prof.dr.ir. BB (Bettina) Bock
Personal professor I am involved in research on the differentiation of the countryside, reflected in counterurbanisation and gentrification as well as population decline and marginalisation. In the conext of population decline I am curious to better understand the opportunities and constraints of civic engagement and social innovation as a tool to maintain the quality of life and preserve social services. Furthermore, I am keen to better understand how rural marginalisation and peripheralisation interlinks with more genetral processes of territorial inequality. I am also very interested in the role of mobility and migration, the role that (temporary and former) residents of rural areas can play in rural development, the role of networking between people and regions that arise from migration and the opportunities this connectivity provides for supra-regional and transnational cooperation in rural development .
I am also interested in the (cultural) urbanisation of rural areas and the changing values around agricultural production as particularly reflected in discussions on animal husbandry and animal welfare.