This paper examines the relationship between rural dwellers and Internet technology and aims to understand how that relationship is altered with a significant increase in broadband speed. It presents ...an argument for using 'resilience' as a framework for such technological impact research, positing its potential usefulness for identifying alternative development narratives. Using interview data from 36 individuals in a study conducted with two rural community-based superfast broadband organisations in the UK, it identifies whether superfast broadband plays a role in enhancing rural community resilience. Anticipated outcomes are identified including an increased use of high-capacity services, specifically video services, and also the potential for making new patterns and habits of usage through alternative connection possibilities. Superfast access is equated to increased control over everyday actions, and the need for speed is positioned in relation to the reliability that speed provides for users. Finally, the Internet is perceived broadly as an individualised tool, one that can be accessed for personal skill building, empowerment and ultimately individual scale resilience. These findings highlight the complex, and at times contradictory nature of the relationship between superfast broadband, rural users and potential individual and community resilience. This paper concludes by identifying future research directions.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The article focuses on the last century of rural geography. It is not our intention to retrace the entire history of the discipline, but to isolate some major shifts. We have chosen to discuss the ...emblematic urban-rural couple that has constantly resurfaced and has shaped the approaches of both rural and urban geography. First, we analyse how the urbanization of the countryside almost led to the disappearance of the rural category in the 1970s. Then we see that rural geography has been able to reinvent itself on the basis of a certain number of « reserved » themes. The last part will be devoted to the peri-urban, a (im)possible synthesis of the rural and urban.
A transition toward decentralized and land-intensive renewable energy production systems is one among many factors re-shaping rural areas, leading to reimaginations and contestations. Especially in ...the Global North, the rural narrative now includes not just rural ‘production’ but also the ‘consumption’ of rural amenity and experience. Previous research into public attitudes toward renewable energy correlates the former with positive attitudes to renewable energy, and the latter with negative attitudes toward renewable energy. Territorial structures, such as official land-use plans, reflect dominant discourses and narratives that shape ongoing rural transformation. The purpose of this work is to understand the extent to which, if at all, those correlations at the individual level between landscape conceptualizations and sentiment toward renewable energy are manifest in territorial structures. In what ways are energy transitions present in rural land-use plans and planning systems? Is there a relationship between how rural landscapes are conceptualized and how energy transitions are framed and addressed, in land-use planning systems? These questions are answered through a structured content and discourse analysis of 10 land-use plans of rural municipalities in southern Ontario; an agriculturally intensive region that hosts much of Ontario’s large-scale renewable energy systems. Correlations observed between landscape conceptualizations and sentiment toward renewable energy observed are not strongly reflected in land-use plans. Land-use plans in this region are not positioned to manage the place-based opportunities and impacts associated with renewable energy development. The research reveals an opportunity for rural land-use planning systems to more explicitly incorporate energy transitions in their evolving discourses, identities and development trajectories.
Electricity coverage in Latin America has increased substantially in recent decades, rising from 50% of the population in 1970 to more than 95% in 2015. Growth, however, slowed in the 1990s as many ...countries experienced difficulties in extending their networks further, in particular to serve those living in isolated and rural areas. In spite of this, the process of electrification was not interrupted and at the beginning of the 2010s decade most countries in the region were able to provide access to electricity to almost all of their populations. In this paper, we examine the main strategies used in Latin America to increase coverage and argue that only a combination of policy efforts has made it possible to achieve the current situation. We also examine the remaining obstacles, at policy and institutional levels, to achieving full coverage.
•Main strategies used in Latin America for completing electrification coverage.•Social tariffs and pro-competition regulation combines in energy policies in the region.•Renewable technologies are becoming a relevant solution for rural areas.•High electrification rates, but energy consumption still very low in many rural areas.•Advances in Peru´s electrification with the use of innovative regulations and social tariffs.
Despite assumptions that agriculture will automatically go into a mode of decline at the Rural Urban Interface (RUI), official statistics suggest that agriculture as a whole remains a strong (and in ...some cases a growing) industry in many U.S. RUI counties. RUI scholars have acknowledged internal family dynamics can significantly influence farm persistence and adaptation strategies, however, few studies have sought to document the specific role succession has on farm structure at the RUI. Building off rural geography models of farm organization at the RUI and succession research embedded in rural studies we analyze interviews from 33 U.S. farm families to 1) explore the relationship between farm adaptation and succession at the RUI, and 2) examine how succession is related to the different types of enterprises found at the RUI (direct marketers vs. commodity producers) and the types of growth strategies these farm families implement. We find that families who can not identify an heir either disinvest or enter a static management mode. Among farm families who can identify an heir we identify a variety of horizontal and vertical growth strategies (expanding, intensifying, and entrepreneurial stacking) designed to achieve farm reproduction goals. We discuss the theoretical and policy related implications of this research.
► Succession and adaptation strategies influence the agriculture at the RUI. ► Existence of an heir is related to enterprise growth and farm adaptation. ► Absence of an heir led to decreasing emphasis on farm productivity. ► To meet reproduction goals farms implement horizontal and vertical growth strategies. ► Growth adaptations reflect land options and trends in the agriculture economy.
This paper reviews ‘Antipodean’ rural geography research published over the period 2012–2014 inclusive. A broad, inclusive stance was adopted to what should be regarded as Antipodean rural geography. ...Key publication outlets were identified and scanned for what were deemed to be relevant paper titles and s, then the institutional and disciplinary affiliations of authors, bearing in mind a general concern for ‘rural issues’. The review concentrates on the prominent themes of the recent mining boom and its externalities, new perspectives on agrarian and regional development, and population issues. Australasian rural geographers have not only become adept at ‘writing back’ to the centre but have played leading roles in the intellectual development of the sub‐discipline and cognate areas (e.g. rural sociology). Indeed, at least in the short period covered by this review and in the admittedly selective scope of that survey, Australian and New Zealand rural geographers have been at the forefront in advancing the sub‐discipline internationally. In doing so, they have not only placed the discussion of Australasian rural issues within a global context but have further refined the philosophical and conceptual approaches and tools used. In important respects, then, Australasian rural geographers are very much at the core of the international project of contemporary rural geography. Moreover, they have made – and continue to make – important contributions to the broader discipline of human geography.
Place branding is an approach to stimulating territorial development. From the theoretical point of view, place branding in rural areas should be an inclusive and participatory process. Applications ...and outcomes of the process have been insufficiently investigated so far in rural areas. The oldest place brand in Slovenia, “Babica in Dedek”, is analyzed to present its socioeconomic circumstances, impacts, and challenges from the perspective of local producers. Three qualitative methods are thus applied: analysis of documents, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. This case study has revealed factors that contribute to new marketing opportunities, product packaging, holding seminars, and advertising local products in the area. On the other hand, the empirical findings are only partly aligned with the theoretical implications: the impacts of place branding are “sectorally limited” instead of being inclusive and participative.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Rural entrepreneurship has become an important research issue with great development potential in the face of intense socio-economic changes in rural areas. However, few significant studies cover ...this topic in Polish and foreign literature. In this article, the authors attempt to review and evaluate the current research on rural entrepreneurship emphasising the Polish literature and including geographical studies. The article describes and organises theoretical research achievements to date and offers a definition of rural entrepreneurship and the directions and prospects for further research.
In the aftermath of World War I, U.S. discourse was animated by the concern that demobilized soldiers, having experienced the world outside of their hometowns, would resist returning to farms and to ...their preinduction occupations. Did military service really encourage an occupational shift? Were rural individuals especially susceptible to and was emplacement in foreign locales especially culpable for this change, as popular culture suggested? Focusing on North Dakota, a state with unusually detailed World War I records, this article uses a novel linked census-military data set and statistical analysis to examine how individuals' place-based military experience might have inflected their postwar occupational mobility. Whereas univariate models support the contemporary perception that farm boys with overseas service were less likely to remain in agriculture, increasingly complex models suggest more nuanced interpretations, with civilian individual and contextual characteristics and their interaction being significantly predictive of farm leaving. Addressing substantive gaps in World War I historiography by contextualizing neglected subpopulations, this research also shows the value of using quantitative methods to engage with critical military geographies. Operationalizing theories of place-individual co-constitution through the analysis of longitudinal, individual data demonstrates how interest in soldiers' experiences and in the spatiotemporally distant effects of war can be productively intertwined.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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