Demographic change in the Alps: adaptation strategies to spatial planning and regional development
Demographic Change is a main driving force all over Europe. The population within most mountain regions of the Alpine Space already today differs from the surrounding metropolitans. Beside the general trend of the aging of the Europeans there exist additional Alpine specific factors of regional different influence: migration (in – out), commuting (rural to urban areas) settlement and housing (costs - quality), change of regional demand for public services (e.g. transport, healthcare, education) or the change of consumer behavior in key economies (e.g. nutrition, tourism).DEMOCHANGE provides general adaptation strategies for Alpine regions to their spatial plans and regional development programs. Thirteen partners from Austria (2), Germany (3), Italy (3), Slovenia (2) and Switzerland (3) will elaborate concrete strategies in ten model regions and implement them by pilot actions. The regional achieved results will be merged to general strategies and disseminated by an exchange network.