Beyond the Rural-Urban Divide: Cross-Continental Perspectives on the Differentiated Countryside and Its Regulation: 14 (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, 14) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184855138X ISBN 13: 9781848551381

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2009

Synopsis

The rural-urban dichotomy is one of the most influential figures of thought in history, laying the foundation for academic disciplines such as rural and urban sociology. The dichotomy rests on the assumption that rural and urban areas differ fundamentally. By the mid-twentieth century, scholars had observed that many rural areas displayed a blend of rural and urban features. Since then, counter urbanisation, urban sprawl and ever-increasing flows of people, goods and ideas between rural and urban areas have blurred the distinctions even further. Attempts to create new rural-urban classification systems, whether based on factors such as population size, density or distances, have largely failed. Clearly, new classification systems must use the meaning of observed changes in rural-urban systems as their point of departure rather than simple measurements of these changes. These meanings can, despite the interdependencies of our global world, be explored only in their political, cultural and economic settings.

About this title

Synopsis

One of the most influential thought figures throughout history is probably the rural-urban division. However, since the 1950s development more and more has put this dichotomy into question. Exurbanisation and regions based on daily commuting have created a new sort of demographic space, not urban, not rural but something in-between; an hybrid. This development has hardly shaken the hard core of the rural-urban dichotomy. Instead, it is more unquestioned than ever in demographic classifications (Hugo et al. 2003). The point of departure in this volume is that theory must be accommodated to empirical facts regarding rural-urban differences and similarities.Leading scholars from Europe, North America and Australia have been invited to make contributions showing their perspectives on what Murdoch et al. 2003 call the differentiated countryside, as well as the mechanisms put in place to regulate its development. Chapters cover the development in Finnish forest regions, decollectivization in post-Soviet states, Australian farmers' attitudes to counter-urbanization in Germany, and exurban governance in Ireland and the United States.

Edition details

• Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184855138X
• ISBN 13: 9781848551381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360
• Editor: Andersson Professor Kjell, Eklund Erland, Lehtola Minna