Abstract
The European Commission has paid and is paying particular attention to rural development by increasing the measures and the resources available in order to enhance the environment, the quality of life in rural areas and also provides incentives to diversify economic activities in rural areas. The current European delimitation of rural areas is the result of the application of OECD methodology. According to this methodology, the level of population density is the common and only criterion adopted. This indicator can be interpreted as a direct function of attractiveness: the higher the population, the more attractive an area and vice versa. However, the concept of rural can have different definitions, influenced by the economic, social, political needs or contexts, added to which the application of the OEDC methodology tends to flatten different situations. The most important processes of change that the methodology is not able to identify are the urbanisation trend which entices population and economic activity out of more remote rural areas into urban and accessible rural areas and the counter-urbanisation flow from urban regions into accessible rural areas. The final aim of the Chapter is to evaluate whether both current and new strategies are coherent with territorial needs and whether the inherent territorial disparities require a tailored definition and policy. Consequently, the analysis takes into consideration the different European socio-economic situation, the agricultural and forestry sectors, the levels of diversification and the quality of life and the state of the environment.
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Notes
Italian National Institute for Rural Sociology.
The Commission has used OECD methodology in the Strategic Guidelines for RDP 2007–2013. According to the OECD definition rural regions account for 92% of the EU territory. Furthermore, 19% of the population lives in predominantly rural regions and 37% in significantly rural regions. These regions generate 45% of gross value added in the EU and provide 53% of the employment, but tend to lag behind non-rural areas as regards a number of socio-economic indicators, including structural indicators. In rural areas, per capita income is around a third less, activity rates for women are lower, the service sector is less developed, higher education levels are generally lower, and a smaller percentage of households have access to broadband internet. Remoteness and peripherality are major problems in some rural regions. These disadvantages tend to be even more significant in predominantly rural regions, although the general picture at the EU level can vary substantially between Member States. Lack of opportunities, contacts and training infrastructure are a particular problem for women and young people in remote rural areas (European Council 2006).
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Zolin, M.B., Rasi Caldogno, A. Beyond the European Rural Areas: the Need for Strategic Approaches. Transit Stud Rev 18, 613–629 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11300-012-0218-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11300-012-0218-6