What future do villages have in the age of cities? What perspectives and potential can rural areas still offer, if increasing numbers of people are moving from the countryside to the metropolises? And could a positive “gentrification” help to regenerate villages?
The Northern Hessen village Gottsbüren is trying to counter the depopulation of the rural area by unusual means: an invitation to research the topic of depletion of rural areas using the example of Gottsbüren, as part of the course in Space & Design Strategies at Linz Art University. The aim is to look for the identity of the locality and for potential revitalization. Not as a blueprint for a better world, but as a flexible design process. The performative interventions initiated together with the village inhabitants attract widespread attention and open up new perspectives for the village. This book reveals why it is worth maintaining villages as living space in our urbanized world.

With contributions by Michael Obrist (feld72), Philipp Oswalt, Elise Broeks, and Bernadette La Hengst