Not only cities have experienced a renaissance in the last decade after the (partial) crisis processes of the 1980s and 1990s. Rural areas (especially in eastern Germany) have also been developing a new attractiveness for some time. However, this is not a uniform movement. While the new rise of urban structures in eastern Germany, for example, is almost exclusively a metropolitan phenomenon (Berlin/Potsdam, Leipzig or Dresden), the small and medium-sized cities - with a few exceptions - continue to shrink, especially in the peripheral areas. The same applies to the regional development of rural areas with winners (e.g. in parts of Brandenburg or Mecklenburg), but also with a tendency towards loser regions (Uckermark, Anhalt or Eastern Saxony). At the same time, new opportunities for local and regional development are also opening up for peripheral areas, which are linked to the current profound changes in the worlds of work and life (project work, digitalisation, urban exodus, new family orientation, alternative ecological lifestyles, etc.).
The main focus deals with these ambivalent situations, their chances and risks, with a clear focus on the local region, i.e. (Upper) Lusatia and the district of Görlitz. In addition to economic development opportunities, we are particularly interested in social, political, civil society and cultural as well as socio-spatial dimensions of regional change (regional governance, civil society actors, populist challenge, gender equality and women's policy or ecological and furthermore sustainability aspects and postal growth approaches). Special attention is also paid to the border location and cross-border aspects of regional development in the tri-border region "Dreiländereck"/"trinnational triangle" (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic).
In this field, the TRAWOS-Institute is in an intensive exchange with research and practice partners, among them IZS Görlitz, IÖR Dresden, IfL Leipzig, Thünen-Institut für Regionalentwicklung Bollewick, KIB e.V. Görlitz, Robert-Bosch-Stiftung, federal and state ministries, districts and cities as well as associations and networks in the region.