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This paper presents a methodology to assess the internal and external coherence, and the robustness to future uncertainty, of place-based interventions addressing spatial (in)justice. The methodolo...

This report sets out analysis and policy options to inform a potential pilot scheme for migration to remote and rural areas of Scotland.

published version, nonPeerReviewed

This report by the independent Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population analyses internal migration within Scotland, and between Scotland and the rest of the UK (rUK), assessing its geographic distribution, dynamics and impacts.

Debut report by independent Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population looks specifically at how the ending of free movement and future UK Immigration policy will affect Scotland's devolved responsibilities.

This report presents background research on the work carried out by Nordregio in the project “Social Innovation in Local Development in the Nordic Countries and Scotland”, which was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Working Group on Demography and Welfare. The main objectives of the project were to investigate the concept of social innovation in relation to local and rural development, study the governance context in social innovation in rural areas in the Nordics and Scotland, conduct case studies in rural areas in all the Nordic countries and Scotland, as well as study the existing support systems for social innovation in particular in rural areas. The case studies are summarised in a separate document and on the project’s website.

This report is intended as an input to the preparations for the new Cohesion Policy and CAP Rural Development programming period, which is scheduled to begin in January 2014. First we compare and reflect upon experiences of RDPs in Nordic EU member states and in Scotland. The final chapters focus upon the concept of coherence, first in relation to current programmes, and then considering the implications of the draft regulations of the CAP. This report has been written as preparation for a workshop, to be held at Nordregio in Stockholm on May 7th 2012. The workshop is intended as an opportunity to discuss issues raised by the ongoing preparations for the new EU policy programming period, beginning in 2014. More specifically the focus will be upon the process of compiling Partnership Contracts, within the context of the Common Strategic Framework. The draft legislation, which is currently the subject of scrutiny by the European Council and Parliament, requires a greater degree of coordination (known as 'coherence') between Regional and Rural Development policies, and this implies a higher level of interaction and mutual understanding between the two policy communities.

The starting point of the EDORA project was the recognition that, rather than becoming more uniform in character, rural Europe is, in many ways, becoming increasingly diverse, implying new challenges and opportunities. The project’s overarching aim was to examine the process of differentiation, in order to better understand how EU policy can enable rural areas to build upon their specific potentials to achieve ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’. The first phase of the project consisted of a literature review in order to establish a conceptual framework for subsequent empirical analysis. This identified a very wide range of aspects of contemporary rural change. In order to manage this complexity, and so that it could be communicated simply and clearly, three ‘meta-narratives’ of rural change were devised. In the second phase the evidence base for rural change was explored, both in terms of large scale patterns, based upon regional data, and local processes. The macro-scale patterns were addressed by three typologies. These were complemented at a micro-level by in-depth studies of 12 exemplar regions, reflecting a wide range of types and contexts. The third phase explored policy implications. Clearly these propositions point towards neo-endogenous approaches, in which a ‘bottom up’ process of regional programme design is fully supported and guided by available information, expert advice, and the kind of strategic perspective which is best assembled at a central level. The EDORA findings are thus generally supportive of the ‘place based’ approaches advocated by the Barca Report.

Within the TERA-SIAP project, we developed a set of regional typologies (at NUTS3 level) which provide a suitable basis for Spatial Impact Assessments of a range of current and possible kinds of intervention (Generic Policy Issues) for rural areas. From a range of socio-economic models, we selected Regional Input-Output Models for the Spatial Impact Assessment of two Axis 3 measures (diversification of rural economy, and renovation and development of villages). One of the seven typologies developed, which focused on economic diversification, was used to identify a set of representative case study regions. The modelling results for the 16 case regions illustrated the fact that different types of rural economies are clearly associated with different patterns of policy impacts and that typologies can assist in the choice of appropriate representative regions. The combination of typologies and models are shown to have the potential to enhance the capacity for quantitative Spatial Impact Assessment of rural policy., JRC.DDG.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Economy

This report is a response to a request by the 2003 Agriculture Council, for a review of rural employment, particularly in relation to young people and women, in order to assess thecontribution of the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the new Rural Development Regulation (RDR) towards meeting the employment objectives agreed at the 2000 Lisbon Council (70% employment rate overall and 60% female employment rate by 2010).2. This immediate policy context, together with the 2004 enlargement, are set against a background of more gradual, but nonetheless far-reaching, changes in the role of agriculture, demographic and social changes, and the realignment of the rural economy.3. The objectives set for the report are therefore both empirical, - to set out a clear, comprehensive and up-to date picture of the European rural labour market, - and evaluative, - by addressing the fundamental issue of the extent to which these trends, are likely to help (or hinder) the EU meet itsLisbon employment objectives. A specific policy dimension is added by the requirement to investigate the role which the reformed CAP (Pillar 1 and Pillar 2) is likely to take in this process

The present study was commissioned by the Executive Committee for Northern Norway, as an extension of the Study on Northern peripheral, sparsely populated Regions in theEuropean Union (Nordregio report 2005:4), so as to take into account Norwegian regions facing similar challenges as those that have previously been described in Finland andSweden. This previous report was commissioned by the North Finnish (Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia and Central Finland), East Finnish (Kainuu, North Karelia, Pohjois-Savo and Etelä-Savo) and North Swedish (Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, Västernorrland) regions. The purpose of the study is to make an assessment on the socio-economic impacts of low population density, peripherality and cold climate in the Northern and Eastern regions of Finland, the Northern regions of Norway and in the Northern regions of Sweden.

The purpose of the study is to make an assessment on the socio-economic impacts of low population density, peripherality and cold climate in the Northern regions of Sweden and in Northern and Eastern regions of Finland. The study has focused on demographic sparsity as a core element for understanding of the specific needs of these regions. Sparsity has indeed been defined as characterising regions where extremely low population densities and disperse settlement patterns create specific challenges for economic activity and public service provision. A central question is the scale at which one should approach demographic sparsity in order to give the most accurate account of economic challenges connected to low population densities. A second main characteristic of these regions is peripherality, as reflected by the distance to the main European markets. This induces additional transport costs both for individuals and industries, and makes it difficult to access good and services produced in European core areas. Cold climate constitutes an additional challenge for these Northern Nordic regions, which can easily be observed at the scale of individual persons or companies. While it is generally not meaningful to seek to quantify the general macroeconomic impact of this factor, some narrower economic approaches of cold climate have been developed.

Small and medium sized enterprises operate within a complex web of links of various kinds. These may be distinguished in terms of their content (transactional, advisory, regulatory, social), "object" (other SMEs, third sector organisations, business services, local and national government), geography (local,regional, global), and durability (transient, permanent, frequent, irregular). A simpler categorisation might be between "hard" linkages involving a recorded transaction of some kind, and "soft" informal interation involving only information. Several schools of thought on local economic development emphasise either or both these types of interaction as important factors in local development dynamics. This is a particularily important group of concepts in relation to peripheral regions, where local opportunities for interaction are constrained, and longer distance relationships are more difficult and expensive. This paper begins with a review of recent research relating to business networks,focusing as far as possible on work relating to rural and peripheral areas, and including relevant aspects of the concepts of social capital, governance and "institutional thickness". This will be drawn together in the form of a number of hypotheses regarding the role of different forms of interaction in determining the degree of economic vitality in peripheral regions. The validity of these hypotheses will then be examined in the light of case-study data relating to twelve regions (six peripheral, six more accessible) in Scotland, Finland, Germany, Spain and Greece. Drawing predominantly on a survey of 600 SMEs, the discussion is structured into the following four themes: The geography of transactional linkages Other aspects of transactional linkages Links with third sector organisactions Links with local, regional and national government agencies. The paper will conclude with a review of the hypotheses and an integrated assessment of the impact of all kinds of networks on regional economic performance. The information presented in this paper has been derived from research funded by the EU Fifth Framework, as part of project QLK5-2000-00783 - Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy (AsPIRE).

WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 51, 110 pages In this task, research is mostly finalised to analyse how EU policies have been distributed across space. Here, the main focus is on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) expenditure. The same territorial detail adopted in previous tasks is used (i.e., NUTS 3 level). By analysing CAP expenditure at such a territorial disaggregation level, this work has specifically concentrated on rural, agricultural and environmental policies. Actually, specific CAP measures are directly aimed at tackling those issues. CAP also accounts for a large share of overall EU funds, and it represents one of major drivers of EU spatial development. The methodology of analysis is based on the reconstruction of allocation of EU funds across EU-27 NUTS 3 regions. First, an exploratory analysis of the spatial allocation of CAP expenditure across Europe is assessed. Spatial allocation of CAP expenditure is considered by disentangling specific measures as well (e.g., Pillar One and Pillar Two expenditure, Direct Payment and Market Intervention Measures, Pillar Two’s Axes…). Both absolute expenditure levels and expenditure intensity are computed here. Then, through a simple statistical analysis, the correlation between CAP expenditure at NUTS 3 level and regional features, in terms of both rurality and agricultural activity, is assessed. http://www.foreurope.eu/fileadmin/documents/pdf/Workingpapers/WWWforEurope_WPS_no051_MS105_Rankings_CAP_expenditure.xlsx

Much of rural Europe is steadily shifting away from our twentieth century conceptions. However, rural policy has been slow to adjust. There is an urgent need for a fresh approach, more attuned to contemporary realities and issues, which we shall term "Rural Cohesion Policy". Rural Europe has in many senses been transformed in recent years, particularly by the arrival of broadband internet, together with all the changes in business practice, consumer preferences, working conditions, education, service delivery, and other aspects of daily life. Transport infrastructure has been extended and improved in many parts of Europe. A large swathe of rural areas in the Centre and East of Europe has experienced the effects of accession to the Single Market. This report is based on findings from the EDORA (European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas) project. The overarching aim of EDORA was to examine the process of differentiation in rural areas, in order to better understand how EU, national and regional policy can enable these areas to build upon their specific potentials to achieve (in the words of the EU 2020 strategy) "smart, sustainable and inclusive growth." EDORA was a project funded under the ESPON 2013 programme. It began in September 2008 and was completed in March 2011. This project was coordinated by the University of the Highlands and Islands, supported by a large consortium representing twelve EU Member States.

Proceedings of a 2 day Workshop hosted by Nordregio, Stockholm, October 10th and 11th 2006. The papers in this volume, and the workshop at which they were presented, attempt to summarise the range of policy interventions which benefit rural residents and firms in the Nordic countries.