Vorpommern Connect - Evaluating and Shaping Sustainable Urban-Rural Value Chains

The Vorpommern Connect project focuses on the University and Hanseatic Town of Greifswald as a growing centre in a rural region characterised by decline. Greifswald and the Vorpommern region are thus representatives of small urban growth centres in rural areas of Germany.

The University and Hanseatic Town of Greifswald faces the challenge of guaranteeing a high quality of life and an adequate supply of public services for a growing town population and the population of the surrounding municipalities; today, around 25 % of users of cultural and educational services in Greifswald already come from the surrounding region.

Conversely, the surrounding rural area is becoming increasingly important for recreation for the urban residents of Greifswald and neighbouring rural communities. Many people are also calling for agriculture to operate in a more environmentally conscious manner in the interests of sustainability. This includes, in particular, the provision of regional products and the preservation of the landscape.

Hardly any added value is created from the processing and marketing of higher-quality products in the region. There is a lack of regional processing and marketing channels. Sustainable land management must therefore pursue the productive and economic utilisation of the land without overlooking these different interests and interrelationships.

Vorpommern Connect (VoCo) aimed to improve the urban-rural relationship between the region of Vorpommern and the town of Greifswald, reduce conflicts and tap into development potential. The goal was to create a comprehensive scientific basis for decisions regarding urban-rural relations.

With this approach, a selection of model projects in the region were prepared scientifically and supported in their implementation. The projects were led by industry partners in the neighbouring districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald, as well as the University and Hanseatic Town of Greifswald.

The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the Urban-Rural-Plus funding programme. Project duration: 01 August 2018 - 31 July 2023.

The goal of the "Urban-Rural-Plus" funding programme is to achieve integrated, sustainable development of regions by strengthening urban-rural relationships.