Post by Ellena Brandner

🔎 How does the future of South Tyrol in 2050 look like? 💭 This question accompanied our master students' field trip over the past ten days. We met experts and learned about initiatives and projects that shape the regional economy of South Tyrol. We had the honor to visit diverse actors in sectors such as tourism, agriculture, non-profit, research and development, and we gained insights from their different approaches to sustainable development. 🌱 What struck the student group and us are the complex trade-offs of sustainable development. Balancing growth, preservation, and resilience is far from easy, and we saw firsthand how challenging it is to navigate competing priorities in practice. 💡 Our takeaway: there is no universal direction for sustainable regional futures. Every path requires negotiating tensions between economic, ecological, and social imperatives. 🙏 A big thank you to all the actors who opened their doors and shared their perspectives. We are grateful for their openness to discuss our questions and hospitality throughout this field trip. Laimburg Research Centre Institut für Regionalentwicklung – Eurac Research Thomas Streifeneder IDM Südtirol-Alto Adige Thomas Plank Oberalp Group Christoph Engl BASIS Vinschgau Venosta Luca Daprà Samantha Endrizzi Station for Transformation Bianca Elzenbaumer Maria hochgruber terraXcube NOI Techpark Universität Bern Geographisches Institut Universität Bern Heike Mayer #RegionalFutures #SouthTyrol #EconomicGeography #excursion