DORFLEBEN – The G+L in July 2024!

Rural areas offer a high quality of life, especially for families with children, Construction Minister Klara Geywitz told the Funke media group a year ago in March. The federal government wanted to make life in the countryside easier and relieve the burden on cities. Shortly afterwards, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities also recommended moving to the countryside. In the July 2024 issue, we therefore investigate: How attractive is village life really at the moment? And is it really the solution?

In Germany, the village has its place in every ministry, as Klara Geywitz told us in an interview for this issue. According to the SPD Federal Building Minister, the interests of rural areas are “really always present” in political Berlin. However, after the disastrous results of the traffic light government in the 2024 European elections, it is more than questionable whether this “presence” is actually felt in rural areas of our country.

According to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 57% of the German population lives in rural areas. And like the rest of Germany – with the exception of a total of 15 cities – they mainly voted for the CDU/CSU in the old federal states and the AfD in the new federal states on May 9.

At the same time, you have to give Klara Geywitz credit: she tirelessly makes the village and the development of rural areas an issue time and time again. She is convinced that strengthening rural areas can alleviate the challenges facing cities and is committed to making life in the countryside easier again – whether successfully or not, only the coming years will tell. What rural areas really need now and whether the countryside can really relieve the burden on cities are the two big questions of this G+L.

We are aware that there is no such thing as “the village” or “the rural area”. Just like urban structures, every rural place is unique and is defined by its own space-specific conditions. Nevertheless, we were able to define eight specific challenges that will be essential for the development of rural areas in the future with the keywords “housing”, “mobility”, “cost of living”, “shopping behavior”, “energy”, “economy”, “social infrastructure” and “political events”. You can read about where rural areas stand in each of these areas and where there are major question marks on the following pages.

In addition, numerous highly interesting personalities – including Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa, Lamia Messari-Becker and Cem Özdemir – have taken the time to write a position on the future of rural areas and their significance for the development of urban areas for this issue. They all agree that our rural areas need much more attention. So if Klara Geywitz is right and the interests of rural areas are “really always present”, this must become more visible in the near future. Otherwise rural and urban areas will lose out together.

The magazine is available here in the store!

Our last issue contains the special issue together with “Bauder” and focuses on roofs and façades.