D3.4 Foresight prospects for the future of EU rural areas

This report is an overview of a sample of existing foresight and scenarios studies carried out at European and global level to identify plausible futures and scenarios for rural areas for time periods up to 2050. It provides an extended update of the SHERPA Working Document ‘Overview of a sample of existing foresight and scenario studies carried out at EU and global levels’ (Brunori and Mazzocchi, 2020), which encompassed a set of foresight studies from approximately between 2009-2019. Though not exclusively focused on rural areas, the potential for significant impacts on the latter was acknowledged in these studies and the report provided important insights in view to the then forthcoming process of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the EU. A most recent set of studies have been appraised, carried out in the period from 2020 onwards. Amongst them, we pay specific attention to the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the European Union – and H2020 projects contributing to this consultation –, the JRC ‘Scenarios for EU Rural Areas 2040’, as well as other foresight studies not exclusively targeting rural areas, but addressing mega-trends and delivering outcomes of relevance to the future of rural areas.