Rural-Urban Outlooks: Unlocking Synergies

Website: https://rural-urban.eu/

Short description of the project:

ROBUST is a 48 months project, funded by the EU programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020, which kicked off in June 2017. The overall goal of ROBUST is to: (i) advance the understanding of the interactions and dependencies between rural, peri-urban and urban areas, and (ii) to identify and promote policies, governance models and practices that foster mutually-beneficial relations. Improved governance arrangements and synergies between rural, peri-urban and urban areas will in turn contribute to Europe’s smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, maximising the creation of rural jobs and value-added. To achieve the above  goals, ROBUST works with Living Labs and Communities of Practice.

Liaison with RURITAGE:

Focused on rural-urban linkages, the ROBUST project shares the RURITAGE objectives related to ensuring sustainable development and incisive growth of rural areas in Europe and beyond.  One of the main points of connection between the two projects are activities related to sustainable and local food production.

In April 2019, RURITAGE participated to the 29th Breakfast at Sustainability’s titled: “Fostering the Circular Food Economy through Stronger Rural-Urban Linkages”, co-organised by ROBUST. The event aimed at exploring how we can strengthen rural-urban linkages to improve city-region synergies and sustainability, support rural economies, and promote a circular food economy. The RURITAGE Coordinator took part in the panel discussion and shared some interesting international examples of rural regeneration processes that include sustainable food systems and cultural heritage. Details about the event and its main conclusions are available here.

RURITAGE and ROBUST exchanged social media accounts to be regularly updated about new project results and upcoming activities of mutual interest.

Further networking activities will be developed.