Giulia Martino, David Miller, Olivier Chartier, Roxana Vilcu, Elena fao, Brigit Zomer, Jonathan Hopkins (p), Luise Koeppen

Henk Oostindie

The Cork 2.0 European Conference on Rural Development (European Union, 2016) identified ten policy orientations to guide innovative, integrated and inclusive rural and agricultural policy in the European Union (EU). It proposed that rural proofing be used to ensure this is reflected in EU policies and strategies. The process of rural proofing should enable greater multi-level governance and stakeholder co-ordination, reflecting the value of two-way exchanges, from top down and bottom-up perspectives, regarding problems and proposed solutions.

One aim of the Horizon Europe GRANULAR project is the development of tailored rural policies, for which a rural proofing approach is adopted, tested and implemented in the project’s set of Living and Replication Labs (Living Labs - GRANULAR (ruralgranular.eu)). A checklist-type approach has been adapted which integrates the GRANULAR Rural Compass and its functionalities and components with the actions and activities of the LTVRA Action Plan. The checklist elements are grouped under the headings of the four pillars, or action areas, of the Long Term Vision for Rural Areas: Stronger, Connected, Prosperous and Resilient. The approach enables the narratives on rural proofing to be developed with a view to their articulation with respect to the framework of the LTVRA.

A rural proofing tool has been compiled in MS Excel the outputs of which comprises include a narrative summary, descriptions of the types of impacts, quantitative and qualitative estimates of the magnitude of such impacts (positive or negative), and narratives of means of mitigation. The tool has been tested in Living Labs across Europe feedback from which was used to revise the rural proofing framework, linking the LTVRA and the Rural Compass as elements against which to test potential effects of the policy or initiative. European Commission DG AGRI also shared perspectives on the role of outputs from rural proofing in aiding delivery of economic, social and territorial cohesion across public policies.

Rural proofing of selected policies and initiatives is being undertaken by Living and Replication Labs over winter 2024/25. The outputs and experiences of using the rural proofing will provide evidence for use in informing the development of skills and approaches to integrating rural issues in EU policy-making across departments as envisaged by the European Commission.

Michael Wögerer, Dejana Golic (p), Tamas Krisztin

Carlos Tapia

This study explores the factors driving population change in European NUTS3 regions between 2011 and 2021. The aim is to understand what makes regions attractive for inward migration and lowers emigration, with a focus on rural regions. For this purpose a Bayesian spatial durbin model with stochastic search variable selection priors (BSDM-SSVS) is used to analyze a novel dataset capturing a variety of potential determinants including economic sectors such as agricultural and knowledge-intensive industries, environmental factors like temperature and precipitation change, and spatial neighborhood effects. Gibbs sampling from the BSDM-SSVS framework allows for efficient inference on the key determinants of population changes by systematically identifying the most relevant explanatory variables. Results show that the agricultural sector is linked to lower population growth due to limited economic diversification, while Knowledge-Intensive GVA enhances rural attractiveness by providing opportunities for skilled labor and innovation. Variables measuring climatic change negatively affect the rural appeal. The study underscores the importance of considering spatial dependencies in policy design, highlighting how neighboring regions can influence one another’s demographic dynamics. These insights provide policymakers with evidence to develop more effective interventions that enhance the sustainability and vitality of rural areas, addressing both economic and environmental challenges to mitigate population decline.

Breixo Martins Rodal (p), María Isabel, Doval Ruíz

Debora Birgier

In the framework of the European project GRANULAR (Giving Rural Actors Novel Data and Re-usable Tools to Lead Public Action in Rural Areas), we present the context, process and findings of our research on centenarians and old population in the Northwest Iberian Peninsula. The University of Vigo, as one of the 23 GRANULAR partners, leads the Spanish Living Lab, established in this region.
Using qualitative methods, we have analysed interviews with elderly people in the province of Ourense (northwest of the Iberian Peninsula). This is a region with one of the highest ageing rates in Europe and is therefore of great interest to understand both the present and the future of Europe as a whole. Furthermore, this study serves to contextualise the use of the participatory methodologies of the Granular Living Labs in a specific research focus by highlighting their value as spaces for cooperation and social co-creation for the collection of meaningful data and indicators.
In the research, we have obtained detailed information about their daily lives, an under-explored area in relation to the holistic health, resilience and adaptive capacity of this population group, as well as their role in the dynamics of the European rural ecosystem. The topics addressed and the analysis conducted not only provide insights into the life trajectory of the interviewees, but also valuable reflections on resilience, adaptation and transformation of rural society. Both the research process and the results obtained underline the importance of Living Labs as a data collection tool and highlight the value of the personal perspectives of hyper-longevity individuals, providing a direct and personalised approach to the study of longevity in rural Spain and Europe.

Hal Voepel (p), Jessica Steele, Alessandro Sorichetta

Dejana Golic

Understanding daily and long-term patterns in human mobility are important for local administrators in designing transportation routes and traffic timing, zoning commercial versus residential areas, and planning commuter travel between rural and urban regions. Facebook human mobility data provides an opportunity to study mobility patterns of groups of Facebook users (who have opted-in to record their location history) over daily intervals at diurnal periodic scale and covering local administrative levels over a countrywide extent. Here we analyse human mobility patterns across small “living lab” regions across several European countries to explore daily and diurnal movement, weekend versus weekday travel, and seasonal variation spanning Facebook records up to a two-year period between 2020 and 2022.

Brigida Marovelli (p), Fabiana Stortini, Tommaso Trinchetti, Michele Moretti

Tristan Berchoux

The Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (LTVRA) recognises the importance of engaging territories and local actors for addressing rural challenges through active participation and collaboration. Rural territories demand innovative knowledge to effectively capture their complexity and support decision making toward tailored solutions. This paper aims to explore processes and dynamics in the real-world context through seven Living Labs across Europe (France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) within the European GRANULAR project. The ambition of GRANULAR is to help understanding the characteristics, dynamics and drivers of rural areas through innovative data and indicators. In this context, the role of Living Labs shifts from the traditional field of product innovation to a more general idea of territorial agencies, for organizing policies and promoting participatory systems of local governance. GRANULAR Living Labs show engagement issues and specificities related to their novel role. They deal with large rural areas and focus not on isolated interventions but on the broader management of the territory. This adds significant complexity, as they address a wide range of issues, including connectivity, tourism, productivity, accessibility, involving diverse private and public actors. The objective of the paper is to explore the activities of the Living Labs to identify the primary barriers they encounter and what strategies they implement to overcome them. This paper will examine the most relevant issues related to three main areas: involvement and inclusion of local actors, communication, and trust, that proved to be crucial to the construction of participatory processes for data-driven decision-making.