Germany is among the largest agricultural producers in the European Union with more of its half used for farming and is located in the rural areas. German farms constitute a distinctive feature of landscape and the farmers are considered to be an integral and important part of life in rural areas. There is hardly any other economic sector in which tradition and progress are so closely linked. This is why rural areas are considered to be important as urban areas, and all efforts are made to develop them equally. The implication is that, unlike in some other European countries, where rural areas are known for being backward when compared to urban areas, in Germany, the trend is changing. Due to the country’s policy of equal living, this is not the case in Germany as rural areas, are usually referred to as “Village Renewals”.
http://www.best-of-european-union.eu/2012/08/14/beyond-berlin-exploring-traditional-rural-germany/

But what are the problems of the country-side and rural areas how these problems were originated and what are the possible solutions. Cycles of ups and downs in many worldwide socio-economic developments do show us the existing challenges to find integrative approaches for to couple rural-urban areas: http://youtu.be/HcKdy4W67rs