Regional development in rural and sparsely populated areas was on the agenda of the 2019 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels organised in October 2019. With the current programming period coming to an end, this year’s Regions week was an opportunity to reflect on demographic trends and future policy tools available to tackle depopulation.
Different workshops addressed the issue of territorial development in shrinking rural, mountainous and sparsely populated areas. The workshop “Shrinking regions – how to foster development in depopulated areas” in particular aimed at building on scientific evidence and discuss regional examples of sustainable strategies for the post-2020 cohesion policy. The provision of services was also discussed during the workshop “The importance of developing better basic services for sparsely populated / underpopulated areas”.
The 2019 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities was the opportunity to bring together representatives from EU institutions, European networks and civil society to reflect on opportunities of territorial development during the next programming period. Learn more on policy opportunities for shrinking regions in our article (for members only).
23 October 2019
