Title: EUINTERREG III B Project PUSEMOR Public Services in Sparsely Populated Mountain Regions PUSEMOR Fina
1EU-INTERREG III B Project PUSEMORPublic
Services in Sparsely Populated Mountain
RegionsPUSEMOR Final Conference
SchlusskonferenzCH-Lugano, Hotel de la Paix
June, 21th 2007, 1700Synthesis of the Pilote
Projects Factors of Success and
Transferability of Results Department of
Regional Development and Spatial
PlanningKaiserslautern University of
Technology Prof. Dr. habil. Gabi
Troeger-WeißMember of the PUSEMOR Advisory Group
2Contents
- Demographic change Effects on rural areas,
strategies, options of action - Synthesis of the pilote projects
- Implementation of strategies Contribution of
the pilote projects to supportthe improvement of
public services - Factors for success
- Transferability of results to other regions
- Integrated conceptual approach Region Südlicher
Oberrhein
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
3Demographic Change
- Considering demographic change in general
- The spatial effects of the demographic change
will proceed very different in the specific types
of spatial areas. - The quantitative decrease of population and the
expected shift in the age structure will
intensify problems of rural areas and
municipalities. - Maintaining an adequate offer of infrastructures
and public services on the current level will be
difficult in the future.
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
4Demographic Change in Rural Areas
- The demographic trends decreasing und ageing of
population notably apply to rural areas and
municipalities - Declining and changing demand and level of
capacity of private and public infrastructure
and services - Increasing economic problems for holders of
facilities and shops (Under-utilization /
decreasing efficiency) - At the same time Decreasing income of rural
municipalities (tax revenue) and private
providers of goods and services
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
5Effects on Rural Areas
- Worsening of accessibility by road network and
public transport - Growing chasm in the provision of ICT networks
digital divide - Hindered conditions of the provision of private
and public services e.g. goods and services of
the every day need - Rising urbanistic problems in villages,
increasing vacancies of buildings - Further out-migration of young and well educated
population (brain drain) lack of qualified
employees - Structural change in the broadest sense
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
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8Main Task Improvement of Public Services
- Rural municipalities are confronted with the
great challenge to face the increasing pressure
on the future provision of public services - Public and private service offers and facilities
are equally affected by this development - Kindergarten und schools
- Transport networks, public transport
- Health care services and facilities
- Public administration
- Postal services und banking
- Shops and facilities of the every day need
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
9Demand for Action
- Adjustment processes and concepts to keep and
improve the provision of public services have
greatest importance - Adequate provision of public services is a
necessary precondition for maintaining the
overall quality of rural municipalities - Countermeasures are possible yet, rural
municipalities and further involved parties have
to react in due time - Cooperations and qualified guidance of actors and
stakeholders in provision of public services are
of increasing importance
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
10Development of Strategies Future Tasks of
Action
- Information Shrinking processes represent a
chance - Intercommunal cooperation
- Multifunctionality of infrastructure
- Redefinition of accessibility standards
- Shifting of locations, closure of facilities if
necessary - Declaration of family-friendly regions(Family
audits, Awards for family-friendlymunicipalities
et al.)
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
11Strategies Strengthening Provision with
Public Services
- (Economic) capacity of public services
predominantlydetermined by size of supply area
and number of users - Various forms of cooperation necessary to extend
- provision of services
- Priority in cooperation of
municipalities / flexible local solutions - Concentration of public services e.g. in
market towns - Actively strengthening / supporting
function as backbone - Elementary importance of accessibility
- Concentration limited by distance / journey time
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
12Strategies Options of Action
- Supra-local instead of local solutions
(Economies of scale) - Combination of several domains
(Economies of scope) - Movable and / or temporary solutions / New
IC-Technologies as chance
(Service to customers) - Reduction of standards
- Integrated combination of options /
Adaption to particular spatial situation
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
13Strategies Cooperation for Implementation
- Cooperation among service providers and
- between providers and users of services
- gains increasing relevance
- Public authorities as initiators, organisers and
- promoters of cooperation
- Activating local citizenship for voluntary
services / - using specific potential in rural areas
- Well-adapted organisation of
cooperation is an important chance for
improving provision of public services
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
14Strategies Conclusion
- Rural areas can counteract the demographic change
with innovative concepts by - Raising the awareness of the future development
of population and provision of public services - Intensifying cooperations between involved actors
and stakeholders (also between public and
private) - Being susceptible to innovative conceptual ideas
on local, regional and political level - Implementing well elaborated ideas and concepts
to ensure and improve public services and
attractiveness of rural regions and
municipalities in medium term
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
15Supporting the Implementation of Strategies
- The elaborated and manifold PUSEMOR pilote
projects aim at the implementation of mentioned
strategies - Contributing the improvement of public services
solving problems detected by analysis and
assessment during project progress of PUSEMOR - Representing innovative and local adapted options
of actions and (flexible) solutions - Delivering of direct visible success, also for
the general public work with media - Strengthening bottom-up work processes and
cooperations with the particular local partners
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
16Pilote Projects Factors for Success
- Solutions have to be adapted to the needs of the
local population / meeting the demand - Importance of regional identity / adjustment
- Supporting and co-ordinating voluntary work in a
professional way - Impetus for developing new projects may be given
by increasing demand and/or high pressure through
existing deficits and problems - Creative solutions aside from mainstream
structures are important - Projects can strongly profit from exchange of
best practices
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
17Factors for Success
- 5. Cross-sector solutions need involving of
different partners - 6. Good climate of cooperation structures and
practices, also between public and private actors - For keeping a project running, the project
executives need a strong motivation / patience -
a strong leader person is helpful for overcoming
difficulties - 8. Small businesses or volunteers running a
project need - a good knowledge about the administrative, legal
and political framework - professional support and training possibilities
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
18Transferability of Results
- Transferability of the pilote projects ideas and
starting points to other rural (mountain) regions
and municipalities is given to a certain degree
if - Similar spatial situations, problems or demand
are existent or expected - Stakeholders can adopt the developed solutions
and strategies and integrate them into their
activities - Nevertheless in most cases modifications conce
rning the specific framework conditions (e.g.
territorial or legal context) will be necessary - Finally the transnational composition of
PUSEMOR allows a transfer of gained knowledge
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
19The Project PUSEMORin the Region Südlicher
Oberrhein
Spa and health care centre / structural change
Part of a central place / provision of services
Agriculture, tourism and commuting
Tourism and health care / structural change
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
20Integrated Conceptual Approach Region
Südlicher Oberrhein
- Development of communal future concepts for the
four project municipalities to reach following
aims - Improvement of the provision of public services
- Maintenance of the functional emphases,
operability and performance of the municipalities - Ensuring the overall attractivity (trade and
commerce) and the (residential) quality of the
location - Dealing with specific structural changes in
tourism, health care and spa sector - Development of strategies and measures to
respond adequately on shifting demand caused by
demographic change
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
21Project Municipalities Development of
Population 1981 2006
Prof. Dr. habil. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
22Trend of Population Development 2005 2025
1,9
1,6
0,7
- 2,9
- 3,3
- 0,4
- 1,0
- 9,4
- 10,0
Prof. Dr. habil. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
23Developed Strategies
- Increasing of the family-friendliness
- Stronger consideration of ageing of population in
spatial planning processes - Ensuring provision of goods and services of every
day need within walking distance alternative
concepts - Development of housing schemes for elderly
citizens - Assuring adequate public transport services in
particular for seniors - Enhancing usage of new media, especially
broadband internet access and mobile information
technologies - Using new ideas to secure the local medical
provision - Intensifying of intercommunal cooperation
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
24Pilote Projects Region Südlicher Oberrhein
- Additionally to the integrated concepts
development of three pilote projects - Fact finding for the feasibility of broadband
internet access - Local overall concept to deal with the specific
demand of a population with increasing average
age / decreasing number of inhabitants - Concepts for the provision of daily needs /
retail services in sparsely populated areas - Additional active support for the municipalities
- Utilization of (local) results on regional level
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß
25Thank you for yourattention !
Prof. Dr. Gabi Troeger-Weiß