CASPER

‘Shrinking’ is a sensitive topic, so public consultation is needed for putting it honestly on the political agenda. Across the EU territory almost 60% of predominantly rural or intermediate regions (NUTS3) experience sustained demographic decline. These regions mean almost 40% of the EU area and a third of its population. Most are losing population due to ‘legacy’ effects (age structure, low fertility rates), and in many areas out-migration causes ‘active’ shrinking, too. Decades of interventions generally following growth-oriented development narratives have failed to reverse or even just stop these trends.

In CASPER, five regions partner up to improve their policies to respond to this shared challenge: South Savo (FI), Somogy County (HU), Basilicata (IT), Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR) and Podlaskie (PL). Our common starting point is that even with dwindling populations, our regions may actually thrive on indicators of quality of life, making them attractive for people to stay or even (re)settle in – to an extent that our regions’ vitality, special know-how and cultural heritage can be preserved.

Our cooperation helps us to work out and implement effective practices for more directly engaging our citizens in finding responses to the challenges of depopulation. If informed, consulted and included by decision makers, local citizens may understand and easier accept, or even find creative alternatives to, the right-sizing of services. We empower our communities and enhance their resilience through well-thought-out, locally tailored and effective combinations of mitigation and adaptation measures. Policy instruments are improved so that they respect and respond better to the ‘well-being’ needs of current local populations. Eventually, through mobilising citizens, we can approach the problem of ‘shrinking’ in a more cross-sectoral and place-based way and see better what ‘well-being’ should mean to retain and nurture our most important resource -- people in our rural areas.