URRUC - Urban-Rural Connectivity in Non-Metropolitan Regions. Annex VIII: Policy Guidelines and Recommendations

Annex VIII contains a methodological overview of the policy development approach as well as the creation of European policy recommendations

European shrinking rural areas: Key messages for a refreshed long-term vision.

The paper begins with a discussion of the concept of 'shrinking', and its origins, outside the realm of rural development. Building on this, the paper shows the distribution of shrinking rural areas across Europe. Using both the project's literature review and findings from its eight case studies the socio-economic processes which drive demographic decline in rural areas are then described. A brief account of the evolution of EU interventions to alleviate the effects of shrinking, and some remarks about the current policy/governance landscape follow. We conclude by considering how a better understanding of the problem and process of shrinking may lead to more effective interventions, within the context of a refreshed long-term vision for Rural Europe. The latter needs to fully acknowledge the expanding repertoire of opportunities confronting rural areas as COVID-19 changes in working behaviour, and the geography of economic activity, accelerate, and fulfil, previously incremental shifts in technology and markets

URRUC - Urban-rural Connectivity in Non-metropolitan Regions. Final report

Urban-rural linkages and interactions are of vital importance for the future development of the non-metropolitan regions and to achieve the Europe 2020 goals of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth actively supported by the current European Structural and Investment Funds and a number of EU policy initiatives. In particular, the new Cohesion Policy Regulation (2014-2020) puts a strong emphasis on the role of urban-rural interactions for achieving better coordination of structural funds as well as new tools fostering integrated strategies which can allow for EU Member States to make territorial investments in a more flexible and targeted way. The European Commission is currently working with the Member States, industry and public authorities to roll-out the “Intelligent Transport Systems” (ITS) initiative, which is considered “vital to increase safety and tackle Europe's growing emission and congestion problems”, but also for creating new services and jobs as well as supporting growth in the transport sector. This type of innovative demand-response transport management system provides an ideal solution for rural and low-population metropolitan areas as it allows for tailor-made services giving rural residents possibilities to move with the same freedom as residents in cities and towns. This has proven to be a cost-effective type of transport system offering wider territorial coverage The four stakeholders involved in this targeted analysis have identified a potential opportunity to improving transport policy and systems related to urban-rural connectivity in non-metropolitan areas by engaging in knowledge transfer processes and activities based on networks of exchange. This process will help identify good practices and generate recommendations for policy makers and stakeholders in the stakeholder regions and countries as well as in territories across the EU faced with similar challenges, particularly coastal locations with nearby isolated communities and hinterlands. The territorial evidence that will be produced within this activity will be particularly useful with regards to developing policies for non-metropolitan regions that suffer from limitations of connectivity, poor accessibility to services and unbalanced development by identifying good practices to improve the internal connectivity and sustainability of transport systems, supporting synergies and cross-sectoral dialogue, and advancing public transport planning

URRUC - Urban-rural Connectivity in Non-metropolitan Regions. Annex II: Conceptualisation and Methodology

Annex II contains a methodological overview of the URRUC project

Urban-rural Connectivity in Non-metropolitan Regions (URRUC)

Annex I focuses on contextualising non-metropolitan regions, including an in-depth focus on literature and European projects related to urban-rural connectivity in these areas