The case study report discusses the Smart Country Side (SCS) project, which takes place in rural villages in the two administrative districts Höxter and Lippe in Ostwestfalen-Lippe in north-eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. By offering new digital ways for civic engagement and digital solutions for the villages’ problems, the project tries to tackle issues of spatial injustice coming along with living in rural areas.
Impact / Outcome
Active participation and involvement of local communities and social groups in policy development has a not very strong tradition in Germany. In the short time of project duration, the action has integrated bottom-up engagement into its approach as best as possible. The project pursued its objectives with a modular concept. Village conferences in the participating villages were held to identify and create own local digital solutions and content, which will be merged in a district-wide digital village platform. Furthermore, ‘digital village experts’ have been qualified in training courses and local community centres have been facilitated with IT media centres.
Funding sources
Public/Private
Key Metrics
Offer new digital ways for civic engagement and digital solutions
Operating model
Fully publicYear published
01 January 2019