The InnoLand regions – a comparative description

Abstract

The InnoLand approach addresses regions as landscapes and vice versa. Thus, the InnoLand conception of rural regions is derived from the problem-oriented approach described in the previous chapter: guiding for the selection and hence delimitation of a region are the perceived major challenges which shall be addressed in the course of the respective InnoLand project. Hence, InnoLand regions are territorial entities in terms of administrative borders although their spatial extension is not prescribed previously and not one for all. Rather, the approach to the InnoLand regions resembles to the holistic conception, geographers use when addressing ‘landscapes’. This term – widely applied and extensively discussed in several natural and human sciences – shall here be understood as “unity of natural conditions and their use in the process of societal reproduction” (Haase 1991:931) and qualify the InnoLand “region”. Actually, neither the term “region” nor “landscape” implies a distinctive size or spatial dimension for an area (Knierim 1994) and therefore, InnoLand regions may vary in size accordingly. Eventually, the spatial extension is directly connected to the specific land use innovations this region has decided on.