European Rural Areas Research Articles

Co-designing with and for Small and Remote Communities: Reflections on Transformative Innovation, Servitisation, and Agonism.

Within the conceptual framework of design for social innovation and democracy, this paper reports on implementing participatory processes in regenerating public spaces in semi-rural contexts, questioning the meaning of transformative innovation, servitisation, and agonism in non-urban contexts. This inquiry argues for exploring a reassessment of how we enact participatory public space regeneration strategies through their application in a remote context. The latter has been untouched by all the bottom-up initiatives and movements that have swept through European urban centres over the last fifteen years; returning to the urban space with these reflections could provide an opportunity to explore new perspectives, even in a saturated context, questioning the models of metropolitan practices. By challenging the paradigm of innovation as the only direction associated with a valid process of improvement and change, this paper delves into the urgency of looking at co-design processes through the lenses of decoloniality, relationality and agonism, creating moments of reflexivity inside the research team and with the local community. Our reflections and learnings stem from “Human Cities / SMOTIES, Creative Works with Small and Remote Places”, a participatory design project that examines community engagement methods for co-designing public spaces and transformations in European rural areas, specifically Albugnano, a small town in northern Italy. Setting the Albugnano community as an experimental ground, the case study addresses the lack of valorisation of tangible and intangible heritage, depopulation and social fragmentation by unpacking narratives, nurturing social imagination, and collectively envisioning and designing potential regenerative transformations.

Effect of population density in aging societies and severity of motor vehicle crash injuries: the case of Spain

The concentration of population in cities and processes of rural depopulation coupled with the generational shift to older societies represent new challenges in road safety. Here, we examine the severity of injuries suffered by the occupants of motor vehicles involved in a crash based on the population density of the area in which the crash occurs, the driver’s age and the density of their place of residence. We conduct the study in Spain, a country with one of the highest levels of elderly population concentrated in rural areas in Europe. Relational methods are used to match Eurostat’s urbanization classifications with the accident database of Spain’s Directorate General of Traffic so as to correlate each crash with the population density of the place where it occurred. A set of generalized linear models with random effects is fitted to analyze the relationship between population density and the bodily injury severity of the occupants of the vehicle(s) involved in a crash, measuring the effect of drivers’ relocation and aging by geographical area. Independence of injury severity and the degree of urbanization was rejected at the 5% significance level. While 53.8% of the Spanish population is living in densely populated areas and only 13.5% in rural areas, the latter concentrates most crashes with fatalities: 2.3 times more than in urban areas (43.5 and 18.6%, respectively). Drivers living in rural areas are more likely to be associated with serious or fatal injuries when involved in a crash in urban and intermediate areas. Moreover, drivers aged over 75 are significantly more likely to be associated with serious and fatal injuries, especially when the crash occurred in urban areas. Recent research alerts on the implications for rural (often elderly) residents of concentrating public services, particularly healthcare, in densely populated areas. Our study shows that motor crashes in more densely populated areas are also a rural health concern. Policy decision-makers need to address this issue to reduce the number of victims and their bodily injury severity.

Heat vulnerability: health impacts of heat on older people in urban and rural areas in Europe.

Exposure to extreme heat is associated with both increased morbidity and mortality, especially in older people. Health burdens associated with heat include heat stroke, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart diseases, heart failure and arrhythmia, pulmonary diseases but also injuries, problems with activities of daily living, and mental disorders. In Europe, there are remarkable spatial differences in heat exposure between urban and less populated areas. In Austria, for example, there is asignificant gradual association between population density and the number of heat days, where the gradient of urbanization also follows the gradient of sea level. The European population is continuously ageing, especially in rural areas. Older adults are especially vulnerable to negative health consequences resulting from heat exposure, due to a lack of physiological, social, cognitive, and behavioral resources. Older people living in urban areas are particularly at risk, due to the urban heat island effect, the heat-promoting interplay between conditions typically found in cities, such as alack of vegetation combined with ahigh proportion of built-up areas; however, older people living in rural regions often have less infrastructure to cope with extreme heat, such as fewer cooling centers and emergency services. Additionally, older adults still engaged in agricultural or forestry activities may be exposed to high temperatures without adequate protection or hydration. More research is required to examine factors responsible for heat vulnerability in older adults and the interactions and possibilities for increasing resilience in older urban and rural populations to the health consequences of heat.

The Conservation Varieties Regime: Its Past, Present and Future in the Protection and Commercialisation of Vegetable Landraces in Europe

In 1998, the European Union aimed to make the official Common European Catalogue of Plant Varieties more flexible and to mitigate the decline of agricultural biodiversity in European rural areas by introducing the Conservation Varieties Regime (CVR): a set of rules pertaining to local and/or traditional varieties cultivated in specific regions that are at risk of genetic erosion. This initiative was intended to permit the sale of those varieties that do not fully meet the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) criteria required for the registration of standard varieties in the Common European Catalogue. In this review, we examine the impact of establishing the CVR 25 years after its first definition. As of the date of data collection, 191 conservation varieties were registered throughout Europe, representing only 0.88% of the total number of varieties included in the Common Catalogue. The most important countries are Spain, Italy and Croatia, which have, respectively, 57, 43 and 26 conservation varieties. The case study from Italy highlights that the CVR is poorly structured and is characterised by the initiatives of individual entities that take it upon themselves to protect and/or promote specific vegetable varieties. In this review, we discuss such data in relation to the protection and commercialisation of vegetable landraces in Europe. Overall, the CVR has failed to promote and enforce a dedicated market for all those varieties excluded from registration in the Common Catalogue due to DUS requirements.

Nachschulische Bildung in schrumpfenden ländlichen Regionen. Erfahrungen und Lösungen aus Schottland und Schweden

Abstract Against the backdrop of shrinking populations, new strategies for maintaining services of general interest in European rural areas are required at both a European and a German level. With regard to this, the field of post-school education as a service of general interest is seen as playing an important role with considerable effects on regional development processes. Educational institutions, traditionally highly centralised, have been shown to influence decisions on staying in or leaving rural areas and thus can further intensify regional demographic developments. In this paper, we examine two examples of post-school educational opportunities in Scotland and Sweden that have been able to establish themselves in a rural setting affected by shrinking trends. Our interpretation is that the continued stability of these examples is due to the ability of local actors to utilise local resources in a meaningful way. The aim of this paper is therefore to contribute to a structured understanding of how local actors manage limited resources to provide services of general interest in the environment of rural, sparsely populated regions in the long term. To enable a systematised analysis of our data, we use an analytical framework originally developed to understand the resources generated by informal planning practices in rural areas.

Socially Innovative Initiatives in Deprived Rural Areas of Germany, Ireland and Portugal: Exploring Empowerment and Impact on Community Development

In many (remote) rural areas of Europe and the world, rural communities are facing various challenges. One response is residents leaving their communities. However, there are also many empirical examples of residents staying, launching project initiatives, developing new solutions and experimenting with new practices. This is what we call social innovation. What experiences do actors have in these processes? Can we speak of empowerment? To what extent can such initiatives have an impact on community development? In this article, we explore these questions, for which there is little related empirical research. By applying a multi-sited individualising comparison to case studies in three European countries (Germany, Ireland and Portugal), we obtain empirical evidence of the following dimensions of empowerment that Avelino et al. outline conceptually: the achievement of autonomy, competence and relatedness and also impact, meaning and resilience. Often, however, it is not the individual actors for whom such effects can be reported. Rather, the social initiative as such or the local administration has acquired new skills and autonomy. Regarding community development, ‘pathways to impact’, such as infrastructure improvements and/or the creation of new employment opportunities and/or the influx of new residents, could be identified. However, this development often depended on both opportunity and the cooperation and goodwill of many stakeholders.

From "Bioeconomy Strategy" to the "Long-term Vision" of European Commission: which sustainability for rural areas?

The aim of this paper is to analyze the current and long-term effects of the European Commission Bioeconomy Strategy in order to outline possible scenarios for rural areas and evaluate their sustainability. The focus is on the main economic sectors, with particular reference to employment and turnover, in order to understand what kind of economy and jobs are intended for rural areas, as well as their territorial impacts. For this purpose, we have analyzed the main European Commission documents and datasets concerning the bioeconomy and long-term planning for rural areas, as well as the recent scientific data to verify the impact on forests. The result is that European rural areas are intended to be converted initially into large-scale biomass producers for energy and bio-based industry, according to the digitization process, and subsequently into biorefinery sites, with severe damage to landscape, environment, biodiversity, land use and local economy. Scenarios for rural areas don’t seem neither sustainable nor profitable, particularly for the peripheral countries (Southern and Eastern countries of the European Union).

A systematic literature review on the rural-urban well-being gap in Europe

A large amount of policy support is spent to foster the development of rural areas in Europe. However, empirical evidence on the well-being differential between rural and urban areas in Europe is scant and incomplete. The present study develops a systematic literature review on this topic, bridging a gap in research as a systematic analysis on the subject has not been developed as far as we know. It uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The review focuses on definitions of rural-urban most used in the literature, main dimensions of well-being that are analyzed, nature of the data and, finally, evidence that emerged regarding the differences in the various dimensions of well-being between rural and urban populations. The analysis confirms that available evidence is controversial and provides advice on how to develop new and better empirical analyses on this topic.

Support structures for a plural economy in rural areas? Analysing the role of community‐based social enterprises

AbstractCommunity‐led innovative solutions, including community‐based social enterprises, have been brought to the fore as significant actors with the potential to contribute to neo‐endogenous rural development. Through 34 interviews with stakeholders of four community‐based social enterprises operating in rural Ireland and Finland, we analyse the role of these organisations in the institutionalisation of plural (socio‐)economic relations within different rural areas of Europe. Our findings demonstrate how community‐based social enterprises can act as enablers and supporters of local markets, channels of redistributive resources and coordinators of local reciprocity, thus, contributing to ‘institutional thickness’ within their localities. We also show how structural differences, such as the role of local government in Finland and Ireland, can partially explain the role of these organisations as rural development actors. Finally, our article stresses the relevance of developing research and policies from a socially embedded and pluralistic view of the economy to provide nuanced analysis and realistic solutions to the complex challenges that rural areas face.

Why does geography matter in big dam removal projects? Lessons from a comparison between the Sélune and Elwha River cases

The dam removal movement is resulting in numerous projects worldwide, especially in Western countries. Whether completed or in progress, these undertakings often trigger conflict. Nearly 30 years after the initiation of the first major projects, this article examines the conditions for the local appropriation of dam removal projects. From the perspective of two pioneering and emblematic projects in France (Sélune River) and the United States (Elwha River), this article highlights the geographic specificities of dam removal projects carried out in European rural areas. The aim is to discuss how to implement ambitious ecological projects without running the risk of local people losing their sensitive relationship (history, experience, landscape) with the areas once they have been restored. In other words, ecological restoration should not result in a loss of meaning and quality in the relationship between local people and newly restored spaces; it should instead enrich it. In fact, the removal of a dam is not just a technical project; it profoundly affects landscapes, disrupting uses and creating new places. We identify the modalities by which a new space is produced and appropriated by local populations based on a comparison of the relevant spaces (national park vs. rural agricultural space), the populations involved (river users, Native American tribes, residents, and NGOs), and, finally, the governance processes and interactions between expertise and politics, all to highlight the need to take geographical context into account. Based on a detailed knowledge of the formation of the Sélune dam removal project, which has been the subject of continuous participant observation since 2011, we examine these projects’ singularities and commonalities to identify the factors that contribute to their success. This study highlights the importance of the spatial scale at which the dam removal project should be framed, the role of government, and the importance of considering people’s attachment to local places. Finally, this comparison makes recommendations for improving the socio-territorial quality of ecological projects, especially in Europe, with the aim of ensuring their sustainability and success.

Enacted relations and the resilience of territorially embedded production systems in Europe

Globalization of food chains and scale increases in business models are dramatically affecting rural areas in Europe, by a simplification of land use, new urban-rural relations and reshaped social networks. While pressures on land use systems have been increasing due to the competition on commodity markets, the role of territorially embedded production systems remains crucial in keeping farm biodiversity and unique cultural landscapes, as well as social and cultural ties. Building on the social-ecological resilience approach (Darnhofer (2020b), this paper examines the resilience of territorially embedded production systems in different regions of Europe, including emergent and ongoing patterns of material, social and cultural relations. It shows how primary producers improve the resilience of their production systems in response to increasing pressures resulting from changing ecological, economic, social and cultural conditions. Three production systems are examined: carp farming in Middle Franconia, Germany; wine production in Tuscany, Italy; and olive oil production in Alentejo, Portugal. The paper adopts an adapted relational approach to conceptualise how resilience develops in terms of the ability of producers and their networks to develop new markets, reduce costs and add value. Different types of enacted relations (sets of mutually empowering connections in space and time) are identified, including relations among family members, between farmers, along the commodity chain and with other stakeholders, such as tourism, policy and regional administrations. Using these insights, the paper argues that it is important to shift the focus of agricultural resilience from the producer level to the network level, particularly how network dynamics emerge as relations enacted by diverse actors. These collaborative efforts have the potential to enable primary producers to maintain cultural landscapes, preserve their ecosystems and ensure the farms’ economic survival and by extension help to maintain the socio-ecological resilience of territorial production systems.

Modelling opportunities of potential European abandoned farmland to contribute to environmental policy targets

Farmland abandonment is a major proximate driver of landscape change in European rural areas and is often followed by natural revegetation. In certain conditions, it might be preferable to prevent or reverse farmland abandonment or manage these areas towards active restoration (i.e., guided rewilding with wild or domesticated animals). These alternative responses to farmland abandonment lead to context-dependent impacts, which can potentially contribute to European Green Deal objectives for environment and rural areas. While previous studies analysed direct impacts of abandonment, there is little insight into how alternative ways of managing abandoned farmland can best contribute to environmental policy goals, and what type of management is preferred where. To assess opportunities in these areas, we compared three abandonment trajectories: natural revegetation, active restoration with rewilding, and extensive re-farming. We analysed the potential positive and negative environmental and cultural impacts of developing these management strategies in all farmland locations that could potentially be abandoned across Europe. Mapping and quantification of the benefits and risks associated with different management responses to abandonment indicate a large spatial variation across regions. While natural revegetation can support high benefits for carbon sequestration and erosion reduction, it is also linked to more frequent trade-offs than re-farming and rewilding. However, there is a very strong spatial variation in these trade-offs. It is worthwhile to focus on areas with the largest gains and fewest trade-offs when targeting investments for prevention of abandonment or rewilding. Our maps can help inform interventions in abandoned farmland to maximise the potential contributions of these lands to the European Green Deal environmental and rural policy targets.

LEADER local action groups and inner areas. An Italian case study

In this study we investigate marginality in European rural areas to understand how EU policies for local development can stimulate novel approaches to social innovation and economic growth. The method applied is a Social Network Analysis (SNA) on the call tenders of an Italian Local Action Group managing the LEADER programme in the Piacentino and Parmense Apennine (Emilia-Romagna). The implementation of the Inner Area Strategy in a part of the LEADER territory (11 out of the 59 municipalities of the LEADER area) allows to verify complementarities, interrelations and overlays between the two development policies.

A Robust Monitoring Platform for Rural Cultural and Natural Heritage

Rural areas in Europe represent outstanding examples of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CNH) that could be used as a valuable asset for social and economic development. This article describes the process for developing a monitoring platform based on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and implemented in six rural areas around Europe. The goal of this monitoring system is to provide evidence of the role of CNH in rural areas as a driver for sustainable growth. Several data collection procedures are described, including regular, non-regular, and co-monitoring. To combine the selected cross-thematic and multi-scale KPIs, weights have been assigned to indicators, according to the knowledge provided by domain experts and using group decision-making techniques. A detailed description of the dashboards developed for the monitoring platform, and all the information gathered is included. Several dashboards have been designed focusing on KPI values and their evolution.

INNOWACYJNOŚĆ W NOWEJ WSPÓLNEJ POLITYCE ROLNEJ

Innovativeness is one of the most significant determinants of the new Common Agricultural Policy from 2023. Along with climate protection, it is becoming a key consideration when allocating the European funds. The problem, however, is the overly broad understanding of this concept which is construed as ‘progress’ rather than ‘innovation’. In this regard, it seems justified to make an ex ante evaluation of the prepared legal solutions in the field of legal instruments aimed at implementing innovativeness in the Polish and European rural areas. Appropriate construction of these mechanisms will enable efficient and effective use of funds by farmers. Currently, one can only observe a search for innovative mechanisms that could help agriculture. The article evaluates selected mechanisms by applying the method of dogmatic law analysis and comparative law analysis.

Measuring Access to Services of General Interest as a Diagnostic Tool to Identify Well-Being Disparities between Rural Areas in Europe

The gradual reorientation of rural policy paradigms away from competitiveness and economic growth and towards well-being and sustainability creates a need for more appropriate diagnostic tools to assess disparities and policy outcomes. One of the most cited determinants of rural well-being is access to Services of General Interest. Areas with relatively poor access to services can be described as “inner peripheries”, and peripherisation literature provides helpful insights into the challenges faced and policy needs. This paper presents a methodology for modelling and mapping access to a suite of ten key services, covering all of Europe at a 2.5 km grid square level. The approach is intrinsically relative, comparing the travel time to services from each grid square with the average for surrounding regions. Maps are provided for 2017 and 2021, and changes between these dates are described. ‘Inner peripheries’ are found in every country, their configuration being influenced not only by geographical features, but also by service delivery practices. Further analysis explores patterns of risk, identifying areas in which service provision is in a precarious position. The results presented are rich in practical policy implications, not least the suggestion that, in terms of patterns of well-being, local roads are at least as important as trunk infrastructure.

Characterizing value chains’ contribution to resilient and sustainable development in European mountain areas

Mountain areas have been the testbed for sustainable development models focused on balancing their vulnerability and the value of their natural, cultural, and social resources. In these areas, the continuous adaptative interaction between bio-geophysical and socio-cultural processes assembles Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) characterized by a great diversity of ecosystems and land uses, which provide substantial support for the livelihoods of mountain communities and essential ecosystem services for uplands and lowlands. In this paper, we take value chains to be the operative units of analysis to examine human-natural systems interactions in mountain areas. Value chains mobilize resources and connect actors beyond territorial boundaries and economic sectors to generate economic, environmental, and social values. Strategies for local development of these areas should direct attention to value generation activities and require a systemic, integrated and assets-based approach which explores the potential synergies emerging from the coordination of the diversity of local specificities and considers the opportunities and threats emerging from external sub-systems. This paper proposes a novel comparative framework to characterize value chains contribution to resilient and sustainable development of SESs in mountain areas. This framework is meant for researchers and policy analysts to identify the role value chains might accomplish for a better balance between natural resource conservation and sustainable socio-economic development in European (remote) rural areas. Two mountain food value chains are used to illustrate the framework and test its efficacy. The cases depict two value chain configurations which result in different social, economic and environmental outcomes for the sustainable development of the SES.

Substituting Coffee and Tea in the Eighteenth Century: A Rural and Material History with Global Implications

AbstractThis article discusses the material history of coffee and tea by drawing on mid-eighteenth-century substitute recipes collected by physicians in different provinces of Sweden, applying perspectives from economic history, the history of science, medicine, and globalization. The starting point for the analysis is that a substitute can be said to reflect what are perceived as the most important properties, in terms of look, feel, taste, and scent, of the thing being copied. The products of a predominantly self-sustained agrarian world, the tea and coffee substitutes offered a distinctive rural alternative to the new exotic beverages. In terms of ecology and economy, this context encompassed large parts of central and north-eastern Europe; it also involved areas with a history of consumption that differed considerably from those of the cosmopolitan elites which have hitherto dominated the scholarship on eighteenth-century coffee and tea. The article finally suggests that the ways in which early modern substitutes were consumed and processed helped pave the way for the mass consumption of imported goods in rural areas of Europe in the following centuries.

Fighting depopulation in Europe by analyzing the financial risks of local governments

Throughout Europe, one of the main problems facing policymakers is that of falling rural populations. In many cases, this is aggravated by high levels of local government borrowing. Although researchers have sought to determine the causes of this debt, much remains to be known about the factors influencing the default risk of small- and medium-sized towns, information that would help them formulate policies to combat the loss of population. The aim of our study is to identify factors relevant to this default risk. We analyzed demographic, socioeconomic, and financial factors in a sample of 6456 Spanish local governments by their population size. Our findings show that financial policies applied to reduce this risk should vary according to the population size, as certain factors exert a specific influence on smaller municipalities. Nevertheless, socioeconomic and financial variables have more impact on default risk than demographic factors. Our findings are novel and useful for all concerned in combating the depopulation of rural areas in Europe, owing to the relevance of conclusions for the design of public policies based on the sustainability of public services in small municipalities. Points for practitioners The measurement of the default risk in local governments reveals very relevant information for the design of public policies against depopulation. Socioeconomic and financial variables have more impact on default risk than demographic factors. The evolution of the measurement of default risk reveals that policies against depopulation must be defined based on the size of the municipalities. The influencing factors on the default risk are interesting to decide if finance government investments through loans that allow the repopulation of small municipalities.

What Can We Expect for the Development of Rural Areas in Europe?—Trends of the Last Decade and Their Opportunities for Rural Regeneration

Rural areas in Europe have been undergoing structural change for years, resulting in strong functional differentiation and fragmentation into prosperous and structurally weak areas. Rural areas are as diverse as the challenges they face. Not only various megatrends but also social, economic, technological, ecological, and political trends influence and shape the development of rural areas. In order to understand the problems and causes of the current development of rural areas, this paper provides a differentiated trend analysis for rural areas at the European level. A content analysis of more than 70 EU-funded project reports on rural areas and rural development is carried out. The aim is to identify trends and their drivers over the last decade and to summarize opportunities and challenges for successful rural regeneration. These external and overarching trends, particularly in the context of a sustainable transition, renewable energies, the emergence of new technologies and growing awareness of environmental impacts, offer rural areas more opportunities than ever before. The interplay between external incentives (e.g., European Union policies) and endogenous regional development (e.g., local actors) is crucial for the successful exploitation of these opportunities for rural regeneration.