Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology Slovak Academy of Sciences

The project is focused on research, analysis and interpretation of socio-cultural capital and potential of eight successful Slovak villages, holders of the title „The Village of the Year“, which may be a source of inspiration for other villages in order to improve the quality of life in rural environment in Slovakia. The starting point will be the analysis of local activities in economic, environmental, social and cultural sphere (from the perspective of cultural heritage). The final outcome will be a comparative interpretation of the positives and the negatives of local human and socio-cultural resources. The assumption is that sustainable development of the region, including local communities, closely depends on the way, how it can use its own socio-cultural capital (or how to systematically form it). The project will collect and present good and bad practices and will reveal qualitative differences in the contemporary way of life in the Slovak countryside. The main ambition is to demonstrate sustainability of rural way of life and innovative forms of rural economies and socio-cultural activities.