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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
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)
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
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’