Rural Places Research Articles

A transformative shift in urban ecology toward a more active and relevant future for the field and for cities

This paper builds on the expansion of urban ecology from a biologically based discipline—ecology in the city—to an increasingly interdisciplinary field—ecology of the city—to a transdisciplinary, knowledge to action endeavor—an ecology for and with the city. We build on this “prepositional journey” by proposing a transformative shift in urban ecology, and we present a framework for how the field may continue this shift. We conceptualize that urban ecology is in a state of flux, and that this shift is needed to transform urban ecology into a more engaged and action based field, and one that includes a diversity of actors willing to participate in the future of their cities. In this transformative shift, these actors will engage, collaborate, and participate in a continuous spiral of knowledge → action → knowledge spiral and back to knowledge loop, with the goal of co producing sustainable and resilient solutions to myriad urban challenges. Our framework for this transformative shift includes three pathways: (1) a repeating knowledge → action → knowledge spiral of ideas, information, and solutions produced by a diverse community of agents of urban change working together in an “urban sandbox”; (2) incorporation of a social–ecological–technological systems framework in this spiral and expanding the spiral temporally to include the “deep future,” where future scenarios are based on a visioning of seemingly unimaginable or plausible future states of cities that are sustainable and resilient; and (3) the expansion of the spiral in space, to include rural areas and places that are not yet cities. The three interrelated pathways that define the transformative shift demonstrate the power of an urban ecology that has moved beyond urban systems science and into a realm where collaborations among diverse knowledges and voices are working together to understand cities and what is urban while producing sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges and envisioning futures of socially, ecologically, and technologically resilient cities. We present case study examples of each of the three pathways that make up this transformative shift in urban ecology and discuss both limitations and opportunities for future research and action with this transdisciplinary broadening of the field.

Explaining changes in educational disparities in competent maternal health care services in urban and rural areas in Ethiopia.

Aggregate statistics of maternal health care services have improved in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the country has one of the lowest Universal Health Coverage (UHC) service coverage indices, with slight improvement between 2000 and 2019. There are disparity studies that focus on a single dimension of inequality. However, studies that combine multiple dimensions of inequality simultaneously may have important policy implications for closing inequalities. In this study, we investigated education inequalities in the receipt of maternal health care services in rural and urban areas separately, and we examined whether these inequalities decreased, increased, or remained unchanged. The data for the study came from the 2011 and 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys. Using women's education as a dimension of inequality, we separately analyzed inequalities in maternal health care services in urban and rural settings. Inequalities were measured through the Erreygers concentration index, second differences, and Relative Index of Inequality (RII). Whether inequalities changed over time was analyzed by relative and absolute measures. An Oaxaca-type decomposition approach was applied to explain changes in absolute disparities over time. There were glaring educational disparities in maternal health care services in urban and rural areas, where the services were more concentrated among women with better schooling. The disparities were more severe in urban than in rural areas. In urban areas, skilled birth service was the most unequal in both periods. Disparities in rural places were roughly similar for all services except that in 2011, postnatal care was the least unequal, and in 2016, skilled birth was the most unequal services. Trend analyses revealed that disparities significantly dropped in urban by absolute and relative measures. Conversely, in rural regions, the disparities grew by the concentration index measure for most services. The RII and second differences presented conflicting results regarding whether the gaps were increasing, shrinking, or remaining the same. Substantial disparities in maternal health care services remained and even increased, as in rural areas. Different and targeted strategies are needed for urban and rural places to close the observed educational inequalities in these areas.

What Is the Relationship between Remote Rural Island Place and Perspectives on Ageing of Mid-life Women?

This article makes an original contribution to social gerontology and nissology by addressing the knowledge gap on contemporary gendered ageing in remote, rural island places. Drawing on empirical data gathered through in-depth interviews with 12 mid-life (48-69 years old) women living in the Uist islands of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, the relationship between ageing and remote rural island place is examined. Reflecting the participant narratives, this study discusses personal and place identities, while exploring place attachment and its relationship with gendered island ageing. This qualitative work adopts a lifecourse framework in order to acknowledge lived experience and cultural context from childhood to adulthood. Data were gathered and analysed through the prism of constructivist grounded theory, a methodology well placed for exploratory research of topics about which relatively little is known. Rich participant insight and analysis eschew island mono-culturalism, instead extending the discourse around remote rural island ageing as distinct from mainland rural ageing. Empirical data informs substantive theory, and fresh considerations on gendered mid-life ageing and remote island place are offered for academia. Findings from this study indicate diverse relationships between ageing and place amongst mid-life women living in the Outer Hebridean regions of North Uist, South Uist, Benbecula and Berneray. The connection between ageing and island place is experienced through place attachment, and is influenced by a range of socio-economic factors: primarily of relevance to this study is that of the natural environment. Perspectives on ageing reflect lived lifecourse experience and thus vary between those native and non-native to the Outer Hebrides; those who live with a partner or alone; those who have children and those child-free; and between those who enjoy socio-economic stability and those who do not.

Improving Access to Anti-HDV Testing: Development and Validation of an Affordable In-House ELISA Assay.

In certain low-income nations, the hepatitis Delta virus and hepatitis B virus (HBV) pose a serious medical burden, where the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is greater than 8%. Especially in rural places, irregular diagnostic exams are the main restriction and reason for underestimation. Utilizing serum samples from a Pakistani isolate, an internal ELISA for the quick identification of anti-HDV was created, and the effectiveness of the test was compared to a commercial diagnostic kit. HDV-positive serum samples were collected, and a highly antigenic domain of HDAg antigen was derived from them. This antigenic HDAg was expressed in a bacterial expression system, purified by Ni-chromatography, and confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. The purified antigen was utilized to develop an in-house ELISA assay for anti-HDV antibody detection of the patient's serum samples at very low cost. Purified antigens and positive and negative controls can detect anti-HDV (antibodies) in ELISA plates. The in-house developed kit's efficiency was compared with that of a commercial kit (Witech Inc., USA) by the mean optical density values of both kits. No significant difference was observed (a P value of 0.576) by applying statistical analysis. The newly developed in-house ELISA is equally efficient compared to commercial kits, and these may be useful in regular diagnostic laboratories, especially for analyzing local isolates.

Holes and towers

This paper examines the role of building materials, particularly concrete, in understanding urban metabolism. By tracing the construction supply chain, the study aims to spatialise the places linked by construction with concrete, representing steps in the city’s metabolism: extraction, circulation, and implementation. Using the case of Greater Geneva, one of the fastest-growing urban regions in Europe, we analyse the myriad flows on which the generalization of concrete is based, linking urban, peri-urban and rural places, on the two sides of the border between France and Switzerland. The result is an uneven metabolism centred on the city of Geneva, hierarchising Swiss and French territories depending on their position and role in the flows of materials and waste. We show that the places connected by concrete have also increasingly become the sites of popular discontent about how our cities are currently built.

The Causes of Contemporary High School Students' Psychological Problems in the Perspective of Ecosystem Theory

In general, it is a serious problem that contemporary high school students are suffering from a series of psychological problems now days. The most common categories of their psychological problems are excessive anxiety, emotional instability, low self-esteem and autism, and self-abandonment. This paper also discovers the group differences of high school students’ mental problems including regional differences and gender differences. Students in rural place tend to be more vulnerable to psychological problems compared with urban students. Female students are actually more likely to have psychological problems than male students. This paper further analysis the causes of high school students’ psychological problems from the perspective of both the family and the school. Family structure can affect students’ mental status. A complete family structure has a positive influence on students’ mental health but a fragmented family can cause serious psychological challenges. The family’s parenting style also serve as a significant role in high school students psychological health. When it comes to the school’s impact, lots of school carry out psychological education to prevent students’ mental problems but such education methods exist some problems. Besides, students at school are facing excessive academic pressure. This pressure if accumulating might do harm to students’ mental health.

Screening for those at risk for anxiety and depression warranting further clinical evaluation among patients presenting to breast services: a single-centre, cross-sectional study

ObjectivesStudies show that anxiety and depression are widespread across patients presenting to outpatient services for medical illnesses. We expect similar or even higher prevalence in patients with breast complaints owing...

Are rural places prepared for the energy transition? An evaluation of land use plans in rural Manitoba

ABSTRACT As energy systems transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, energy infrastructure will become a predominant land use, especially in rural areas. This poses a challenge for municipalities who need to adapt land use planning frameworks to more renewable energy. Using plan quality evaluation, this paper assesses how 57 rural official plans in Manitoba (Canada) are attempting to integrate energy planning. Consideration of energy within plans is poor, especially for implementation mechanisms and fact base. While rural communities are the forefront of the energy transition, existing land use planning frameworks are maladapted to enable it.

A generational perspective on rural livelihood change

AbstractAs rural places and people are increasingly intertwined between cities, markets and mobility, broader perspectives are needed to examine the multiple changes occurring between rural and urban spaces, and between families and generations. This article discusses how a generational perspective can study ‘more‐than‐rural’ change in a contemporaneous manner. Drawing on field examples from a village on Flores Island, Indonesia, I show how intergenerational views, gathered through household surveys and in‐depth interviews, gave further depth to younger generations' changing relationships to land. Why, despite greater numbers of young people leaving the village for greater work and study opportunities elsewhere, were many parents sure their children would return one day? Using intergenerational and life‐course views to answer this question revealed how many villagers encountered livelihood limitations elsewhere. Furthermore, I show how generational data give fuller explanations to household dynamics, such as how age and gender play a role in the pursuit of migration between family members, and how rural land and households are managed over time and space. I conclude by discussing the strengths and challenges of building a generational perspective to study ‘more‐than‐rural’ livelihood change.

Introduction to Special Issue: Placemaking Beyond Cities.

This special issue of Culture Unbound directs attention beyond cities, to small towns and rural communities, and the practices taking place there. Referring to a previous special issue on ‘Rural Media Spaces’ from 2010, this special issue revisits the notion of ‘the rural’ versus ‘the urban’ through the concept of placemaking and geomedia. In a mediatized society, placemaking practices cannot be understood without simultaneously understanding different media practices and how they affect place. A geomedia perspective on placemaking beyond cities, therefore, brings new perspectives on media representations of small towns and rural communities, related to the materialization of space and how we engage with and perceive the world. Geomedia also includes a focus on layers of digitalization and new media in the relations between place and practice.
 The issue brings together researchers from a wide range of subjects, and the articles in this volume address empirical examples from different rural places and small towns in Sweden and internationally. Taken together, a manifold of issues relating to media and placemaking beyond cities are covered, for example, inclusion/exclusion, representation, resistance, community building, belonging, and identification.

#Nowhereland

Rural places and small towns are highly valued by lifestyle migrants who wish to live close to nature (Verdich 2010) and have a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Ängsbacka is a course center and a community for alternative lifestyles, located on the outskirts of a small town in mid-Sweden. The center emphasizes community and belonging, while also being a place characterized by cosmopolitan taste patterns and constant mobility, which can be described as a cocoon community (following Korpela and Dervin 2013).
 The members of the cocoon community use social media platforms such as Instagram to make place for themselves, to communicate belonging. Through images, hashtags and captions, they make connections between various places, people, activities and emotions that together contribute to the user’s spatial self (Schwartz and Halegoua 2015) and to the place making efforts of the community. Those using the hashtag ängsbacka often do so to communicate a deep connection between the place and themselves. At the same time, while the local place and nature is at the center of their activities, it is simultaneously a mere backdrop for their projects of personal development.
 Using Ängsbacka as a case, the article adds to research about digital place making beyond cities, by examining how the local place is given meaning within a community defined by privileged mobility. To analyze the intermingling of the local and the global in the context of sustainability, I combine theories of place making with Carfagna et al’s (2014) concept of ecological habitus. I argue that discourses on sustainability and harmony with nature can create a connection and sense of belonging that combines the (hyper)local with global (alternative) lifestyles.

First‐Generation Female Professors from Low‐Income Families in Pakistan: The Influence of Parents on Access to and Involvement in Higher Education

This paper presents findings of qualitative analysis of female professors' views about the role of their parents' attitudes and family backgrounds in shaping their access to and participation in university education in Pakistan. Structural barriers in the form of lack of education, in particular, high education facilities and opportunities were linked to disadvantaged rural places of residence and geographical inequities, whereas parental values of believing in the importance of gaining professional education were commonly highlighted across the sample. Similarly, the family culture of encouraging and supporting children's education, and parental role in overcoming barriers in gaining access to university education were more likely reported than traditional gender role beliefs and gendered practices. Additionally, parents' positive and reinforcing attitudes toward their daughters' education played a mediating role in shaping study participants' academic dispositions and agencies that lead to their academic and career success. The analysis revealed that parents' positive educational values, encouraging attitudes, and supportive behaviors for their daughters were embedded in parents' personal histories and experiences of deprived status in education and occupational attainments.

Transforming urban industrial landscapes through art tourism – a gentrification aesthetics model from Abu Dhabi’s case

Purpose This paper aims to explore the opinions of business owners in an industrial area of Abu Dhabi that could be potentially turned into an art tourism destination. Design/methodology/approach By mobilizing the concept of “gentrification aesthetics,” the authors use a recall technique to explore support toward art from business owners, regression analyses to understand how the type and content of art predicts gentrification support and chi-square to research the differences between respondents who support the area to become a creative place and those who do not. Findings A model that explains the connection between gentrification aesthetics and art tourism is presented. Research limitations/implications The authors’ proposed model results from testing the possibilities for expanding art tourism specifically and may not apply to other types of tourism. Future research is needed to understand whether and how the model can be applied to other forms of tourist consumption. Practical implications The current research presents a case study on how tourism can be strategically expanded into more rural places in a city. Social implications The authors found significant differences between respondents who would like to see Mussafah becoming a creative place in five years and those who believe Mussafah needs to be(come) something else. Originality/value While work on tourism gentrification has been conducted, the nexus between gentrification aesthetics and art tourism cannot be found. Their relation can help to expend (art) tourism from busy cultural attractions to industrial areas. The present research fills this gap.

The impact of COVID-19 on the resilience of rural and island Scotland: implications for transitioning to a resilient rural and island future

ABSTRACT Negligible attention has been given to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon social and economic attributes of rural and island (R&I) places. The paper considers impacts of COVID-19 on the resilience of Scottish R&I communities during the crisis or emergency stage of the pandemic and then after its shift to what may be described as an everyday disruption, suggesting ways that communities could transition to a resilient future in a post-COVID world. The paper’s longitudinal, qualitative, Scotland-wide, and holistic assessment of community change and responses represents a novel approach to exploring the impacts of the pandemic on resilience between 2020 and 2022. It allows greater understanding to be gained about both the pandemic’s impacts on socio-economic aspects of Scottish R&I communities and the implications for transitioning to a more resilient post COVID-19 rural world. The paper reports that, when those who participated in the research discussed transitioning to a new future for R&I places, their thoughts about how it should change altered over time. Specifically, by addressing dual discourses of emergency and everyday resilience, the paper identifies how the impacts of COVID-19 affected resilience during different stages of the pandemic and what might be learned about ongoing resilience in R&I communities.

Rural transformations, rural futures: introduction to theme section

ABSTRACT This theme section editorial introduction presents a collection of papers brought together under the heading Rural transformations, rural futures. The papers are elaborations of work presented at a European Society for Rural Sociology ‘satellite event’ entitled Transitioning Rural Futures. Contributions to the theme section add to the emerging corpus of work that examines potentially transformative immediate and medium-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural areas, and also speak to other ‘grand challenges’ likely to transform rural places and shape rural futures: specifically, resilience, digitalisation, wellbeing, socio-economic inequalities, shifting rural policy landscapes and impacts of transnational economic events.

Power & Moral Capital - A “Theory of Access” for People Receiving Public Assistance in Rural USA

ABSTRACT In-depth interviews with people using public assistance in a rural place in the United States demonstrated barriers to accessing resources through formal work and self-provisioning and the ability to benefit from use of public assistance—low income means-tested medical, nutritional, financial, or other services from state, federal, or non-governmental agencies. The Theory of Access (TOA) was used as a framework to organize participant narratives and an intersectional perspective to a multidimensional theory of power was used to demonstrate how moral capital is levied and reproduced. Findings from the TOA revealed intersectionalities in barriers to accessing resources across structural, relational, physical, and psychosocial access mechanisms for women, particularly women of color with dependent children, pregnant women of color, and women with disabilities. While TOA demonstrated need for public assistance, the double power of moral capital demonstrated how the benefits of public assistance to human dignity and welfare were reduced by (1) disciplinary tactics to reject public assistance and (2) reproduction of broader moral imperatives. The connections between TOA and moral capital contribute an intersectionality approach for understanding the multiple disadvantages of people with the lowest incomes, which helps to explain low rates of self-provisioning and public assistance use despite high need across the rural Global North.

How production cooperatives operating a sharing economy business model innovate in rural places

In this study, we investigate how production Cooperatives with a Sharing Economy Business Model (CSE‐BMs) foster innovations in structurally weak rural places. Taking a place‐based social capital perspective, we argue that the strength of CSE‐BMs in developing process, service, product, and social innovation lies in their ability to reconfigure shared resources across communities and actors located on different levels of power and with different access to resources. Empirically, we reconstruct the mobilization and reconfiguration of shared resources across the network in an in‐depth case study of a CSE‐BM in rural Greece. We find that CSE‐BMs can mobilize resources across the network by offering value propositions that stakeholders regard as credible because decision‐makers show attachment to the place. To realize sufficient value for members to sustain their contributions to the CSE‐BM, product, service, and process innovations are complemented by social innovations. Mobilizing and reconfiguring shared resources across different interest groups unleashes the innovative potential of CSE‐BMs but causes tensions between different mindsets at the same time. Cooperatives offer an organizational structure to turn these tensions from a threat into an opportunity for innovation. Our findings contribute to the Sharing Economy Business Model (SE‐BM) literature on typology building and the construction of ideal types. We also advance the SE‐BM debate by shedding light on the potential of cooperative forms of organizing collaborative production in the sharing economy. Practically, we contribute to the discussion about the importance of physical vs. digital platforms as intermediaries in SE‐BMs.

Race, local context, and traffic stops: an examination of racial profiling in traffic stops in rural and non-rural places

PurposeThe current study examines the effects of race, agency and environment on traffic stops in rural and non-rural spaces.Design/methodology/approachUsing traffic stop data collected in a Midwest US County from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021, the current study uses logistic regression to examine racial disparities in traffic stops.FindingsThe results indicate that police decision-making in traffic stops may be influenced by other factors besides a driver’s race or ethnicity. In other words, the police officer’s decision making in a traffic stop varies between small and large agencies as well as rural and non-rural places.Originality/valueThis study provides one of the few examinations of racial disparities in traffic stops in rural places.

Changes to Rural Migration in the COVID‐19 Pandemic☆

AbstractMedia stories highlighted accounts of migration away from city centers towards more rural destinations during the COVID‐19 pandemic, but systematic research about how the pandemic changed migration in more rural destinations is only starting to emerge. This paper relies on U.S. Postal Service change‐of‐address data to describe whether and how established domestic migration systems changed during the COVID‐19 pandemic, focusing on differences across the rural–urban gradient and by outdoor recreation resources. We find little evidence of massive urban exodus. We do find that out‐migration from rural counties declined post‐pandemic onset and has stayed low in the 3 years since, stemming the tide of net population loss in many rural places. Most rural counties that experienced net population loss prior to the pandemic saw either less net loss or net gains during the pandemic. Rural recreation counties experienced greater gains through both decreased out‐migration and increased in‐migration in the first year of the pandemic; but by year three, differences between rural recreation and non‐recreation counties had balanced. Overall, counties across Rural America saw notable change to pre‐pandemic migration patterns. This shift may benefit rural areas through long‐term population stability and/or growth but might also exacerbate housing and childcare shortages.

Lay theories of place effects

AbstractCombining research in political geography and social psychology, this article investigates lay theories of “place effects”—that is, ordinary citizens' beliefs about the effects that urban or rural places have on the individuals who live in them. We do so using a novel survey vignette embedded in a large‐scale survey of the Canadian public. Our results suggest that (1) citizens see rural identities as less malleable than urban identities, (2) lay theories of place effects depend on citizens' own place identities, and (3) lay theories of place effects are stronger for nonpolitical than for political place‐based characteristics. We also find that lay theories of place effects are associated with individual‐level characteristics that are connected to cosmopolitan‐communitarian divides, such as ideology and postsecondary education. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for the growing literature on urban–rural divides and for research on citizens' implicit theories of places and their political consequences.