New ways of life in the countryside with internet connection

Life has shifted a lot from the country to the city. But what is the current trend? Back to the roots?

An entry by Hannah Krapp and Svea Spieker

Sunday, November 22, 2020

By thinking of life in former times and life nowadays– what comes to your mind first? One thing is clear: The ways of life have changed a lot over the past centuries.

Over time more and more people left the countryside and moved into the cities. This development is due to two major events. In Middle Ages there were many city foundations with which the first small wave of movements came along with. Despite this, the German population distribution was still predominantly rural until industrialization. During the industrial revolution many factories were founded in the cities. Many people found work there and moved to the city for this reason. This process started in the early 19th century and slowed down at the end of the 20th century. However, even today the city life seems more attractive to many people. Prognoses say that only about 20 percent of the German population will live in rural areas by 2030. But why?

A comparison of urban and rural areas shows the main difference:

As the comparison shows all of the above-mentioned infrastructures are both in the city and in the countryside. The main difference is in the extent and accessibility. Since rural areas thus also have access to urban infrastructure, the typical rural life no longer exists in Germany: Urbanisation takes place.

Urbanisation effects our earth and our society

On the one hand, jobs are created which leads to improved prosperity. On the other hand, there are a row of negative social and environmental impacts: food shortage, as fewer farmers have to supply more urbanites with food. Additionally, the housing market in cities is scarce, the rents are expensive and therefore the social diversity is decreasing. At the same time many properties are empty in the country. Also, the fresh water and wastewater supply as well as the transport network has to be designed for the growing city population. Furthermore, there are high emissions in the towns because of heating, electricity and cars. Last but not least many people produce a lot of waste. Storage and combustion leads to gases that are harmful to health and the environment.

Initial measures are already being taken to counteract these negative impacts. Also, from the human side there are first countermovements.

Back to the roots?

The consequences of urbanisation leads to a kind of countermovement. More and more people want to get back to the countryside. Crowded streets, traffic, less space, air pollution, high costs and housing shortage in cities are reasons named for this movement. Besides the rising wish of living in the countryside, people increasingly realize the potential of working outside the cities in the country. They hope for higher concentration because of the much more quiet atmosphere there.

The imagination is nice. Waking up and looking out of the window into wide, green fields; fresh air, in a certain distance a farmer reaping the harvest of the month, neighbours greeting when coming across. Such ideas are lovely but as with every idea there is the question of implementation.

The keynote of urban cities is not to transform the countryside into a city. This would not make any sense. It is more about tying urban and rural structures.

Already implemented urban villages like “Coconat” and “Uferwerk” as well as the concept “KoDorf” which is not realized yet are examples for realizing a contemporary rural countermovement.

Urban villages like the presented examples combine both working life and living in nature with a good (digital) infrastructure. To do justice to every wish and imagination of living in the countryside different ways of life are possible there. People get the chance to relocate their whole life – working life and free time – to the countryside. They can move into a flat or house normally provided in urban villages and work in local industries or digital in home office. For digital working there are so-called coworking spaces which are working places that can be used by every resident and shared among each other.

For people who are, for example, not allowed to work in home office or only want to work in the countryside but do not aspire to a permanent living there, commuting is possible as well. In the case of a nondurable stay there are accommodations to be rented for a few days, maybe a weekend, or longer.

No matter if you are an initiator of an urban village project, a villager who is affected by such a new project or a political office-holder: Everyone needs to do their part concerning new projects for a more sustainable future. In case of urban villages project initiators need to talk! Transparency and openness are the key to bend forward skepticism which often is present among villagers. Villagers need to be involved so that they can understand such new enterprises and the idea behind it.

At the same time, villagers should not be too biased. People need to listen to the ideas and imagination of those project initiators firstly instead of declining them immediately. Collaboration on each level – politically and socially – is needed. Administrations need to offer support, for example by providing important contact persons who can help implementing and promoting projects like urban villages. Furthermore, platforms like “Zukunftsorte” should be used for comparing notes with other similar projects to get tips and orientation.

Before all of these obstacles and requirements can be tackled, a few really important, fundamental conditions need to be fulfilled: internet access with high connection speed also for rural areas and a better infrastructure for public transport. Urban villages need a functional, efficient digital infrastructure and good public transport connections to be attractive for potential guests. For example, in Germany the broadband roll-out is still insufficient and yet not completed. Politicians are urged to push those measures forward, implement more actions in those fields and support also in financial ways even more.

And now, what do you think?

New concepts and future developments are often different and surprising. That’s why it is necessary to grapple with and think about them. Are those rural life forms realistic and well-thought-out? Does it make sense to live in urban villages with coworking spaces and other areas for common use while having the wish to escape from the narrowness and loudness of the city? Is it socially beneficial to live in an urban village? And would, from this point of view, a location-independent concept may be a better alternative so that people are able to connect with each other countrywide to find flatshares wherever they want?

There are many possibilities to further develop ideas like urban villages. They are a good approach for a more sustainable future and have got great potential for change.