Earlier the Capita Selecta course ‘A global sense of place’ was announced here as optional course for master students in the 2nd period, starting Monday October 31, 2011. Seen the number of students attending the course, the earlier outlined weekly lectures and workshops are now replaced by a tutorial reading group that will meet once a week with the lecturers to discuss the literature of the week (as was listed in the earlier course outline). Those interested in joining the reading group can contact Joost Jongerden (joost.jongerden@wur.nl).
Category Archives: Regional Development
Capita Selecta ‘A global sense of place’
In the 2nd WU education period running, starting October 31, Rural Sociology will again offer the Capita Selecta course ‘A Global sense of place’ (course code RSO-50806). Course outline is available here.
The course offers a comparative perspective on place-based approaches in rural and spatial development. Next to lectures and readings on place-based development, five guest lecturers are invited to present a case and discuss the relevance of place-based development.
The interdisciplinary course is open to MSc-students from different Master programs that want to broaden their understanding of place-based approaches for sustainable development. The course aims to make students acquainted with different disciplinary approaches to study and understand the sustainable development of places, necessary for thoroughly understanding transformation processes, rural and territorial development.
From the course outline:
A global sense of place gives a critical overview of approaches and discourses on sustainable place-based development and is a constituent and contingent expression of three interrelated, interdependent and relational processes: economic, ecological and social-cultural. Places can then be seen as the constructs wherein the varied interactions between these three interconnected processes are expressed. We will focus on an action-perspectives based on ecological and cultural processes as a starting point, which can create autonomy and a repositioning of economic relations, a regrounding in ecological capital and self-efficacy in the cultural sphere.
We will focus on two main approaches: 1) places as arenas for negotiation, conflicting interests and power struggles, influenced by capital and global forces, where place-based struggles occur as multi-scale, network-oriented subaltern strategies of localization; 2) Spaces endowed with meaning and the constitution of identities, subjectivities and difference.
The themes for the six weeks and invited quest lecturers are:
Week 1 Analysis of place-based development (Dirk Roep)
This lecture introduces an analytical model for sustainable place-based development where place-shaping is a constituent and contingent expression of three interrelated, interdependent and relational processes: economic, ecological and social-cultural. Places can then be seen as the constructs wherein the varied interactions between these three interconnected processes are expressed. The lecture deals with the issue how place-based development based on an action-perspective takes practices based on ecological and cultural processes as a starting point, with the aim of creating autonomy and a repositioning of economic powers, a regrounding in ecological capita and self-efficacy in the cultural sphere. Continue reading
Nederland 2040 – Een land van regio’s
Het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving heeft in kader van Ruimtelijk Verkenning 2011 het rapport Nederland in 2040: een land van regio’s uitgebracht:
Nederland staat aan de vooravond van andere tijden: de jarenlange groei van bevolking, mobiliteit en werkgelegenheid gaat afvlakken. Dat betekent dat in de toekomst, met name na 2020, in een groot deel van ons land krimp even goed denkbaar is als groei. Het beleid zal hier op moeten inspelen met een kleinschaliger en flexibeler ruimtelijk beleid dat veel minder dan voorheen voorziet in grote investeringen en projecten voor de lange termijn.
Groei en krimp komen dus naast elkaar voor en met wisselende mate van zekerheid. In regio’s als het Rivierengebied, de Veluwe en delen van het Groene Hart zijn krimp en groei van bevolking, mobiliteit en werkgelegenheid beide goed denkbaar. In stedelijke regio’s als Almere, Groningen, Arnhem/Nijmegen en Utrecht zullen bevolking, werkgelegenheid en mobiliteit de komende tijd blijven groeien. Krimp treedt de komende periode vrij zeker op in regio’s aan de rand van Nederland, zoals Oost-Groningen en Midden-Limburg. Na 2020 is voor steeds meer regio’s zowel groei als krimp goed mogelijk. Na 2030 is dat zelfs in een groot deel van ons land het geval. Dat betekent mogelijk krimp in de huidige groeiregio’s maar op langere termijn zouden ook krimpregio’s van nu weer met stabilisatie of zelfs groei te maken kunnen krijgen.
Voor kennis rond krimp, zie ook Van meer naar beter: kennisplein krimp.
Conference call – Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society (new deadlines)
In June I published a post about the upcoming conference ‘Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society: International Conference on Multifunctional Agriculture and Urban-Rural Relations’, which included a call for Working Group proposals. The deadline for submitting Working Group proposals was 1 September 2011. This post is to announce that the deadline for submitting Working Group proposals has been postponed to 15 september 2011. If you would like to convene a working group but don’t have time to write a proposal, you can also express your interest by sending me an e-mail (han.wiskerke@wur.nl). Have a look at the conference website for an overview of the working group themes that have been proposed by the scientific committee. The deadline for abstracts will also be postponed by 2 weeks to 15 December 2011.
Human Values and Place-based Development – WASS seminar by dr Marilyn Hamilton
WASS Seminar Human Values and Place-based Development by dr Marilyn Hamilton: Tuesday August 30th, 13.30-15.30, Venue: Room C75, Leeuwenborch
How can human values be the starting point for community and regional development? How can capacities be built, leadership developed and community learning in multi-cultural places be enhanced? How can we create an integral framework for place-making and place-caring?
This seminar is a unique opportunity to hear about Dr. Hamilton’s work in cities and eco-regions and how she sees that sustainability for both are interlinked as a complex adaptive system. Marilyn Hamilton ‘meshworks’ or weaves people, purpose, priorities, profits, programs and processes to develop strategies for resilience. She facilitates sustainable development programs, develops practical tools and supports multi-stakeholder groups in transforming cities and eco-regions into a glocally resilient ‘meshwork’. She states that we need to balance subjective/ intersubjective capacities of people (‘the inner dimensions’) with objective/interobjective capacities (‘the outer dimensions’).
An example is Abbotsford, which had been headlined by the media as the ‘murder capital of Canada’. Here the youth perceived that community didn’t value them as a resource for community. Community workers wanted Abbotsford’s food-based agricultural sector to “cook up cultural harmony” by renewing opportunities for the youth linked to the food chain. The research project used an integral framework and meta-mapping (based on the theory of ‘spiral dynamics integral’) to identify differences and opportunities for the city and develop a monitor (the vital signs monitor) for strategic planning.
Dr. Marilyn Hamilton is Professor of Sustainable Community Development and Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University in Canada. She is a leader, coach, teacher, researcher and Founder of “Integral City Meshworks Inc” http://www.integralcity.com/, and Jury Member of Globe Sustainable City Awards. She wrote the book, “Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive”.
More information: Ina Horlings, Rural Sociology Group (lummina.horlings@wur.nl) or Anouk Brack, Education and Competence Studies (anouk.brack@wur.nl).
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 