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Exploring quality of life concerns in the context of sustainable rural development at the local level: a Greek case study

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Abstract

Quality of life concerns in rural development planning and management processes at the local level need to be identified and evaluated through participatory bottom–up approaches. This paper provides an overview of the main issues related to the quality of life concept in the context of rural sustainable development and discusses the need for operational governance models in order to identify, evaluate, and incorporate in action planning quality of life concerns at the local level. Quality of life issues are explored through a governance model applied to a rural Greek case study as part of a sustainable development planning and management process.

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Acknowledgments

The work reported in this article has been carried out with ERDF funding from the European Community Initiative INTERREG IIIB CADSES (2000–2006), project 3B083 “GOVERNET: Governance models for sustainable integrated rural development and multifunctional agriculture; networking and dissemination on the web” and co-funding from the Italian, Greek and Slovenian Governments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Technological Education Institute of Kavala, School of Agricultural Technology, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, 66100, Drama, Greece

    Vassiliki Kazana

  2. Centre for Integrated Environmental Management, 39 Androutsou Str., 55132, Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Angelos Kazaklis

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  1. Vassiliki Kazana
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  2. Angelos Kazaklis
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Correspondence to Vassiliki Kazana.

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Kazana, V., Kazaklis, A. Exploring quality of life concerns in the context of sustainable rural development at the local level: a Greek case study. Reg Environ Change 9, 209–219 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-008-0056-6

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