Rural Characteristics Research Articles

Ekosystémová služba regulácie klímy vo vybraných regiónoch Slovenska = Climate regulation ecosystem services in selected Slovak regions

The practical application of ecosystem service assessment tools is essential to meet the ever-increasing demands on human well-being that require a sustainable approach to landscape management. The aim of the contribution is to evaluate regional differentiations in the values of climate regulation as one of the regulatory ecosystem services in relation to natural potential in 4 regions of the Slovak Republic (Krupina district, Michalovce district, Piešťany district and Brezno district) using a modified matrix approach. The results in these regions indicated that the spatial localization of individual ecosystems in the country, in combination with a higher altitude and a larger area of forests and protected areas, can represent significant factors influencing the territory's potential to provide benefits resulting from climate regulation ecosystem services. Mountain areas generally have a higher capacity to provide climate regulation, which is mainly due to rich forest vegetation, as is the case in the Brezno model region. A comparison of the regions showed the most significant regional differences between the pairs of regions, namely Brezno, Krupina on the one hand (regions with rural character at an altitude mostly above 300 meters above sea level), and Michalovce, Piešťany on the other (regions with a warm climate at an altitude mostly up to 300 meters).

‘We Will Protect Our Countryside without a Green Deal’ : The Populist Radical Right and the Environment in Czechia and Slovakia

The electoral success of the populist radical right parties (PRRPs) is currently increasing across Europe. These parties are also increasingly commenting on environmental issues. On the one hand, the PRRPs highlight the beauty of nature and strive to preserve the landscape’s traditional rural character. On the other hand, PRRRs deny global climate changes and criticise solutions to reverse these, such as the Green Deal. The study aims to explain Czech and Slovak PRRPs attitude towards environmentalism using the concepts of nationalism, globalism, and populism. The empirical analysis is based on analysing official political texts and statements by selected PRRPs in both countries. The results show that Czech and Slovak PRRPs use nature’s aesthetic, symbolic and material aspects to create an image of a traditional, rural country that the nation can be proud of, and which is crucial to protect. In contrast, the PRRPs are ambivalent on global environmental change, the efforts to mitigate it and environmentalists. Finally, the PRRPs use the environmental issue for populist strategic considerations, demonstrating authenticity and creating part of a chain of equivalence.

House of the rising sun: The effect of utility-scale solar arrays on housing prices

While utility-scale solar energy is important for reducing dependence on fossil fuels, solar arrays use significant amounts of land (about 5 acres per MW of capacity) and may create local land use disamenities. This paper seeks to quantify the externalities from nearby solar arrays using the hedonic method. We study the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which have high population densities and ambitious renewable energy goals. Using difference-in-differences, repeat sales identification strategies, results suggest that houses within 0.6 miles depreciate 1.5–3.6% following construction of a solar array. However, additional analysis reveals that this average effect is primarily driven by solar developments on farm and forest lands and in rural areas, which is intuitive given the composite impact of solar, loss of open space, and loss of rural character. For these states, the local disamenities are the same order of magnitude as the global benefits of abated carbon emissions, which helps explain local opposition to siting.

On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer by Michael P. Branch

Reviewed by: On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer by Michael P. Branch Hal Crimmel Michael P. Branch, On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer. New York: Pegasus Books, 2022. 253 pp. Hardcover, $27.95; paper, $18.95; audiobook, $19.95. What in the West could be more iconic than a jackalope, that mythical creature with the body of a rabbit and the horns of a deer? It’s about time someone wrote a book about jackalopes, and Michael Branch delivers a thoughtful, entertaining read. Unlike Disney’s carefully curated talking mice or superhuman coyotes, the jackalope is a homegrown critter, small-town, tall tale, stitched together by shade-tree taxidermists, among other predominately rural characters sketched out with heart and humor by Branch. Readers will find an entertaining mix of storytelling, wide-ranging and careful natural and cultural history, including a beautifully illustrated sixteen-page section of jackalope art, photographs, paintings, and drawings. [End Page 89] Branch has a gift for crisp descriptions that make places come to life, whether atmospheric old hotels, city streets in San Francisco, or oil and gas country locales where “the whole town has an edge-of-town-feel” (79). If you’ve been through east central Wyoming lately, that’s a poignant observation. Character portraits breathe life into interview subjects the way taxidermists breathe life into their mounts—even if this life—in the form of a jackalope—is purely fantastical. (One caveat on that in a moment). The cultural sweep of the jackalope owes much to humans’ love of tall tales, and the book accordingly contains a chapter on their role, as well as a chapter on the history and psychology of hoaxes, an account of jackalope kitsch and an exhaustive account of horned rabbit tales from around the globe, among others. Branch mentions a couple of times that he is obsessed with jackalopes, and reading this chapter on global horned rabbit tales it’s clear he’s sustained by this creature with similarities to many different cultures across the globe. As scholars and researchers it’s worth pondering how obsession might be the driving force in what keeps so many of us in front of a computer day after day, when we could be otherwise out . . . looking for jackalopes! Perhaps the most intriguing chapters, ones that link the legend to science, appear toward the end of the book: chapters 8 and 9 trace the connection between horned rabbits and significant medical discoveries. In David Quammen-esque fashion, Branch explains how in the 1930s Dr. Richard Shope discovered the connection between swine flu and the 1918 influenza pandemic. This thinking led him further into the world of viruses. As a hunter Shope had wondered what caused warty growths on rabbits and in 1933 published a paper identifying the cause as papillomavirus. Human papilloma-virus, or HPV, is the cause of 99.7 percent of cervical cancers and many other cancers that attack the genital regions and the oral cavities (189), and these HPVs are related to the very same virus causing horned growths to appear on rabbits. It’s hard to do justice to this wide-ranging book in 600 words. But for those looking for a read that is entertaining yet serious, with research embedded in an engrossing narrative, you’ll find it here. As a work of western American literature, the book engages [End Page 90] people and places from the arid states and its engagement with mythology helps readers think about the ways in which the West has always been—and perhaps always will be—a place where the mythical and the real intersect in ways that sometimes lead to curious stories that appeal to the human imagination, and to stories that lead to Nobel Prize–winning, life-saving science. Hal Crimmel Weber State University Copyright © 2023 Western Literature Association

TYPOLOGY OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACE IN PERI-URBAN UNPLANNED SETTLEMENT. CASE STUDY: KAMPONG OF KALIPATEN, TANGERANG, INDONESIA

The growth of the Tangerang area reflects the urban growth trend which leads to a wider growth pattern to the area around the Major City. One indication of the growth is the character changed of settlements that previously had a rural character into urban character, especially in building density. The growth in the number of houses as residences has resulted in changes in the type of open space and its use. Aim: This research aims to identify the type and character of open spaces in unplanned settlements that are growth very quickly because of the area directly adjacent to the Gading Serpong new town. Methodology and Results: The method used is descriptive qualitative. The type of open space is measured by the criteria of location, form, function, and land status. The character of open space is studied by connecting the existence of open space with the social interaction of the residents of the settlement. Conclusion, significance, and impact of study: The findings that have been obtained from this research are that open spaces have five types with a very prominent spatial character, namely open spaces that arise through natural social processes, are not specially designed and have a very important role in bonding the social interaction of their inhabitants.

“Or even Frisian, yes. No, no”: The negotiation of space for a minority language in narratives by pre-service teachers

AbstractNegative attitudes towards minority languages in educational settings can have far-reaching consequences for pupils’ academic achievement and well-being, yet they prevail in most education systems. The current study adds to research on language attitudes in education by analysing the narrative negotiation of the value of Frisian, a minority language from the northern Netherlands. For this analysis, a number of narratives on experiences with Frisian in a variety of learning environments will be discussed. These narratives come from interviews (n=8) that were selected from a larger corpus of semi-structured interviews on multilingualism in education with pre-service teachers from the northern Netherlands. Our analysis shows that in these narratives, Frisian is continuously cast as having to be neutralised, as it threatens classroom order, academic success, and the quality of teaching. Even in narratives that instead propose Frisian as something positive, the language needs to be somehow managed, often by ascribing it to a marginalised space, thus reifying implicit or explicit language hierarchies, as well as the supposedly peripheral, rural, and outdated character of this language. This study paves the way for future research on the regulating effects of dominant narratives for the value of minority languages in actual learning environments.

Mobilizing rurality in peri-urban water contestation: A case from Dhulikhel, a lower Himalaya town of Nepal

While urbanization is a global phenomenon, it is now more rapid in the countries in the Global South. Municipal authorities of burgeoning peri-urban areas in the lower Himalaya region are struggling to deal with the new geographies of water demand. Rapidly growing towns primarily access water from upstream rural water sources, while upstream communities themselves are increasing their water consumption as they gradually integrate in the peri-urban area themselves. This ‘reorganization’ of water has intensified contestation between upstream rural communities and downstream urban authorities. This paper examines the different narratives mobilized in the contestation of water transfer projects to the rapidly growing town of Dhulikhel in Nepal. Our analysis deploys Follman’s three perspectives on peri-urbanity to throw light on these discourses. From a transitional perspective, it shows how peri-urbanization heightens water demands across the peri-urban zone and heightens competition between water users. A territorial perspective questions the administrative subdivision of the peri-urban region, and its effects on the way water users envision water sharing as restricted within territorial boundaries. Finally, a third, functional perspective reveals how in more rural municipalities, the traditional rural character is emphasized to claim priority in the access to water, thereby giving rise to a divisive identity politics. From this analysis, we argue that peri-urbanization is a dynamic process shaped not merely by urban expansion, but by the interactions between rural and urban communities and functions. While increasingly integrated, peri-urban territories, by intensifying competition for resources, are also a fertile ground for a re-assertion of rural identities and rural-urban binaries.

Of Saints and Miracles by Manuel Astur

Reviewed by: Of Saints and Miracles by Manuel Astur Edward Waters Hood Manuel Astur Of Saints and Miracles Trans. Claire Wadie. New York. New Vessel Press. 2022. 187 pages. BORN IN 1980 in Sama de Grado, Asturias, Spain, Manuel Astur is a teacher, poet, fiction writer, essayist, and journalist. Of Saints and Miracles is Claire Wadie's fine translation of his second novel, San, el libro de los milagros (2020). Although he has pursued his professional career in Barcelona and Madrid, Astur's rural roots in Asturias as well as his intellectual and literary preoccupations are clearly present in this eclectic work. The novel's protagonist, Marcelino, known as Lino by locals, is a young man who, along with his brother Manuel and their mother, was physically abused by his alcoholic father. Lino was also tormented as a child by other children, who tortured animals for amusement, and by a priest who sexually molested him. As a result, Lino, who was mentally challenged, took refuge in solitude and his chores. At the beginning of the novel, we discover that Manuel, who inherited his father's malevolent character, has sold the family farm and told Lino he must abandon his home and leave everything behind. In an outburst of fury, Lino punches his brother, who collapses to the ground. Now fearing that he has killed his brother, he takes refuge in the countryside, hiding and living off the land. There is also a mysterious character named Lugo who shares the stories and history of the community, in a part of what is known as vacant Spain, the towns and villages in the countryside that have been abandoned by those who have left in search of greater opportunities in the cities. Lugo, who says he seeks to learn all the stories so he can "live on forever in them," also speaks in first-person plural throughout the novel. There is an array of interesting rural characters, each with their own heartrending histories. In addition, two popular narratives—a cumulative story for children, "The Cheese, the Old Woman, and the Old Man," and a fable with nature and language as protagonists—are woven into the text. In the popular imagination, a legend is fashioned around Lino's travails, and miracles are attributed to him. Although he does not understand his circumstances and has been abused by others, like his mother, he is empathetic and kind toward others. For the storyteller, all we have are stories, but these fictions are good for us because they "can appease the bad and cheer the good" and remind us "that everything is a story." Of Saints and Miracles offers a window into the ethos of a rural community, where religion, legends, and superstitions hold sway. In sum, this beautiful, thought-provoking, and haunting novel, which is captivating in its poetic portrayal of a rural tragedy, reminds us that everything is a miracle. Edward Waters Hood Northern Arizona University Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Analyzing pattern features of urban/rural residential land use change: The case of the southern coast of Turkey

This study aims to demonstrate the relationships between residential development and the spatio-temporal dynamics of land use patterns in the case of the southern coast of Turkey (Mersin). This coast has witnessed extensive tourism development that destroyed fertile agricultural lands and natural vegetation since the early 1980 s. We analyzed the impacts of this development using several class-level pattern metrics. These include the percentage of landscape (PL), largest patch index (LPI), edge density (ED), patch density (PD), fractal dimension (FRAC) and shape (SHAPE). The eastern part of the study area consists of an alluvial plain, while the western part has undulated terrain with dense vegetation and limestone outcrops. The region has urban character on the coast with many multistory apartment blocks used for residential purposes. However, inland has a rural character with agricultural areas and interspersed single-family units. The results showed that the numbers and density of built-up patches on the alluvial plain tend to decrease as the patches aggregate and thus appear in simpler forms (i.e., closer to simple Euclidean forms). The small and interspersed patches are characteristic of rugged terrain with limestone outcrops, where topography and the spatial distribution of protected areas prevent the formation of large, aggregated patches. We discussed the drivers of the observed changes and provided recommendations for analyzing trends in similar coastal landscapes. We also highlighted the importance of spatio-temporal information due to its potential to increase the efficacy of decision-making processes for development planning.

Looking for the middle of nowhere: nicknames denoting imaginary remote locations and alluding to really existing ones1

Nicknames for imaginary remote hamlets are widespread. One may think, for example, of Podunk Hollow (US). In the Netherlands, Boerenkoolstronkeradeel is best known (boerenkool = kale, stronk= stembase, deel = municipality). The leading Dutch dictionary defines Boerenkoolstronkeradeel as ‘a remote hamlet, alledgedly unreachable for “modern civilisation”’, the reference – most probably – being the Randstad, the urban conglomeration in the western part of the country. At least two factors may be supposed to have played a part in making some really existing locations inspirational: 1) remoteness, 2) rural or agrarian character. This paper identifies regional linguistic characteristics in these nicknames, and relates them to specific existing locations, leading to the paradox that an almost unknown and remote location becomes a known icon for ‘the middle of nowhere’. It will analyze to what extent each of the two factors may have made such really existing names inspirational. One of the conclusions will be that a third factor, too, must be considered: the estimated (subjective) linguistic distance between regional languages concerned on the one hand, and the standard language on the other.

Rural Specificity as a Factor Influencing Energy Poverty in European Union Countries

This study focuses on the empirical verification of the influence of rural specificity on energy poverty across European Union countries, in the period 2010–2020. The research aimed at specifying the role of the agricultural character of a country, as well as economic disparities between rural and urban areas, in inducing problems of energy affordability. Based on the literature consensus about the most important determinants of energy poverty, namely income, energy prices, energy productivity, quality of dwellings, and climate conditions, a standard model was constructed concerning the role of the rural character of an economy, with its traditional features such as agricultural employment, and indices of rural–urban divide, in terms of median income and material poverty. Models for panel data with fixed effects were estimated. The results indicate agricultural employment as a factor increasing the subjective energy poverty of households. However, the scale of rural settlement cannot be specified as a factor determining energy poverty, neither concerning energy consumption nor self-reported difficulties. This suggests that only the traditional agricultural character of rural areas negatively influences energy poverty. The processes of gentrification of rural areas observable in many EU countries changes the typical pattern of the identification of villagers with the most excluded group.

Urinary levels of parabens, phthalate metabolites, bisphenol A and plasticizer alternatives in a Belgian population: Time trend or impact of an awareness campaign?

A human biomonitoring study was carried out in 2015 within an adult population living in Liege (Belgium). Some phthalate metabolites and parabens were measured in the urine of 252 participants, and information were collected about their food habits, life styles and home environment to identify some predictors of exposure. Concomitantly, an awareness campaign was initiated by the Provincial Authorities of Liege and spread over 2 years. Three years later (2018), 92 of the initial participants provided again urine samples, and the levels of phthalate metabolites, phthalate substitute (DINCH), parabens, bisphenol-A and bisphenol alternatives (bisphenol-S, –F, -Z, -P) were determined and compared to those obtained in 2015 to assess time trends. In 2015, methyl- and ethylparaben were the most abundant parabens (P50 = 9.12 μg/L and 1.1 μg/L respectively), while propyl- and butylparaben were sparsely detected. Except for mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and 6-OH-mono-propyl-heptyl phthalate, all other targeted phthalate metabolites were positively quantified in most of the urine samples (between 89 and 98%) with median concentrations ranging between 2.7 μg/L and 21.3 μg/L depending on the metabolite. The multivariate regression models highlighted some significant associations between urinary phthalate metabolite or paraben levels and age, rural or urban character of the residence place, and the use of some personal care products. However, all determination coefficients were weak meaning that the usual covariates included in the models only explained a small part of the variance. Between 2015 and 2018, levels of parabens and phthalate metabolites significantly decreased (from 1.3 to 2.5 fold) except for monoethyl phthalate which seemed to remain quite constant. Contrariwise, all bisphenol alternatives and DINCH metabolites were measured in higher concentrations in 2018 vs 2015 while BPA levels did not differ significantly. However, it was not feasible to unequivocally highlight an impact of the awareness campaign on the exposure levels of the population.

Editors' Introduction

Editors' Introduction

»As inhabitants of a suburban area, we often feel neglected«

After 1965, Ig, like many other major suburban settlements in the Ljubljana Basin, gradually began to lose its rural character. That was the time of rapid deagrarianization and gradually increasing living standard, which introduced changes in the daily reality and lifestyle of Ig’s inhabitants, including their aim to urbanize the settlement and provide it with modern infrastructure and public services that would meet their needs better and improve the quality of their lives. The author presents the development of Ig between 1961 and 1989, which was very sluggish due to insufficient funding. The growing budget deficit facing the Municipality Ljubljana Vič–Rudnik had an especially devastating impact on rural areas as the most disadvantaged in developing and maintaining the existing infrastructure.

Crafting First-Person Narrators: Lessons from Toni Morrison's A Mercy

Crafting First-Person Narrators:Lessons from Toni Morrison's A Mercy Daniel Kennedy (bio) A few weeks ago, one of my creative writing students drafted an autofictional piece about high school friends competing for class office. The piece demonstrated good instincts, but it was overwritten. My student recognized this, too, after we read her work aloud. We agreed kids eating breakfast at an IHOP would likely say "tired" instead of "somnambulant." She asked how an author [End Page 97] could write lyrically without overwriting, especially in first person. I think about this challenge a lot. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and tend to write about underprivileged rural characters. Can these characters speak with elevated diction and syntax? Are they capable of ascribing figurative language to visceral feelings? One might encounter these questions in a workshop. While they aren't entirely devoid of merit, they're often framed as reductive binaries. Methods for solving the voice/verisimilitude riddle differ, depending on the work and its author. I wasn't sure this response would be useful to my student. I wanted to equip her with craft strategies—not bog her down with rigid rules. Fortunately, literature contains great examples of first-person narrators who are almost preternaturally articulate and believable. Florens, the protagonist of Toni Morrison's A Mercy, is one such narrator. A Mercy is set in the 1680s. Florens is a Black, teenage enslaved person. She spent her early years on a Maryland plantation before she was sold, at her mother's behest, to Jacob Vaark, an ambitious Dutch farmer. Given the oppressive circumstances in which she lives, Florens would probably not possess Morrison's linguistic skill; and yet, her poetic capability is established on page one: "You can think what I tell you a confession, if you like, but one full of curiosities familiar only in dreams and during those moments when a dog's profile plays in the steam of a kettle." Morrison fearlessly occupies Florens's perspective. She turns constraint into possibility, a craft technique that echoes Florens's personal growth as she wrestles with her life's many constraints. Over the course of the novel, we come to understand Florens's lyricism is true to her character's experience and plausible. How does Morrison strike this exquisite balance? [End Page 98] 1. The Strategic Release of Background Information A Mercy is a challenging read. It contains various points of view and moves back and forth through time. In the first chapter, we learn Florens' sections of the book are written texts: "Confession we tell not write as I am doing now." Her epistolary narrative addresses her mother and the man she loves, a mysterious blacksmith. At the same time, her sections describe much of the novel's central plot. The blacksmith, a free, Black man, arrives among a troupe of laborers to build a mansion for the Vaarks. He and Florens engage in a romance shortly thereafter. She's devasted when he leaves without saying goodbye; the sense of abandonment reminds her of her mother. Vaark dies from smallpox just as his dream home is completed. On the day of his funeral, his wife, Rebekka, realizes she is sick as well. She sends Florens to fetch the blacksmith, who, during his tenure with the Vaarks, healed an enslaved person named Sorrow. The book concludes with the first-person voice of Florens's mother. She addresses Florens, explaining she sent her daughter away to protect her. Florens remains tragically unaware of her mother's motive. The novel's choral narration operates like a set of mirrors. The structure allows Morrison to organically incorporate details of Florens's educational background. Lina, a Native American woman (her tribe is unnamed), lives on the Vaark farm. She becomes Florens's surrogate mother. From Lina, we gather that "[Florens] learned quickly, was eager to know more." Rebekka believes Florens will be successful in her journey to the blacksmith—a journey on which their lives depend—"because [Florens] was clever." Florens's life stems from the horrific abuse her mother endured on the D'Ortega plantation. In the final chapter, her mother notes how a reverend taught her and Florens "letters...

Vienna’s South-Eastern Hinterlands: Regional Development in the Austrian-Hungarian Border Area, 1910–2011

Abstract Formed from the westernmost territories of Hungary, Burgenland became a part of Austria a hundred years ago. The aim of the paper is to answer the question of how Burgenland became integrated into the Austrian society and economy, how its regional inequalities and rural character changed in comparison to the neighbouring Austrian and Hungarian areas, under the influence of Vienna’s major role. The analysis is based on the census data of 1910, 1960/61, 2001 and 2011 and on the mapping of different social and economic indicators. Our data revealed that one hundred years ago, the northern, more prosperous area of Western Hungary was an integral part of the rural hinterland of the imperial capital, Vienna, in stark contrast to the region’s southern periphery. After World War II, however, a steep west-east gradient emerged in the borderland along the Iron Curtain, while the traditional north-south disparity continued to exist on both sides of the new border. During the political transformation in the early 1990s, and even more after Hungary’s EU accession (2004), the former hard border ceased to exist in this region, while Vienna regained its former economic importance and influence. After 1990, the patterns of regional disparities changed rapidly in Hungary, and the western part achieved a leading position within Hungary in every dimension of economic prosperity. In line with this, while the Austrian rural regions in Burgenland and between Vienna and Graz showed remarkable infrastructural progress, Southern Burgenland remained peripheral regarding economic activity.

On the Pastoral Narratives of CHEN Yingzhen's The General's Clan

As a representative of Taiwan's pastoral literature writers, CHEN Yingzhen, with a compassionate style and unique insight, focuses on and portrays the living conditions and spiritual state of the common people in his work "The General's Clan". The novel reveals rural characters' vigorous and resilient attitude as well as rural society's backwardness and decadence through details such as movements, expressions and postures. Images like doves and the moon symbolize the beauty of life and the goodness of human nature. The tragic ending in a comic atmosphere makes the novel's narrative more compelling. The use of contrast between the present and the past serves as a unique narrative structure, unveiling the subtle relationship between the uncertain history and personal fate. With a strong sense of patriotism, Chen depicts Taiwanese living conditions in the countryside and their spiritual attitudes.

Affectual Erasures: Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Argentine Cinema

Affectual Erasures: Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Argentine Cinema

Rural planning guidelines for urban-rural transition zones as a tool for the protection of rural landscape characters and retaining urban sprawl: Antalya case from Mediterranean

Rurban landscapes describe the transition areas between urban and surrounding rural environments where city, agriculture, rurality and nature meet. There is a crucial need that urban-rural transition zones must be managed with proper planning instruments to ensure the continuity of agricultural production and to maintain food safety for cities and preserving traditional land use patterns and natural environment and overall rural characters. Urban expansion creates different sprawl models in between rural and urban transitions zones that require careful evaluation due to their multiple features and potentials of rural-agricultural-natural intersection boundaries. The aim of the study is to analyze urban sprawl models and to present applicability of a rural planning guideline for in urban-rural transition zones in Ekşili case, in Turkish Mediterranean Antalya that still preserves its rural character. In this context, the Rural Planning Guide can be defined as a planning tool that based on environmental, spatial and social characters of both rural and urban areas. A planning zone, including urban sprawl areas and rural land was delineated as the boundaries for the Rural Planning Guide from the building scale to the rural boundaries in the planning hierarchy which eventually provide the continuity of the rural characters, to maintain agricultural productivity and to protect natural biodiversity.

Bird's Eye View of COVID-19, Mobility, and Labor Market Outcomes Across the US.

COVID-19 dealt a formidable blow to the US economy. We present a joint analysis of the epidemiological and labor market outcomes across US states. We focus on the relationship across relevant indicators in the pre-vaccination era. As expected, we find strong correlation between changes in economic conditions and mobility. However, mobility fluctuations tend to be uncorrelated with local epidemics and occur simultaneously across most states. The magnitude of the mobility response is highly correlated with the rural vs. urban character of the area. Employment losses are most strongly associated with high population density and concentration of the leisure and hospitality industry. The relationship between job losses and the case fatality ratio is affected by the timing of the most severe COVID-19 waves.