1. Linking social, economic and ecological systems in the countryside: rural resilience Wim Heijman, Paul Opdam, Marleen Schouten & Martijn van der Heide

2. Objective Explore how the concept of rural resilience can be developed and implemented in spatial decision making on the planning and design of rural development Developing an analytical framework for implementing, building and getting insight into rural resilience Developing a design tool for spatial decision making in rural areas that is based on or at least consistent with the notion of rural resilience

3. Approach Review of the (national and) international literature on resilience, and its social components, and (deliberative) valuation methods Further development of the ‘Ruimtelijk Interactieve en Transdiscipinaire AfwegingsMethode’ (RITAM – Spatially Explicit, Participatory and Interdisciplinary Trade-Off Method) Application of RITAM to case study areas

4. Scientific relevance To apply the principles of resilience in socio- ecological systems to the analysis of specific rural issues To provide further insight into the socio-economic and ecological processes and mechanisms that (trans)form and characterize rural landscapes To assist policy makers in the formulation and development of policy plans on the planning and design of landscapes

5. (Inter)national position Rural resilience is a new concept and its link with spatial planning is relevant for policy questions of the Ministry of LNV and provincial councils in particular (WILG) Application of the principles of resilience to the analysis of specific rural landscape issues has to the best of our knowledge not been studied before (despite the rapid social and economic changes and uncertainties that rural areas are currently facing)

6. Planned deliverables Scientific articles about the concept of rural resilience, its relationship with the planning and design of landscapes, and (the application of) RITAM Working papers / reports related to the case study areas PhD-thesis

7. Thanks © Wageningen UR