In 2014 hebben de gemeenten Bellingwedde en Vlagtwedde (provincie Groningen) het keurmerk Cittaslow toegekend gekregen. De ambities ten aanzien van Cittaslow Westerwolde hebben beide gemeenten vastgelegd in een visiedocument. Vanaf 2015 heeft de nadruk gelegen op het werven van supporters. In 2017 heeft …

Rural communities in the Netherlands experiencing (selective) population decline in recent years focused on concentrating services / facilities within te boundaries of their own communities. In order to prepare for a future in which the consequences of (selective) population decline are felt even stronger …

The ‘Grand Challenges’ of our times, like climate change, resource depletion, global inequity, and the destruction of wildlife and biodiversity can only be addressed by innovating cities. Despite the options of tele-working, tele-trading and tele-amusing, that allow people to participate in ever …

When citizens’ initiatives stop: a case-study in the rural areas of the Netherlands

Different unexpected combinations between industry, local government, private participants, educational institutes and artists resulted past year in challenging opportunities for transitions in urban and rural areas. The power of art with the perspective of the artist approaching challenges evokes a …

When citizens’ initiatives stop: a case-study in the rural areas of the Netherlands

In the shift towards the Big Society, it is widely proclaimed that citizen participation and citizens’ initiatives are indispensable to maintaining services that used to be run by local or regional governments. Despite the increased interest in citizens’ initiatives, research has scarcely debated what …

Plattelandsparlement is het jaarlijkse congres van de landelijke vereniging voor kleine kernen in Nederland (LVKK)

Rural children are a largely understudied population in language and literacy research, despite the fact that these children often enter school with delays in their language development. Since most rural areas suffered from so-called selective rural outmigration, many parents in rural areas are lower …

Food and the city has never been a more urgent theme than today, and The European Union’s priority to commit to innovation in this field will certainly enhance its economic and external strength and improve its competitive position in the world of food and life sciences. Europea Netherlands held a seminar …