Transformation and structural change in the rural areas of north-west Germany: Real-world laboratories in marsh, moor, geest and sea
The research project on "Transformation and structural change in the rural areas of north-west Germany" of the University of Vechta, Emden-Leer University of Applied Sciences and Jade University of Applied Sciences, funded by the state of Lower Saxony via the Niedersächsisches Vorab, is researching the current challenges of structural change in the rural north-west of Lower Saxony in cooperation with the universities of Oldenburg and Göttingen.
As the former Lower Saxony Minister for Science and Culture, Björn Thümler, explained in January 2022 at the official presentation of the funding decision, the network's objectives address the special nature of the distinctly different types of use in the north-west of Lower Saxony, which are reaching the limits of their potential: intensive agriculture in the South Oldenburg region, tourism in the coastal area of the East Frisian Islands and the industrially characterised area around Emden. In eight interacting sub-projects, it pursues the overarching goal of initiating, accompanying and evaluating social, technological and ecological transformations towards future-orientated, sustainable living contexts.
About the project
To maintain and further develop living conditions in the study region of north-western Lower Saxony, it is necessary to find transformative answers to existentially changing conditions of existence. These include pronounced demographic and associated health changes in rural areas, and changing economic conditions due to regional and global economic dynamics that call existing structures into question or render them obsolete. Added to this are changing climatic and environmental conditions as a framework for land use and serious biodiversity losses. Technological development trends, particularly in the field of digitalisation, are opening up new opportunities, challenges and solutions. This requires extensive transformation efforts and suggestions from research in order to develop sustainable and forward-looking solutions together with stakeholders in the region. There is also an urgent need to work on region-specific responses to the economic and social upheavals brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The disruptions caused by reactions to the infection must be transformed into long-term sustainable lifestyles.
Learn more (website in German): https://vier-n.de/