Refugees in Rural Areas

Background and Objective

Some local communities in rural areas see refugee-based immigration not only as a humanitarian task but also as a chance for development in the context of emigration, aging, and skills shortages. However, empirically based answers how this can be achieved are still lacking. 

The research project aims to examine in detail under which conditions, and how humanitarian engagement, and rural development can be successfully linked, and how this can be positively influenced by politics and civil society.

The project will examine rural districts in Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Saxony, distinguishing four dimensions:

• Integration potential of rural areas in Germany (Thünen Institute),
• Perspective of the refugees (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg),
• Local integration policy and its support by the federal, state and EU (University Hildesheim), and
• Civic engagement and the attitude of the host society (TU Chemnitz).

Target Group

Professional public, political decision-makers

Approach

A correspondingly broad-based project is based on the expertise of various research institutions and disciplines. In detail, these are the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies (responsibility for subproject 1 and the study regions in Lower Saxony), the University of Erlangen (subproject 2 and Bavaria), the University of Hildesheim (subproject 3 and Hessen) and the TU Chemnitz (subproject 4 and Saxony). Following up on the research results of the four dimensions and based on regional profiles, policy recommendations are formulated (subproject 5). The Thünen Institute coordinates the joint project.

A project advisory council from research and practice, will support the project progress and discuss the results to ensure the connection to the political practice in the areas of integration and rural development.

Results

Results of the project are published in the following publications and can be found on the project website www.gefluechtete-in-laendlichen-raeumen.de/infothek/publikationen/

A summary you can find in the project brief. 

Links and Downloads

www.gefluechtete-in-laendlichen-raeumen.de