Soziale Orte als Innovationsressource. Wie Zukunft in ländlichen Räumen entsteht! (InReSo)
About the project
Innovative capacity is not usually a topic associated with structurally weak regions. Implementing innovations requires resources that these regions often lack. The InReSo project focused on the question of how regions facing challenges such as depopulation, aging, skills shortages, and infrastructure decline can successfully meet innovation requirements. The project built on the concept of Social Places (Kersten/Neu/Vogel 2022): What role do Social Places play in the capacity for innovation in peripheral regions?
The project’s focus was on social innovations, understood as behavioral changes that enable people to solve a problem better than before and which are therefore maintained. For example, if an initiative is formed that improves the availability of food, mobility, or educational opportunities, this can be considered a social innovation in a particular location.
The InReSo project specifically examined the following questions: What innovative initiatives can currently be found in rural areas? How are they organized and how do they work? What challenges do they face? What do they do for their local environment and how do they change it? How innovative are they in terms of their working methods and their offers, and can they be transferred to other locations? In line with the Social Places concept, another focus was on local actors: What specific contributions do they make, what are their motives and potential? We looked at actors in particular from a sectoral perspective that distinguishes between organized and informal civil society, state/local government, and (local) business.
The empirical approach of the project was based on qualitative case studies. A total of 14 civic initiatives in various structurally weak regions in Eastern and Western Germany were selected. The fields of activity of the initiatives examined were very diverse: education and culture, maintenance of public spaces, food supply, mobility, ecology. This selection served to identify commonalities across the specifics of individual sectors.
It could be shown that the initiatives have a positive impact through their practical work on the ground, but also provide new impetus that spreads throughout and even beyond the region. This is not least due to the high level of expertise and motivation of individuals in local civil society. The initiatives make creative use of locally available resources and are themselves an expression of the vitality of structurally weak regions. Their value lies not only in their contribution to rural regional development, but also in the fact that they create opportunities for interpersonal encounters and democratic negotiations.
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