Description
The countryside has often been marginalised in discussions of economic and societal development, in favour of the urban. This book aims to stimulate a debate and a re-evaluation of how the concepts of the rural, peripheral and marginal are treated in academia and policy.
Approaching this theme from geographic, demographic and economic perspectives, Peter de Souza makes a compelling case for giving the periphery a prominent role as an integral part of a holistic and balanced society. The book carefully deconstructs the concept of the urban, and critiques the idea of urban-rural or centre-periphery comparisons, and presents an alternative approach to spark future discussions.
Winner of the Regional Studies Association Best Book Award 2020, The Rural and Peripheral in Regional Development will be of interest to those studying and researching in the areas of rural economics, sustainability and development, as well as those involved in rural policymaking.
Table of Contents
Preface 1 What is this all about? Introductory positioning, 2 The periphery, the marginal and the rural: conceptual discussion, 3 Theory: limits and potentials, 4 Measure what, with what and what does it represent?, 5 The urban deconstructed, 6 Geographic and demographic structures and processes, 7 Extended definitions: an alternative way to re-analyse, 8 Peripheral economics: some alternative approaches, 9 Economic structures and structural changes, 10 Policy frameworks
