Better knowledge
for better rural policies
GRANULAR is a four-year multidisciplinary and transnational project that has developed new datasets, tools and methods to better understand the diversity and dynamics of rural areas across Europe.
Through close collaboration with rural actors, policymakers and researchers, GRANULAR has generated place-based knowledge to support just digital, economic and ecological transitions, tailored to the realities of different rural territories. Ultimately, GRANULAR hopes to support rural actors in their efforts to promote sustainable territorial development.
Learn more about GRANULAR’s objectives and methodology.
What is GRANULAR doing?
Supporting just digital, economic and ecological transitions in rural areas
Conceptualising rural diversity, its multiple characteristics and functionalities
Informing rural actors on the diversity of rural areas
Empowering rural actors to engage in just, carbon-neutral and inclusive transitions
Latest news
What Changes When Rural Data Gets More Local?
Author: Aleksandra Pawlowska, ERDN Most of Scotland's wind turbines stand in the countryside. The GRANULAR Scottish Living Lab wanted to know where exactly, and in whose communities. Mapped against the Scottish rural-urban classification and the deprivation...
Unveiling Rural Transport Poverty – A New Tool for Policy Makers
Author: Carlos Tapia, Nordregio The GRANULAR project has introduced a groundbreaking tool to better understand and address transport poverty in rural Europe: the Transport Poverty Risk Index (TPRI). This high-resolution index, developed by Nordregio researchers...
Rural Chania: Lessons from the Digital Decade 2030 Rural Proofing Workshop
Author: Adamantia Kokkinaki (MAICh) What happens when the EU’s digital ambitions meet the realities of rural life? In rural Chania, the answer is clear: digital transformation can open exciting new opportunities—but only if it is designed with rural communities, not...
Multi-Actor Labs
GRANULAR has established a network of 7 Living Labs and 9 Replication Labs across 16 European countries. These Labs are spaces where rural communities, policymakers and researchers are working together to produce evidence that are grounded in lived complexity and local priorities.
Using inovative methods (including participatory sensing, mixed-methods surveys and machine-learning–based classifications), actors across these Labs are co-designing and testing data collection methods, refining rural indicators, and validating tools to better reflect the diversity, connectivity and inequalities of rural areas.
The operational data they are generating will directly inform local policy decisions, and are being synthesised into multiple outputs, amplifying rural voices through quotes, infographics and concrete examples.
Knowledge Transfer Accelerator
GRANULAR Knowledge Transfer Accelerator is a virtual space where rural actors can learn and exchange knowledge and solutions to accelerate territorial development of their territory.
During the course of the project, the GRANULAR Knowledge Transfer Accelerator meet regularly to exchange knowledge and foster peer-learning. To this end, GRANULAR organises several ‘acceleration actions’, such as webinars, Q&A sessions, and discussion panels.
Digital Platform
GRANULAR Digital Platform is an online interface to visualise and analyse the data and indicators generated by the project on rural areas.
Rural areas often lack detailed data to picture their current situation and predict future trends. With our project, we facilitate the discovery and access to these data for different rural areas, and at different levels of granularity (e.g. local, regional, macro-regional).
