event dedicated to his life and work, in the […]
CLLD in the 2014–2020 period: An Innovative Framework for Local Development
The World journal has published a new article entitled “CLLD in the 2014–2020 EU Programming Period: An Innovative Framework for Local Development”, by Stefan Kah, Haris Martinos and Urszula Budzich-Tabor. The paper builds on the country summaries and horizontal analyses developed as part of LDnet’s CLLD in Europe initiative, and includes extensive reflections on ‘The […]
Fostering rural resilience: first results and newsletter of the REBOUND project
Grasping rural community resilience and well-being After kicking off in February 2022 the REBOUND partnership, including LDnet/AEIDL, focused during the past year on compiling state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of rural community resilience and well-being. The main instrument to achieve this was a questionnaire distributed to a broad range of stakeholders to gain community, practitioner, […]
Michael Dower (1933 – 2022)
We are very saddened at the news of the death of Michael Dower, a great champion of rural communities, leading light in rural development, long-standing friend and member of LDnet. Michael passed away on 7 November 2022. He had a long and fruitful life. He trained as a chartered surveyor and town planner followed by […]