“Is Everyone Moving to the City? Where Is the Village Heading?”
To address this important topic, the “Schloss Sassanfahrt” Educational Center (which means “the Saxons’ place of arrival in 1124”) in the Nuremberg metropolitan region invited Prof. Dr. Clemens Renker from the Faculty of Business Administration and Engineering Management as a speaker.
“Abandoned villages,” as occurred in the late Middle Ages when about 30% of Germany’s villages were abandoned, need not be the result of today’s rural exodus and migration to “commuter cities.”
After outlining the serious—even existential—challenges facing Germany’s approximately 4,600 municipalities, Prof. Renker presented solutions for transforming the “village” way of life.
In some cases, complete redesigns are necessary to secure the future:
From the vision—encompassing new spheres of meaning and strategic areas of action, new revenue mechanisms, and effective village value-creation relationships—to a village culture of attentive and mindful coexistence. Key drivers in this process are local elites as “doers,” whose intrinsic motivation must be given recognition and set free. Cooperation and partnership within a municipality and between villages offer further potential for success. Ultimately, however, the nature and quality of a holistic and participatory process for redesigning the “village” way of life contribute fundamentally to the success of a sustainable municipality.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Clemens Renker

Faculty of Business Administration and Engineering Management

Email: c.renker@hszg.de