Sustainable countryside and Competitiveness

Szlávik, János – Csete, Mária

Sustainability – which is a way of thinking, life, production and consumption – covers all dimensions of human existence, its relation to natural resources, the economy and society. Sustainability can be the solution – beside research and development processes – to global problems like globalising economy and market competition, global warming, poverty and famine. United Nations’ actions from Rio to Johannesburg and EU decisions seem to underpin this. Well-intentioned efforts up to the present have been made on global level with few results. Therefore it is necessary to implement sustainability on regional and local – sub-regional, company – level. Sustainability is getting into the centre of expectations and actions. It is very likely that only regions and sub-regions recognising the importance of sustainability in time, will be successful and competitive as a result of this advantage. Settlements neglecting sustainability will not be able to keep their inhabitants, the countryside around them will not be able to produce enough products meeting food safety standards, and will exhaust its natural resources fairly quickly. The competitiveness of a region is largely determined by the state and development pattern of its rural areas and settlements. Therefore research has been focused on sustainable countryside and its important elements, sustainable (liveable) settlements. During our investigations we implemented a new indicator and index number set that reflects all dimensions of sustainability, the present situation, and supports the bottom-up decision-making process of local governments and NGOs in order to promote development. These investigations highlighted the facts that potential competitiveness of a region can only be based on sustainable settlements, sub-regions and it is essential to eliminate deficiencies that restrain present and future development.

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