Project details

Rural Sustainability Transitions through Integration of Knowledge for improved policy processes (RUSTIK)


RUSTIK is a four-year transdisciplinary research project aiming to enable rural communities’ actors and policy makers to design better strategies, initiatives and policies fostering sustainability transitions of rural areas funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme.  In consideration of increasing social and ecological challenges, the project envisages an analysis of current adaption requirements and the support of effective rural policy-making processes. The project will contribute to an advanced understanding of different rural functionalities and characteristis as well as the (future) potentials and challenges of rural areas.

Central specific objectives are to provide:

  • a robust methodological framework for functional rural areas,
  • databases integrating data of different types and sources,
  • improved strategies and governance approaches for rural decision makers and stakeholders, and
  • improved approaches for rural impact assessment and decentralised rural proofing.

RUSTIK aims to substantially contribute to enhancing existing European policy tools and approaches, most of all to support the European Green Deal, the European Digital Strategy, the European pillar of Social Rights and the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the European Union.

RUSTIK addresses the topic by illuminating central key transitions in rural areas: (1) socio-economy, (2) climate change and environment, and (3) digitalisation. Five types of rural functions are RUSTIK’s starting point for characterising the diversity of rural areas and their capacity to respond to these transitions.

RUSTIK will achieve its overarching and specific objectives by

  1. creating a conceptual basis for functional rural areas, and the transition and resilience of rural areas building on previous research,
  2. co-designing data collection approaches, and
  3. investigating policy frameworks and coordination mechanisms.

Closely interrelated with all of these activities, Living Labs in 14 European Pilot Regions in 10 European countries will be the central element of an action-oriented multi-actor approach to researching rural diversity and societal transformations.

The RUSTIK project is coordinated by IfLS e.V. The large consortium involves 30 partner organisation. Eight university and four research institutes are providing scientific expertise within the fields of rural development, spatial planning and reporting, policy process, climate change and sustainability; two knowledge-based SME’s contribute to this with ready-to-apply technologies and approaches; and two NGOs act as intermediaries between university resp. SMEs.

Local and regional embedded partners ensure a practice-oriented implementation of the project. This comprises partners from five local or regional public administration, two local action groups (LAGs), three business associations and three regional development agencies.

Two European umbrella organisation representing rural mountainous stakeholders and regions (EM) and Local Action Groups (ELARD) are key multipliers towards other European regions and particularly support the dissemination towards the European Union.

Project results can be found on the project website: https://rustik-he.eu/

Contact at IfLS: Simone Sterly (sterly[at]ifls.de)

Project no.: 

240

Categories: 

Coordination | Rural areas |

Client: 

European Union, Horizon Europe

Executing Organization: 

Institute for Rural Development Research

Duration: 

2022-2026

Contact person/s at IfLS: 

Simone Sterly