Multi-Spatial Understandings of Rural Diversity and Policy Notions Framework
Creators: name: Oostindie, Henk
name: Bock, Bettina
Publisher: name: GRANULAR
Year: 2023
Subjects: Rural policies
Rurality
Framework
Rural diversity

description: This document presents a theoretical framework for contemporary rural differentiation tendencies. Building on different theoretical strands, it starts with a distinction between absolute-, relative-, relational-, and circular spatial lenses to characterize rural boundary-setting choices, issues and problems. A second analytical step interlinks multi-spatial theorizing with threefold spatial architectures: a theoretical framework that understands rural spaces' production, reproduction and transformation as the outcome of rural localities, formal rural representations and everyday rural lives. As three different but interdependent and interconnected co-producers of rural spaces, this threefold spatial architecture points, amongst others, to the significance of changing formal rural representations and rural functionalities in time, with a special eye for controversies around the rural as spaces of production and spaces of consumption. A third step extends the recognition of rural functional dynamics to scholars that focus on rural areas' multifunctionality in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of different manifestations of rural capital assets.

Together these different theoretical building blocks are subsequently blended into a framework that concentrates on the productive-, residential,- environmental and recreational functionalities of rural areas. This framework emphasizes that these four key functionalities are increasingly characterized by place- specific interaction patterns and balances or, conversely, dis-balances and trade-offs. Such functional dynamics need to be scrutinized and identified through multi-spatial analysis. It is further concluded that current attempts to develop multi-layer rural classification schemes increasingly intend to take rural functionality dynamics into account, going along with an expansion of formal rural representations through additional categories of rural areas.

The second part of this document relates the relevance of our theoretical deliberations to current EU policy notions, in particular rural functional areas, the action pillars and policy objectives of the Long Term Vision for Rural Areas (LTVRA’s), with special attention to latter’s references to rural resilience, rural wellbeing, and rural proofing . More generally, it concludes that these guiding policy notions face analytical problems and challenges when acknowledging multi-spatiality and multi-functionality as critical aspects of contemporary rural differentiation tendencies and processes.

Finally, the concluding section of this report will synthesize its overall findings in a set of design principles for a prototype Rural Diversity Compass as an alternative approach to characterize ongoing rural differentiation. This Compass will present an alternative by providing insight into the place-specific backgrounds, features and drivers of rural functionality dynamics; in doing so it aims to support rural policy making and rural proofing efforts at different levels while avoiding the pitfall of an ever expanding categorisation of formal rural representations.