Vorarlberg - english · Office for Future-Related Issues · Sustainable Development · Focus
Starting position
Local supply is under pressure across the state. It is a particular problem in the financially weaker communities: there are fewer and fewer village shops, restaurants, post offices, etc.
Alongside the economic dimension (loss of training places and jobs, loss of income through community taxes), it is a social dimension that causes difficulties for the communities: a loss of meeting places and areas of communication, were living together can be learnt and lived; the development of dormitory communities; the isolation of individuals, who lack mobility (the elderly, children, the ill, the disabled…)
Efforts to date (such as town planning/designation of areas, economic promotion and/or raising awareness) have not solved the problem; they have at best merely slowed development. Real answers to these questions have not yet been found.
Objective: upon the initiative of mayors from 15 communities, various agents (community representatives, state government, business, chamber of commerce, and also regional producers) are now charged with the task of creating a kind of learning community in order to search for new strategies, to work out possibilities for taking action at a number of levels, and to coordinate the implementation of measures.
Effort and performance goals:
Output (performance): development of a strategy including implementation model to secure quality of life and local supplies for the state, communities and business on a sustainable basis.
Impact (upon the target group): A joint learning and coordination process of all participating agents, within a framework which comprehensively explores the current situation and the options for action and in which everyone finds an appropriate role in the project’s implementation.
Social Outcome: Significant contribution to securing community quality of life and local supply on a sustainable basis.
Potential measures of impact: