The conventional picture of gender relations in rural places is that of a traditional, masculine social fabric. In this article, we challenge this understanding of the rural. Using three ...methodological approaches (quantitative, discursive and narrative), we test the hypothesis that there is an ongoing femininization of the rural, which is concealed by society's focus on the masculine rural. We conclude that each method can give important, but not necessarily sufficient, information to answer such a process-orientated question. This methodological triangulation demonstrates the complexity of gendered rural spaces. The quantitative (map-based) analysis shows a gendered geography, the media analysis unpacks how gender is spatialized and the interviews show how space is gendered. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Agricultural production is on a larger scale than ever before. With fewer holdings, current agricultural production leaves former farm buildings (FFBs) unused and available for new economic ...functions. This has consequences for traffic on minor rural roads and may conflict with a new societal demand for recreational activities in today's multifunctional rural space. Considering this, we explore the ability of the rural road network to absorb the newly generated traffic flows from FFBs. To do this, we investigate four underlying questions: (1) what are in practice the new economic functions of FFBs; (2) how can their traffic generation be estimated; (3) what is the capacity of the network of minor rural roads; and (4) how does spatial planning operate in this field? Specific statistical data are lacking, but research in Belgium and the Netherlands shows that redundant farm buildings have been changed to a residential or a non-agrarian activity, mostly belonging to the service sector of the economy. For most of these functions general trip rates are available. The new traffic generation strongly depends on the type of function. Commercial functions tend to considerably increase local traffic flows, including freight. Spatial planning should be alert for this. The capacity limits for minor rural roads must be respected to avoid damage to road and/or verge - prevention is better than cure! //ABSTRACT IN DUTCH: Door schaalvergroting in de landbouw daalt het aantal bedrijven en komen voormalige boerderijen vrij voor nieuwe economische functies. Dit leidt tot nieuw verkeer op plattelandswegen. Dat kan conflicteren met de huidige maatschappelijke behoefte aan recreatieve activiteiten in het multi-functionele buitengebied. Tegen deze achtergrond onderzoeken wij of het netwerk van plattelandswegen in staat is om het nieuw gegenereerde verkeer op te vangen. Daartoe wordt ingegaan op 4 achterliggende vragen: (1) wat zijn de nieuwe functies; (2) hoe kan de verkeersgeneratie worden bepaald; (3) wat is de capaciteit van plattelandswegen; (4) welke rol speelt ruimtelijke ordening hierbij. Er blijken geen systematische statistische gegevens te zijn, maar onderzoek in Nederland en Vlaanderen laat zien dat voormalige boerderijen een woonfunctie hebben gekregen of worden gebruikt voor niet-agrarische activiteiten, meestal uit de dienstensector van de economie. Voor de meeste functies zijn algemene kengetallen voor de verkeersgeneratie gepubliceerd. Commerciële functies kunnen de plaatselijke verkeersstromen sterk verhogen, ook die van vrachtverkeer. Dit punt verdient aandacht vanuit de ruimtelijke planning. De capaciteit van plattelandswegen moet in acht worden genomen om bermschade en schade aan de weg zelf te voorkomen - voorkomen is beter dan repareren!
Europe witnessed massive migration away from rural areas throughout the 20th century. Spain was no exception to the rule, albeit with differences in timing and pace, and the population in Cantabria ...constitutes a paradigmatic case. Here, the rural exodus began early – before the mid-20th century – in some mountainous districts, but reached a peak in the 1960s and continued throughout the following decades. Since the 1990s, population levels in rural municipalities have fallen at a slower rate, while the population of the region as a whole has increased slightly. Disturbingly, the rural population has continued to decline in the early 21
century, in an overall context of almost zero population growth. The demographic trends analyzed here are not only different in time, but also in space. With the partial exception of regional capitals and their neighbouring communities, municipalities in mountain districts have witnessed such a substantial decline in their populations that they have experienced a genuine process of depopulation. This case does not explain the all-similar cases in rural Europe as a whole, but it can help in interpreting other comparable processes in different regions of southern Europe where depopulation reached its maximum in the second half of the 20th century and still continues today.
This study evaluates the policies developed in Spain to address depopulation and explains the reasons for their low effectiveness. We consider that the low impact of these policies is due to an ...incorrect diagnosis and design in terms of their content and governance. Therefore, we propose that depopulation policies should have the objective of enabling citizens to reside where they wish and obtain the best possible quality of life. These policies should be implemented within a new governance framework in which the foundations on which they are based and the way in which they are implemented are renewed. With the support of the European Union, such action could be carried out more efficiently and could constitute a reference of successful territorial cohesion contributing to erasing the populist opinion in places that believe that they do not matter.
Digitalization and social innovation are often discussed separately and without any spatial reference or in relation to cities, although newer works show the importance of social innovation also for ...rural areas. Existing digitalization projects illustrate the potential of digital technologies for rural development. Current debates on smart villages refer to both digitalization and social innovation but still in a rather unsystematic way. The paper seeks to think together digitalization and social innovation in rural areas more systemically and proposes to conceptually connect them with the help of sensitizing concepts, which are developed out of debates on social and digital social innovation. Along these concepts, the paper explores rural digitalization projects in Germany. On the one hand, this highlights the spectrum of these initiatives and, on the other hand, provides a framework under which digitalization and social innovation can be analyzed and smart villages may be supported systematically.
The development of agribusiness sector is given gradually increasing importance. This works aims at identifying the elements that create the successful ecosystem for agricultural development, their ...benefits and application in agri-food systems; additionally, to bring on a light of the role of agricultural policies in these processes. For this purpose, the authors have carried out an analysis of the concern related literature and present a preliminary theoretical framework/model as a tool for supporting local development and incorporate a successful effective ecosystem. The key implications of this paper include an increased attention to agricultural research, to the role of the collaboration between relevant stakeholders, as well as of the agriculture, which uses information technologies for the better utilization of natural resources, and what is the most important is, the role of agricultural policies.
The paper is aimed at an attempt to define a smart village in the Czech conditions. It argues that the principles of smart villages are very similar to the concept of sustainability. The analysis ...deals with preventing rural exclusion, promoting digital technologies for the management of the rural infrastructure, teleworking in rural areas and using ICT for participation and governance. This approach is documented in the case of the South-Moravian Region. It was concluded that it was not so much coverage or accessibility of digital technology that was the main barrier of more intensive use of the smart village concept but rather the lower qualification level and conservatism of rural population is. It is suggested that more attention should be paid to increasing the digital literacy of rural people.
Smart villages have been increasingly heralded as a development strategy for the European countryside but with no clear understanding as to what comprises a smart village. Frequently, commentators ...associate smartness with quality of IT infrastructure and the ability to use it. An alternative perspective argues that the smartness can be better understood as a phenomenon associated with self-organised, bottom-up community action that either addresses the weaknesses of both state and market to contribute to local people’s wellbeing or exploits emergent opportunities through collective means. Using Scotland as an example, policy architectures can now be seen to be explicitly designed to support bottom-up community action. This paper explores this alternative notion of smartness based on communities’ capacities to self-organise and deliver a range of developments that support wellbeing and resilience and explores some of the challenges arising from this approach.
This article explores the intersection between Frank Gehry’s iconic Hotel Marqués de Riscal (MdR) and the Marques de Riscal winery, investigating their causal relationship with the surge in wine ...tourism. Using Google Trends data and empirical research, it establishes the influential role of the MdR Hotel in driving positive impacts on the winery and the local economy. Findings highlight: (1) the hotel’s symbolic signaling elevates the winery’s reputation globally, (2) repositioning efforts lead to increased economic returns and profitability, and (3) the transformational MdR Hotel attracts visitors, generating new economic activity and job opportunities in the Rioja region. Insights into the transformative effects of the iconic MdR Hotel on the winery and the local economy are provided.
This study explores officials’ perspectives on Swedish policies for rural digital transformation (RDT). Through the lens of Social Acceleration and systems thinking, employing Critical Systems ...Heuristics collecting empirical data, we explore how officials perceive that Swedish digitalisation policies impacts inclusive RDT. We investigate whether the possibility to implement Swedish digitalisation policies support or hinder inclusive RDT. Our results emphasize the importance of Social Acceleration based on the aspirations of rural residents, encompassing technical acceleration, social change, and the pace of life. The rapid societal acceleration driven by digitalisation impacts the implementation of digital services in rural areas. Policies do not address the needs of tailored digital services; officials strive to manage this through creative methods despite inherent challenges.
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