Welcome to our smartes.land platform—a space for learning and exploration, both for ourselves and for everyone interested in strengthening sustainable diversity and innovation orientation in the places and spaces where we live, work, and enjoy life. With this platform, we aim to interrelate our work on economic development with critical reflections on sustainable approaches to shaping local and regional economies and liveable spaces.
Here, we write about topics like green economic development including the circular economy, and green innovation and development cases. We also share inspiring approaches, helpful tools, fresh ideas, and ongoing conversations.
By „places,“ we mean villages, small towns, cities, and regions alike. The name smartes.land plays on the dual meaning of the German word Land, which can refer to different spatial entities, e.g. rural areas („smart rural areas“), towns, cities and larger territorial units such as city-region spaces (Stadt-Umland), districts or regions, or even federal states (Bundesländer).
For us, smartes.land stands for a systemic perspective on space—one that sees places not in isolation, but always in interaction with the living systems from which they emerge. We emphasize the relational and interdependent nature of these spaces. They are woven together by various actants that define their learning and innovation cultures. Actants, in this context are entities—human or non-human that interact through a network of relationships. They have the capacity to affect or be affected. It can be people, businesses, infrastructure, technologies, but also animals, plants or the natural environment—in short, anything that plays a role in shaping outcomes.
With this platform, we aim to connect our work on economic development with critical reflections on sustainable approaches to shaping local and regional economies.
If you have an idea or topic related to smartes.land that you’d like to explore—or if you’re interested in a deeper exchange—we’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy browsing!
Frank Waeltring (fw@mesopart