Rethinking sustainable and integrated development in non urban areas: cooperative foresight and anticipation

Start Date: 01/05/2025
End Date: 30/04/2029
Website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/rural-coop

RURAL-COOP promotes an integrated and participatory approach to territorial development, viewing rural and mountain areas as laboratories of democracy and innovation. Coordinated by the Autonomous Province of Trento and funded by the Interreg Europe programme, the project involves partners from Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, with the aim of strengthening territorial cohesion and improving public policies dedicated to non-urban areas. RURAL-COOP seeks to empower local communities as key actors in decision-making processes and in the sustainable management of resources, fostering integrated and shared governance.

Through the analysis of European best practices, training and capacity-building activities, exchanges of experience and participatory policy design, the project builds a shared path of learning and innovation among regions with diverse development contexts. The active involvement of local stakeholders enables the design of more effective policy reforms, while continuous monitoring allows strategies to be adapted according to real territorial impacts.

RURAL-COOP thus stands as a European laboratory for sustainable local development, combining civic participation, interregional cooperation and environmental stewardship. The project promotes an inclusive and community-based vision of rural development, aimed at creating fairer, more resilient policies capable of enhancing the potential of rural and mountain areas across Europ