Idea of “Theme village”
Foundation of theme villages is one of the methods for stimulating rural economy. The advantage of this programme is that it does not need big money, at least in the beginning, and involves many inhabitants. It can be introduced in most villages, even where there is nothing interesting.
Foundation of a theme village is a way of taking the plunge, finding new ways of earning money in the knowledge-based economy and globalisation conditions. The fault of this solution is that it is far removed from the habits of people living in the country. Therefore, the main objection to its introduction is the psychological and sociological barriers rather than money. The foundation of a theme village concerns all its inhabitants, stimulates their activity and gives hope of changing fate. However, on the other hand, it disturbs the existing relations and arouses fears. What will happen if it fails, what do neighbours say?
A theme village has its own unique idea of development. Around it, the ways of earning money appear. However, it is does not concern a new type of cultivations, gardening or breeding nor production patents. Of course, it is still important, however the ideas in a theme village are a little bit more original.
It is about something more. When founding such a village, we start thinking differently about ourselves, our family, neighbours, place we live in. It turns out that we can have dreams, we have knowledge and skills, not everything depends on “someone in the capital”, locality, voivodship authorities, we do not have to wait for an investor, initiative of the labour offices, money from the European Union. Suddenly, we can see that we can cooperate and learn and our village becomes a very interesting place. The new opportunities that we have not noticed before appear. What theme village founders need most are dreams, broader view, ability to combine different phenomena, events and information, seemingly very distant from one another (…).
Theme villages head towards the new economy. Even if they plant poppies, make bread or breed sheep, they look for new opportunities for earning outside agriculture. At the same time, they do not restrict themselves just to normal tourism. This can be afforded by villages that have conditions for that: picturesque surrounding, monuments, curiosities. In villages situated in less attractive locations, the magnet may be a chance to have extraordinary experiences (adventure on the field game route in the Hobbits’ village, finding out about Celts’ habits) and acquisition of non-standard skills (dowsing, smithing, baking bread, shearing sheep). Theme villages more and more often engage in cooperation with scientists and students. It is necessary to saturate the village’s product with knowledge and information. If villages are to teach and have an effect on emotions, their inhabitants should also learn, observe the competition, examine new trends, gather information.
Based on the article of Dr Wacław Idziak "Theme Villages", placed in the book "Internet in my society. Use of IT technologies in development of rural society", issued by the Rural Development Foundation, Warszawa 2005
