Rural service hubs and socially innovative rural-urban linkages: A conceptual framework for nexogenous development

Abstract

Co-locating services has become a common solution to the many longstanding challenges of service access and provision in rural areas. Rural service hubs – which offer two or more services at the same outlet – take many forms, typically responding to triggers for social innovation. Despite their growing ubiquity, however, rural service hubs have been little studied in comparative perspective. This article shifts the lens on service hubs from place-based solutions towards a broader, multi-scalar and multi-level perspective on rural connectivity. We propose a five dimension conceptual framework in contribution to the emerging theorisation of nexogenous rural development a model for resourceful reconnection beyond place and across rural–urban space. Drawing on examples from Austria, Finland and Wales, we illustrate how diverse service hub models mobilise social innovation, networks, scale and proximity to support service access and provision.