Monday 13 August – from Göttingen (DE) to Orange (FR) = 1117 km Tuesday 14 August – from Orange (FR) to Sant Cugat del Vallès (ES) = 446 km Wednesday 15 August – from Sant Cugat del Vallès (ES) to Cuevas de Cañart, Maestrazgo (ES) = 322 km Friday, 17 August – from Cuevas de […]
The adventure continues! Having spent my first 10 weeks investigating the resilience of the British village of Wooler in the rural northeast of England, it’s now time to travel 2,000 kms by car to reach one of the most rural and scarcely populated areas in Europe. My destination is La Sierra de Albarracín (the Albarracín […]
The fact that we learn through observation has long been proven. In the context of small town development, this means that if we travel to another country or even another small town with our eyes open, we can learn from others beyond our boundaries. And if we get into conversation and exchange ideas, their approaches […]
My first five weeks in Wooler were up on April 23rd. From this Monday on, I’m starting to count the days that I have left and not the days I’ve been in this delightful, vibrant place. Not having been able to publish more articles since April 15th has been weighing more heavily on my shoulders […]
Between the 9th and 12th April, I had the opportunity to attend the 11th OECD Conference on Rural Development in Edinburgh. It was a stimulating and dynamic conference. I myself would probably not read a conference report on a blog, so in this post I’ll be brief and just summarize my main impressions. “Rural […]
The way communities can influence and control their own positive and sustainable development is a subject that preoccupies practitioners, academics, and committed villagers alike. In my last post, I announced I’d be writing about a special form of organisation to promote local development: what are known as “Community Development Trusts“. In view of the financial […]
On Monday, March 19th, at about 9:45, I rolled off the ferry and my wheels touched British soil. My research trip could now really get under way. The customs officer showed zero interest in my car, full to bursting, and didn’t even notice that I left the Netherlands with a Spanish ID and entered Newcastle […]
Or maybe you should! When was it that T-shirts and hoodies with the “urban style” label became fashionable? Is it only urban things that can be hip or cool? Maybe I prefer “street wear” – after all, villages and little towns still have streets, at least. If you follow the European media on the topics […]
Can the resilience concept explain why some rural communities adapt to change more successfully than others and even why some thrive despite adverse circumstances? What does it mean to be a resilient village community; what system properties do those which are resilient possess and how can these system properties be enhanced?