“Urban needs rural and rural needs urban”, says Lilian Busse, Vice President of UBA. “Urban and rural areas can complement and benefit from each other in numerous mutual relationships. We should utilise this potential.” For example, perishable foods such as fruit and vegetables offer opportunities for mutually beneficial regional value chains; Urban dwellers can enjoy fresh food from the region, while prospects for employment, income and development are created in rural areas. “At the same time, however, we see that open spaces and especially agricultural land are being lost in the areas surrounding towns and cities as a result of settlement and transport development. We should do something to counteract this,” stresses Busse. “After all, regional food also requires land for cultivation, as well as processing and distribution infrastructure in the region.”
Practical solutions for liveable cities and communities
Under the title “Urban plus rural creates added value. Innovative ways for sustainable urban-rural relationships”, the results of 22 joint Urban-Rural-Plus projects and the accompanying scientific cross-sectional project were presented to key players from federal and local politics, science, business and associations at the final conference in Berlin. Innovative examples from practice and key recommendations were summarised in the “Urban-rural reform agenda”
Focus on local implementation
At the same time, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB), together with the UBA, is bringing the results into municipal practice with the new publication “Good living in urban and rural areas – combining value creation and resource conservation”, as municipalities are key players in local economic development and quality of life. Close communication between towns and cities and their surrounding areas as well as sustainable regional development are key factors in maintaining liveable municipalities and regions. The publication continues the cooperation between the DStGB and the UBA, which first took place in February 2024 with the joint publication “Urban plus rural creates added value – meeting current challenges in urban and rural areas together”.
Building urban-rural partnerships step by step
The most important basic principles were developed in a freely available training module for employees in municipal practice, e.g. in administration and planning. Links to the Urban-Rural-Plus online handbook allow various aspects, e.g. in the areas of “Managing residential areas” or “Organising material cycles”, to be explored in greater depth. Experiences from the project regions can be heard in the Urban-Rural-Plus Podcast .
Further Information
The interaction between urban and rural areas in various fields of activity is essential for creating equivalent living conditions and protecting natural resources. The “Urban-Rural Plus” funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( BMBF ) addresses this issue and is funding a total of 22 joint projects in five subject areas throughout Germany from 2018 to 2025, which develop concepts and instruments in collaboration with science and practice and test them in situ. The cross-sectional and synthesis project, which is led by the German Environment Agency and carried out jointly with the Institute for Space and Energy and Stadtland GmbH, brings together the results of the 22 projects, evaluates them and supports the networking, consolidation and transfer of the results.
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