The concept of cluster: villages as planning tool in the rural districts of Denmark

The Danish rural districts are transforming; structural and demographical changes are influencing the rural villages, and the contemporary rural districts can be characterized by both well-functioning and growing villages as well as declining and decaying villages. In addition to this, the merger of municipalities in 2007 has resulted in geographical larger municipalities in which the distance between the lived lives in the rural villages seem increasingly alienated from the municipal government and civil service.
These challenges require new methods and approaches that address the reality of the rural villages in order to secure their future. This paper will address the concept of cluster-villages as a possible approach to strengthen the conditions of contemporary Danish villages. Cluster-villages is a concept that gather a number of villages in a network-structure where the villages both work together and uses each other’s strengths, as well as developing the individual village in addition to the specific potentials of that village.
In recent years, rural Denmark has been undergoing a sweeping and very noticeable process of adjustment, Development in municipal service provision plays a particular important role to play in both the popular and the political debate and in relation to everyday living conditions. The debate about the future of rural Denmark is also very much a debate about the kind of welfare model we choose in self-governing, municipal Denmark. The centralised, specialised model based on economies of scale, or the decentralised model based on proximity. In the developments and debate relating to these matters, strategic and visionary planning is back in the municipal arena as the only tool capable of handling the many different challenges facing the municipalities. Mellem disse to forskellige positioner ser vi en ny mulighed for landsbyudvikling, som vi kalder Clustervillages.
In order to investigate the potentials and possibilities of the cluster-village concept the paper will seek to unfold the concept strategically; looking into the benefits of such concept. Further, the paper seeks to inscribe the concept into the existing debate regarding villages in the rural districts.