Second house owner’s involvement in local community and political life?

Introduction of the case area of Ape town/parish

NORDPLUS 2015Intensive field course in Estonian/Latvian case study

localities,May 3-16

Anna Āboliņa

Dāvis Valters Immurs

Picture: vieglicelot.lv

Location

-Located in NE Latvia - the region of Vidzeme

-176 km from Riga/Riia, 113 km from Tartu, 90 km from

Valmiera (regional centre of Vidzeme)

-Ape [‘up’] town & parish is part of Ape municipality

(novads), formed in 2009

-Borders Trapene parish of Ape municipality and Alūksne

municipality

-Located next to the border of Estonia (Mõniste parish of

Võru county)

Ape• Ape town (Ape or Apes pilsēta) was an

independent administrative body before the administrative territorial reform in 2009, when it became the administrative centre of the municipality

• Ape parish (Apes pagasts) was so called ‘rural territory’ of Ape

Size & population & its structure• Ape is one of the smallest towns of Latvia (980

official residents)• Ape parish (125 km2) has population of 576• The parish mostly consists of typical rural

settlements: farmsteads (viensētas), groups of them (skrajciems) and small villages (mazciems)The biggest are– Dauškāni (30 inhabitants)– Uskani (30)– Grūbe (20)

Rīga

St. Petersburg

Physiogeographical description• Located in the Alūksne Upland (the 3rd highest region of

Latvia), the key factor of the diverse nature of flora and fauna, landscapes and the land use pattern

• Plenty of ‘untouched’ nature• The River Vaidava flows through the town and parish,

revealing sandstone and dolomite cliffs and constituting important part in potential of nature tourism of Ape

• Partly located in protected landscape area of Veclaicene

Sandstone cliffs along the River Vaidava

Demography of Ape

Economy of Ape

The most important bussiness types are agriculture, forestry, transport, woodworking, log house producing, handicrafts and tourism

The unemployment rate is decreasing

Strenghts

• Close to E77 highway, Estonian/Russian border

• Beautiful/untouched nature• ATM(!)• Natural resources (forests,

dolomite, peat deposits)• Traditional sport and cultural

events• Success of handicraftsman’s

businesses• Promotion of local entrepreneurs• Education and cultural

institutions• Sport infrastructure• Good public infrastructure (e.g.

wastewater disposal)

Weaknesses

• The distance from Riga• Bad quality of roads• Lack of some daily services,

limited shopping options• Ageing population and

emigration• Lack of labour force• Low density of population in

the parish• Limited internet connection in

the parish• Problems of electricity network• Low paying ability of locals

Temporary residents of Ape?

The municipality had no data of any type of temporary residents. They’re collecting some data.

They stressed out a specific case: people who had lived in Ape or had their parents from Ape, but own no real estate now. They are proud of their birth place and go to Ape at least twice a year to ‘regain their strength/energy in the meadows, forests and culture of Ape’. They donate money for local projects, as a purchase of piano for the school, get involved at local culture and sport scene

Mairis Levans – a former local (born & grew up in

Ape) and a former Latvian motocross champion

comes to Ape to visit his mother, organizes sport

events (MX racing, MTB marathon) and gets

involved in other local activities. He calls himself

‘Apes puika’

Thank you! Paldies!