No 1, 2011 - LAND IN SIGHT - The rural future

Beyond the city hype there is nothingness. Or the countryside. An undefined space, the future of which is hardly on anyone’s mind in this urban era. While architects and spatial planners outdo one another with visions of the green city, the green beyond it is utterly neglected. Why? And yet there is urgent need for concern about the future of the countryside.

A superannuated population and unfavourable educational and job opportunities make rural regions unattractive as areas to settle in. At the same time, the suburbs are devouring more and more of the countryside and are thus endangering one of its most important assets: nature. And global agriculture is confronted with the urgent question of how to feed a constantly growing world population on the one hand, and how to produce ecologically on the other. What will the future of the countryside look like? Should it be a place of recreation for stressed-out city dwellers? A supplier of foodstuffs? Or an attractive area to settle in for those of our contemporaries who are tired of city-life? And who is supposed to own the land? It is absolutely necessary to occupy ourselves with the country. Not only because it is actually impossible to discuss the future of the city without its counterpart, but mainly because land is becoming increasingly scarce and thus ever more worthy of protection. So, city dwellers, help to give the city its counterpart back.

With contributions by Mike Guyer, Jürg Minger, Guido Hager, Matthias Gnehm, Burkhard Varnholt, Gerd Folkers, Michèle Wannaz and Michael Pawlyn.

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