Research projects

Rural regions across Europe are facing increasing pressure: population decline, ageing societies and climate-related extreme events are reshaping living conditions in many areas. The project will examine how demographic, social, economic and environmental developments interact and which innovative solutions can help municipalities and regions become more resilient. The aim is to strengthen the innovation capacity of rural areas and provide impulses for European rural development policy.

In addition to the IfL, project partners include the universities of Graz, Milan, Wageningen, Riga, Kraków and Sofia, as well as more than ten other organisations from across Europe. Together, they are working to counter depopulation trends and strengthen rural regions in the long term. The project is coordinated by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) in Vienna.

At the heart of the project are so-called Rural Innovation Clusters and “Rural Living Labs” as practice-oriented real-world laboratories, which will be established in eight case-study regions. In these settings, municipalities, businesses, social economy actors, civil society organisations and research institutions will jointly develop new approaches — for example, cooperative care models, circular agri-food systems and climate-resilient mobility solutions. The German case-study region is the municipality of Kyffhäuserland in Thuringia.

The IfL will contribute fundamental research throughout all phases of the project. Among other topics, researchers will analyse European population patterns and critical infrastructure thresholds in rural areas. Together with Wageningen University & Research, the IfL is also developing a Demography-Climate Dashboard designed to support regional planning processes.

---

Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Dr Tim Leibert
Tel. +49 341 600 55-188
t_leibert@leibniz-ifl.de