Welcome to the CURE!
There is in Europe a troubling polarity, in public and many political mind-sets, between rural and urban interests.
Many rural people see themselves as disadvantaged vis-a-vis those who live in cities, in terms of income levels, access to services etc: they assume a better life in cities, and do not understand the difficulties that face many city people. Conversely, many city people have no contact with rural areas, with the use of land or the production of food: they often have a romantic view of the countryside, and no conception of the difficulties faced by rural people.
At the political level, urban leaders may assume that improvements to employment, infrastructure or services in the towns will benefit rural people in the hinterlands. Conversely, rural leaders may plead the greater needs of dispersed rural populations, disregarding the massed poverty or other problems of urban areas. The polarity is also strongly found in the field of non-government bodies, with a wide range and diversity of agricultural and rural organisations who often see themselves as competing for funds with a parallel but separate range of bodies who are based in the cities.
This polarity is inherently dangerous. It prevents objective analysis of real problems and needs. More important, it conceals the interdependence of cities and rural regions, and it impedes the crucial cooperation of all interests - urban and rural - in addressing the rising issues which affect the whole of the European community.
In the face of this polarity, the Convention will address a set of issues which are of rising public concern among all European citizens or specifically among urban people or rural people. In this way, each side can express its leading concerns, and seek to understand the leading concerns of the other side; and all involved can see the inter-connections and common or over-arching issues, and grasp the interdependence between urban and rural people.
The CURE partners believe that policies and programmes for regional, urban and rural development in Europe will have to be based on:
- principles of sustainability, integrating social, economic and environmental concerns
- new forms of local and regional governance, integrating public authorities and civil society
- new forms of cooperation between urban and rural areas, overcoming the polarity outlined above.
Find out more about the CURE initiative, its Partners, the Themes it addresses, and the Activities envisaged to achieve its aims.
