A final publication of the Pilot Action is now available under the title “Joining Forces for Rural Areas – Impulses for cooperative regional development in Germany and Europe.”
Rural regions in the pilot action and beyond act as proactive regions that achieve a great deal through expertise, cooperation and commitment despite limited resources. The pilot action “A future for lagging regions” contributed to implementing the Territorial Agenda 2030 and shows the positive leverage effects that cooperative regional development can have locally. The final publication presents the results and lessons learned from the testing of innovative measures to safeguard services of general interest in the partner regions in the areas of digitalisation, mobility, health and local supply and makes recommendations for cooperative regional development:
- Cooperative regional development activates and promotes cooperation and a sense of community among local citizens, offers space for new constellations of actors between public administration, business and civil society and requires close dovetailing of the specialised authorities.
- Structural inter-municipal cooperation helps to utilise capacities more efficiently and develop cross-local solutions. This makes them an important pillar for safeguarding services of general interest.
- With the help of a cross-municipal approach, many public tasks and services for citizens can be fulfilled more effectively.
- Active interdisciplinary and inter-agency coordination in the administrations can significantly facilitate the work of local initiatives, from which new services of general interest can be developed.
- Opening and experimentation clauses or pilot actions and experimental laboratories can create scope for testing innovations at the level of planning systems as well.
The publication is available in territoriale-agenda-en and territoriale-agenda.
Further information here.