What will rural life look like in the future – and how do engineers shape the countryside today? From June 5 to 7, students from Faculty 13 had the opportunity to get a taste of the countryside together with fellow students from TU Dresden and surveying trainees from Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Thuringia: As part of the excursion module “Development of rural areas”, they went to rural Thuringia this year. In cooperation with the Technical University of Dresden, the excursion is offered annually in different regions. The aim is to give students an insight into the practice of rural development.

Under the expert guidance of local experts, there was much to discover and discuss, from land consolidation procedures to village and regional development projects: How can cultural activities, such as the creative workshop in Andisleben, be created and promoted in the countryside? How can land consolidation in Kirchgandern contribute to flood protection – and why are there floating huts in Nöda? How do you design small-scale rural road networks – and how does corporate land consolidation work for large-scale transport projects? The interested excursion group was able to find answers to these and many other questions.

The first day of the excursion began with a joint snack at the Kirchgandern village community center, where a technical introduction to the work of the Thuringian land consolidation administration and the Thuringian Association for Rural Development and Land Consolidation took place. Afterwards, the results of a simplified land consolidation procedure in Lindewerra could be viewed, through which measures for road and bridge construction as well as flood protection were made possible. The group continued on to Lindewerra, where a simplified land consolidation procedure in the former German-German border area made it possible to implement the Werra cycle path, nature conservation and flood protection measures and improve the agricultural structure. The topic of local regulation was also addressed, and Mayor Gerhard Propf also provided fascinating insights into local history.

The second day of the excursion focused on regional and village development. Dr. Dähmlow, Head of Department at the Thuringian State Office for Agriculture and Rural Areas, first presented the funding framework for integrated rural development in Thuringia in the village hall of the municipality of Schloßvippach, which had been renovated with village renewal funds, Ms. Schneevoigt introduced the work of the Thuringian Landgesellschaft and Mayor Köhler presented the projects in his municipality. Afterwards, further village development projects could be viewed on site. In the afternoon, regional development projects supported by the Regional Action Group (RAG) Sömmerda-Erfurt e.V. and funded by LEADER funds, among others, were visited: in the area of tourism, the floating huts in Lake Alperstedt, the new community center of the municipality of Werningshausen, whose interior design was supported, as well as the creative workshop in the old bowling alley in Andisleben as an example of a cultural project. Regional manager Nicolas Ruge and local decision-makers and project promoters presented the diverse projects and were available to answer questions from the excursion group.

On the third and final day, the simplified land consolidation procedure Molsdorf-Ost was presented in Molsdorf by the procedure manager Mr. Werneburg and the TG chairman Mr. Friebel. Afterwards, accompanied by the process manager Mr. Wolff, the area of the land consolidation in Molsdorf could be visited, where land issues have to be solved in the course of the realization of the “German Unity Transport Projects” – the new ICE line Erfurt-Nuremberg and the federal freeway A 71.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues at TU Dresden for their excellent organization. Our special thanks go to Mr. Martin Schumann – lecturer at the TU Dresden and head of the Higher Land Consolidation Authority Rhineland-Palatinate -, Mr. Heilwagen, deputy head of department at the Thuringian State Office for Land Management and Geoinformation (TLBG), as well as all other speakers who gave us an impressive insight into the tasks and challenges of their work through their presentations. We look forward to next year!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)