Second house owner’s involvement in local community and political life? Case study of Vecpiebalga county/village Nord+ intensive course 2015 May 4 – 15 Jānis Krūmiņš Ansis Blaus Iveta Sproģe

Area – 542,5 km² Distance – Riga – 137 km – Tallinn – 337 km – Tartu – 188 km Roads crossing county teritory – P3 – P30 – P33

Population density in Vecpiebalga county

Regional Development Indexes in municipalities of Latvia

Activity of bussinesses Sum Self- employe d persons Sole propriet ors Trading compani es/firms Farms and fisherma en’s house holds Per 1000 people (last 4 fields) Self – employe es and trading compani es/firms per 1000 people Latvia ,639,6 Vecpiebalga401 (0,26%) 199 (0,38%) 18 (0,23%) 67 (0,08%) 117 (0,93%) 87,618,6 Source: Regional Development Acency of Latvia, 2014

Place attractiveness Vecpiebalgas county is located in Vidzemes highland. County is rich in natural resources - forests, waters, agricultural land, as well as outstanding cultural, historical and environmental heritage High environmental quality – fresh air, clean waters, high biological diversity

Lakes Relatively dense water network. Lakes occupy 8.7% of the county total territory. There are 18 lakes with the teritory bigger than 20 ha Lake ‘’Alauksts’’ (773,6 ha) Lake ‘’Inesis’’ (519,5 ha)

Landscape The landscape of Vecpiebalga is formed not only by natural conditions - relief, waters, forests, but more serious is the result of human activity - cultivated fields, meadows, pastures, roads, farms, manor houses, villages and typical farmsteads The landscape reflects the lives of county people as well as interaction of nature and farming, both the present and the past can be read through landscape

Protected landscape area - „Vecpiebalga”, NATURA 2000 Most densely natural and cultural heritage is concentrated in the protected landscape area ''Vecpiebalga" It represents an ancient cultural landscape and its local and natural conditions appropriate to spatial structure and land use type

Planning strategy National Sustainable Development Strategy Vecpiebalga county is included as national interests space of nature protection, landscape and historical sites concentration area and rural development space Regional teritorial planning strategy- Vecpiebalga county is included as tourism development and recreation area and the area of cultural landscaape The aim of this strategy documents is to save the environmental quality and landscape diversity of Vecpiebalga county

Case study area

Thank you for your attention!