Thünen Research Award for thematic issue on Rural Areas

The thematic issue was prepared by authors from the three Thünen Institutes of Rural Studies, Rural Economics, and Market Analysis. In the picture, Prof. Dr. Peter Weingarten, Dr. Stefan Becker, Dr. Anne Margarian, Prof. Dr. Christian Hundt and Dr. Annett Steinführer (from left to right) accept the award. Also involved were Dr. Patrick Küpper and Dr. Jan Cornelius Peters.

Rural areas are often portrayed with little differentiation in the media and in public debate. One-sided, contradictory views predominate: romanticized "love of the countryside" versus "disconnected regions”. Against this background, it was a particular concern of the authors to compile a thematic issue on rural areas (“Ländliche Räume”, No. 343) for the series "Informationen zur politischen Bildung" ("Information on Civic Education" - in German only) of the Federal Agency for Civic Education in order to convey a realistic picture of rural areas and their diversity, especially to young people. This series is particularly suitable for this purpose because it is often used as teaching material in schools, with a print run of 420,00 copies. They are also made available free of charge in print and digital form via the Federal Agency for Civic Education: https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/izpb/laendliche-raeume-343/