| Introduction |
| The new IIASA project on European Rural Development
will initially focus on four research activities: |
 |
|
1. |
We will develop online
databases on the Internet, which should provide quantitative
information at a relatively fine regional level (usually NUTS 3)
on major dimensions of rural development in Europe. These databases are
necessary for the comparative spatial analyses, which we plan to
conduct. |
|
2. |
The IIASA core team will
also organize a network
of Institutes and researchers in the field of European Rural
Development.
This activity will include the organization of workshops and
conferences and the preparation of joint publications with
collaborators. |
|
3. |
A third major activity
of the IIASA Core Team will be a series of case
studies in several European countries. These case studies
will describe and evaluate bottom-up rural development
initiatives (including LEADER projects, but also small-scale
initiatives of regional or national governments, NGO projects, and
private initiatives). |
|
4. |
The development of tools
and models for decision makers and planners is an important
objective of the ERD project. We will try to use the results from
our comparative analyses and from the case studies for a Rural
Development Model, which should help decision makers to
generate and evaluate scenarios and development measures for
Europe's rural areas. |
|
We have
started all four activities on July 1, 2001. From our comparative
analyses (and the development of necessary databases) we expect to
have first results by Mid 2002. Information on our network
activities is already available through the ERD Network web site. We
are currently in the field to conduct a first series of about 15
case studies. Initial results, including draft case study reports,
will be available by the end of 2001 (the first 3 reports are
already posted here). Obviously, the development of a Rural
Development Model will take some time. We expect a first prototype
to be available by the end of 2002. |
|
