Start Time: 14:00

Location: Suite Eaton or Suite La Fontaine

Speaker:

Arjen Brouwer - Consultant for PAU in Groningen

Summary:

Since the year 2004 the population of Europe as a whole is in decline. In many peripheral regions in Spain, Italy, Poland, France and Germany this phenomenon shows up for some decades yet. Lacking social and economic opportunities have made people leave their villages and look for better chances somewhere else.
Population decline not only leads to fast lowering prices on the housing market, also employment rates en (care) services are affected. The Interreg IVb project DC NOISE (Demographic Change: New Opportunities In Shrinking Europe) is looking for solutions and strategies to cope with this phenomenon.
Some practical examples of how can be dealt with population decline (in stead of battling against it) are demonstrated on the case of the Frisian community of Dongeradeel. Here, in 2008, a multidisciplinary team of architects, landscape architects and urban and regional planners thought up a handful of strategies and dozens of ingredients which share one ratio in common: do not ignore population decline as a threatening phantom (with yes of no a fairytale character) but as a realistic challenge that brings as well threats as opportunities with it.