A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common interest, collaborating and learning together about how to develop this interest and apply it in practice. In socio-ecological transition movements-such as permaculture, transition networks and eco-villages - CoPs have the potential to become systems and spaces that have real power and influence.

Over an 18-month period between May 2024 and December 2025, twenty innovative rural and farming women from ten European countries will play the central role as Innovation Ambassadors in the FLIARA CoP. Engagement in this EU-wide interchange platform for multi-actor exchanges will happen both offline and online, anchored around four CoP Networking Events in Ireland, Slovenia, Italy and Sweden.

These event locations have been determined based on a geographically spaced typology established in WP3 and WP4, considering four macro-regional hubs. The networking events will bring together relevant stakeholders, including 20 women Innovation Ambassadors. These 20 women are being selected from case studies conducted during WP3. The Innovation Ambassadors, who are women leading innovative practices in agriculture and rural areas, will play a central role in these events.

Building on the power of social networks, the CoP will be developed with these women ambassadors alongside key policy and governance stakeholders. The CoP Network will occur in conjunction with a Campaign of Visibility for women-led rural innovations, spotlighting women as key innovation actors for a sustainable rural future.

The FLIARA CoP Networking Events will serve as platforms for knowledge exchange, showcasing innovative practices, and fostering visibility for women in agriculture and rural innovation. The events will also facilitate engagement with key actors involved in rural and farming innovation, such as SCAR AKIS, EU and National AKIS Coordinating Bodies, EU and National CAP Networks, Policy Makers and the FLIARA Stakeholder Advisory Board. These events aim to promote collaboration, share best practices, and provide valuable insights for policy development and implementation. The CoP Network will also provide elements of the FLIARA Toolkit as an additional outcome of this practical user-centre interactive initiative.

This Strategic Action Plan (SAP) serves as roadmap to establish, organise, implement and monitor the FLIARA CoP. It provides a guide for partners to ensure that everyone understands what needs to be achieved. It identifies specific activities, assigns responsibilities and outlines specific actions. Links to all necessary support documents are provided. As the FLIARA CoP takes place over an 18-month timeframe, the SAP will be a living document and allow for adaptation to changing circumstances to ensure that the CoP stays relevant and responsive to the needs of the women.@en

This chapter discusses planning the reterritorialisation of agricultural activities as an avenue of the Covid-19 pandemic recovery. Reterritorialisation indicates local food being targeted to local inhabitants instead of the global market. We argue that the pandemic has accelerated the reterritorialisation process. Supply chain actors actively responded to the local market, local agrifood sector labour was revalued, the rural-urban linkage was rebuilt along with the lifestyle change, and public political awareness was raised in engaging local agrifood issues. We propose planning the reterritorialisation of agriculture as a solution to perpetuating local agrifood activities and recovering from the pandemic. We discuss planning strategies from perspectives of access to land, the transition of farming practices, and structuring local supply chains. We conclude with research agenda drawn from the challenges faced by the coexistence of local and global food systems, the policy coherence and the juxtaposed complex issues like climate change and geopolitical conflicts.@en

The Netherlands is a decentralized unitary state with three layers of government. Many tasks regarding planning and policies for rural areas have been decentralized to provinces. Other important tasks have been decentralized to municipalities. There is a minister for emancipation who has a coordinating role.@en

The FLIARA (Female-led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas) project aims to create a European-wide ecosystem, which supports women-led innovative practices in farming and rural areas. The project supports rural women by creating an improved ecosystem for innovation, which will highlight their successes, serve as a source of information and inspiration, link them to important players in the field, increase their visibility in institutional decision-making contexts at the national and international levels, and help them develop their capacity and skills so they can continue leading or begin leading innovative practices. Understanding how women engage in innovative sustainable practices on farms and in rural areas will be crucial to opening up new opportunities for rural women throughout the EU. To fill these knowledge gaps a comprehensive co-created conceptual framework has been developed. Deliverable 1.1 is divided into four parts to clearly depict the role of the conceptual framework throughout the life of the FLIARA project. The four parts include:

Part One: situates the conceptual framework within the broader contexts of the FLIARA project, outlining the key facets of the project, such as, why we need a conceptual framework, before addressing the context for women-led innovations in rural areas.

Part Two: introduces the six perspectives that were collectively selected to ground the Conceptual Framework.

Part Three: identifies the various strategies to be employed during the life of the FLIARA project to examine and also to promote female-led innovations in rural areas for gender equality and sustainable rural development.

Part Four: reflects on the process and production of 30 concept notes. To meet the project objectives and its multi-actor approach, a co-creative and collaborative approach was adopted to develop concept notes that informed the conceptual framework and the Knowledge Review (D1.2). The individual concepts notes form Appendix A. A Glossary of Terms (GoT) was collated and is referenced within the document. It has its own place in Appendix B.

The document commences with the following Executive Summary, which consists of key take home messages from each of the four parts of the document.@en

This deliverable focuses on 20 national case studies that shed light on 200 women who spearhead unique innovations in the realm of rural areas and farming across ten European countries. The innovations led by the women are centred around four pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, economic, and cultural. They span across three distinct rural typologies: rural areas close to a city, rural villages, and remote rural regions. This comprehensive study provides a rich tapestry of female-led ingenuity and resilience in rural Europe.

The case study reports on 100 women-led farming innovations revealing a diverse, unique, and dynamic set of innovations. However, the rural location’s impact on these innovations is debated, with some countries finding that the type of innovation or regional differences within a country are more significant than the rural typology. The women have introduced farming innovations that vary in scale, duration, and ownership structure, with many based on organic, biodynamic, and agroecological farming. Women engaged in farming innovation often face challenges due to patriarchal social norms, with many feeling that they are not being taken seriously, particularly those without a family farming background. Despite these challenges, which include motherhood, financial constraints, bureaucratic hurdles, and infrastructural issues, many women gain community respect and inspire others by successfully managing their farming projects. Despite challenges, women engaged in farming innovation are combining domestic and care work with business, and leveraging support from partners, family, and friends. They also benefit from financial grants, strong local and international networks, technology, visibility through media, and support from local governments, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in their endeavours.

The case study also reports on 100 female-led rural innovations, which vary greatly across and within countries, with many recent initiatives in the past four years. These innovators, ranging in age from 26 to 78 and often highly educated, lead these initiatives either individually or in groups, and operate through registered businesses, associations, or informally, demonstrating the diversity and adaptability of women in this sector. The innovations are mostly related to environmental activities, community engagement, rural job creation, tourism, and training and education initiatives. The impact of the rural location on these innovations varies, with some countries finding that the type of innovation or other characteristics like local culture and religiosity are more significant than the rural typology. Despite these challenges, women innovators leverage their rural environments, integrating community needs, utilizing local resources, and creating urban-rural connections, demonstrating adaptability across different rural typologies. Support from intimate social circles, including partners and family, is essential for women-led innovations in rural areas, though work-life balance can be a challenge, particularly in relation to childcare. Local communities can provide resources and support, but gaining trust can be difficult, and infrastructure constraints, such as public transport and broadband, can impact innovation. Financial constraints are common, with complex regulations and bureaucracy posing additional challenges, yet public funds and alternative funding routes can provide crucial support. Despite these challenges, favourable conditions such as technical and business support systems, passion for their innovations, supportive networks, and geographical circumstances can offer opportunities for innovative solutions.

Drawing together female-led farming and rural innovations we can see that they are both diverse and have a high degree of adaptability. The importance of local and international networks, financial grants, and support from local governments are emphasized in fostering these innovations. Also, the role of and support from partners, family, and friends in these innovations are significant in both female-led farming and rural innovations. The challenges the women face include patriarchal social norms, financial constraints, bureaucratic hurdles, and issues related to infrastructure. The impact of rural location varies, with some countries finding that factors other than the rural typology, such as the type of innovation or regional differences within a country, are more significant.@en

Land values change in planning processes. Accountancy regulations define the book value of land held by local authorities. This affects the evaluation of alternative lines of action in land development, and in this way, the land policy of local authorities. This paper reflects on the case of the Netherlands, which has a well-established tradition of public land development. Traditionally, valuation has been based on historic costs: the prices for acquisition and costs of infrastructure provision paid in the past, and not the current exchange values. Losses foreseen must be taken immediately; profits can only be booked after they have been made. This paper analyses the changes in these accountancy regulations over time and studies their impact on the economic position of local authorities. It considers both regulations as the outcomes of these as being found in administrative records and the practice in the City of Enschede where there was a difference between the official value as recorded in the books and the value that was the basis for decision-making. The paper discusses the impact on land policy. There is a tension between regulations that more-and-more aim for a direct reflection of property market volatility in the books and the aim of local authorities to present financial stability. This may contribute to less financial involvement in land policies.@en

Je zult maar jong zijn op het platteland. Is er dan nog een perspectief voor de toekomst, nu we ons in het oog van de storm van talloze crises bevinden? Tijdens een studiemiddag van de TU Delft kwamen de dromen van de nieuwe generaties aan bod, evenals de praktische wetten en bezwaren. Willem Korthals Altes rapporteert. @en

In het landelijk gebied zijn er tal van opgaven, zoals natuurontwikkeling, extensivering van de landbouw en aanleg van infrastructuur die niet zijn gekoppeld aan het realiseren van lucratieve functies, zoals woningen en bedrijventerreinen. Grondbeleid hiervoor vraagt om andere strategieën dan voor lucratieve functies waar het mogelijk is kosten te verhalen om ze te bekostigen. […]@en

Across the European Union, farm modernisation results in vacant farm buildings in agricultural areas. This is an issue at the crossroads of rural development and spatial planning. The debate often revolves around the options of either demolishing these buildings or re-using them for residential purposes. There is less emphasis, however, on re-using vacant farm buildings to create new employment opportunities in rural areas. This article analyses two cases in the Netherlands to explore the commercial re-use of vacant farm buildings in relation to rural development. The analysis specifically focuses on governance issues, the contribution of different types of commercial re-use to rural communities, and how re-use helps in retaining or attracting young people. The findings suggest that commercial re-use of vacant farm buildings can attract new entrepreneurs, jobs, and liveliness to rural areas. This is likelier if local government efforts and local entrepreneurship align. The cases also show limitations of commercial re-use in relation to the potential for wider uptake and the risk of enhancing rural gentrification. This raises the question of whether the current planning systems can deal with the upcoming complex processes of rural transformation.@en

This document reports Deliverable D2.12- Report on local conferences - Final of the RURALIZATION project. The objective of the deliverable is to report on the actions carried out so far on the planification, organization and implementation of the local conferences. These events are envisaged in T2.5 of WP2 – Dissemination and Exploitation of the GA. As indicated, two local conferences will be organized in each partner country involved in the project consortium during the project lifetime, thus resulting in a total of at least 24 national conferences. Half of these conferences had already been organised in M22 of the RURALIZATION project. The other half has been organised between M33 (January 2022) and M48 (April 2023). This report is a reflection and evaluation on this second round of 12 events.@en

One of the tasks in the RURALIZATION project has been the development of a Massive Online Course (MOOC) entitled “Ruralization: Creating New Opportunities in Rural Areas”. The MOOC has been running on the edX platform from March 1st 2023 up to April 12th 2023. (https://www.edx.org/course/ruralization-creating-opportunities-for-new-generations-in-rural-areas). This document provides an overview of the set-up of the MOOC (section 2), the uptake of the course by the learners (section 3) and an Evaluation and Discussion (section 4).@en

Acquiring access to land is an important issue for new entrants into farming. Traditionally, the succession of farms is within the family; market transactions are geared towards the enlargement of running farms. Policies and institutions have been built to facilitate this process. Current challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, biodiversity and equity, as are analysed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Resource Panel (IRP), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting activities, make it so that there is a need to find alternatives for the current developments in farming, which is a process of up (scale enlargement) or out (stop farming). For these alternatives, new types of farmers who face the issue of access to land are needed. Based on FADN data and EUROSTAT data, current developments in the European farming sector were analysed to understand the impact of the process of modernisation on farmland markets and the complexities of access to land for new entrants. Whether these data may point to opportunities for alternative farming methods and the role of the direct payments of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy were analysed. Policies and consequences are discussed. It is concluded that, whereas alternative farming models are promoted at the level of policy aims, this is not performed at the policy guidance level of land markets. Alternatives outside traditional institutions face the issue of scaling up to create impact. The Common Agricultural Policy is, in many ways, more of an obstacle than it is a promoter of providing access to land for new farmers. New policies are needed.@en

Land is an important asset in rural areas. Access to land for the rural population has an impact on rural development. This contribution reviews, based on research and reports written in the context of the Horizon 2020 project RURALIZATION, the relationship between quality of government, access to land and rural development. @en

The reterritorialisation of agricultural activities (RAA) consists of reinforcing local food production and its diversification activities oriented toward local consumers. RAA helps shape the local food system, which is an increasingly studied topic in the planning field. However, institutional impacts on planning approaches for RAA remain unknown. This study examines this question by comparing land-use and food planning in Dutch and French cases, where France defines food planning via national law and the Netherlands does not. Through analysis of planning documents and semi-structured interviews, we identified planning goals and instruments, and analysed governance models. We then linked these three components to understand institutional impacts. Our empirical findings reveal that regarding planning policies on RAA, there are differences between the two countries in terms of focused action fields, planning instruments, and links between land-use and food planning. Our results show that the dominance of state-local relationships in France and civil society-government relationships in the Netherlands has a significant effect on planning approaches. This study supports the need for an emphasis on institutional design for effective planning for RAA.

@en

De relatie tussen stad en land staat vol in de schijnwerpers in het debat over onder meer stikstof, woningbouw en de energietransitie. TU Delft-hoogleraar Willem Korthals Altes laat zien dat de bewoners van het landelijke gebied in de afgelopen decennia in een ‘economische tredmolen’ zijn beland. Voor de vernieuwing van het landelijke gebied is dan ook een geheel nieuw perspectief nodig dat over de stadsrand heen reikt.@en

De financiële gegevens van gemeentelijke grondexploitaties laten een grote continuïteit zien. Er is een grote gelijkenis tussen de uitkomsten over 2020 (resultaat € 910 miljoen positief) en 2021 (resultaat € 896 miljoen positief). Ook is er grote continuïteit in de investeringen van ge-meenten in grond en duurzame goederen. Deze zijn aanhoudend op een laag niveau. Ook wanneer private partijen locaties ontwikkelingen, is het vanwege aanbestedingsregels nood-zakelijk dat gemeenten investeren in openbaar gebied en de kosten hiervan verhalen op marktpartijen. Ook de post waar deze kostenverhaalsinkomsten geboekt moeten worden, is aanhoudend laag. De voorlopige cijfers over het eerste halfjaar van 2022 laten geen verande-ring van dit beeld zien. Er is eerder sprake van een nog verdere verlaging van investeringen dan van een verhoging. Versnelling van de woningbouw is daarmee niet in zicht. Zonder grond en investeringen in de woonomgeving (zoals straten, rioleringen en groenvoorzienin-gen) kan er niet worden gebouwd.@en

Een van de instrumenten om de woningbouw aan te jagen is de inzet van een actief gemeentelijk grondbeleid. Hoogleraar Willem Korthals Altes van de TU Delft dook in de financiële cijfers. Zijn slotsom: gemeenten laten de kansen liggen, waardoor het woningtekort juist verder oploopt.@en