Diversity and Opportunities for Rural Development

Dear Colleagues,

The features and societal functions of rural areas have been increasingly addressed as crucial aspects of spatial dynamics, and raised interest for respective policies in all parts of the world. As economic structures in these places used to be based on agriculture, forestry, and other primary activities linked to natural resources, “rural” was traditionally equated with agriculture, and the respective policies were largely limited to farming policies. However, by and by, it is acknowledged that this view does not reflect the realities of contemporary social, economic, cultural, and ecologic changes of the majority of rural regions. While, at first, this shift in rural profiles was discussed particularly in highly industrialized countries, significant structural changes are taking place throughout the rural world. Initially, rural policies responded to narratives of seeing these places as dependent and peripheral regions that require targeted and long-term support to overcome “development” deficiencies and to mitigate the socioeconomic “gaps” toward urban centers, representing agglomeration areas with unabated appeal, stimulating the ongoing urbanization process.

Recent analyses have revealed that in repeating those narratives, we replicate stereotypes that are not accurate and highly reductionist, simplifying the situation as a linear theoretical concept. There seems to be a pressing need to rethink rural development and to address the rising challenges due to changes in regional economics linked to large-scale global shifts in economy and society. It is also timely to overcome the bias in theory building that almost exclusively favor efficiency, competitiveness, growth, and spatial concentration. In an era of global ecological and economic crises, the need to also view rural regions as interesting sites of incredible experimentation, innovation, and resistance becomes central for meaningful place-based strategies and rural policies.

This Special Issue seeks to assemble examples of the diverse approaches in research on global rural development by highlighting specificities of practices and conceptual approaches from different parts of the world. These should also analyze if and how current activities contribute to the development of sustainable pathways and resilient regional development. The increasing concern for uneven urbanization and rural shrinkage in European countries and the US, as well as resource challenges, should be supplemented by positions from rural development practice of other continents, underpinning similarities or differences in policy paradigms.

The focus of papers might be on emerging challenges, analyzing the specific roles of resource use, climate change adaptation, farm management changes and small-farm contributions, non-agricultural economy, tourism potential, institutional development, governance issues and role of state, as well as policy assessment, particularly addressing practices in rural development and implementation, community participation, poverty assessment and reduction action, and social innovation processes.

To this end, we welcome papers on practical aspects of rural action and analyses shedding light on diverse perspectives and conceptual approaches as well as rural policy assessments with an interest on raising understanding of challenges and harnessing opportunities of rural regions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Thomas Dax
Dr. Dazhuan Ge
Dr. Andrew Copus
Guest Editors

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• rural development
• spatial diversity
• spatial dynamics
• place-based policies
• participation
• policy assessment
• transformation