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The aim of this article is to analyse and discuss policies and planning for rural housing, with a special focus on social sustainability. In this endeavour, we review research with such a focus and put this in dialogue with an analysis of the contemporary situation regarding rural housing challenges and policies in Sweden. Countrysides in Europe, including Sweden, are diverse and face different housing-related challenges. The literature illuminates spatial as well as socio-economic inequalities. Both a low demand for housing related to a shrinking labour market and out-migration and a high pressure on the housing market triggering restrictive or conditional measures to avoid speculative developments and rural gentrification affect social sustainability. Our case study on policy and planning measures that deal with rural housing in Sweden shows that there is a need to further investigate and understand the role of housing in rural areas for various groups and people with fewer resources, including further elaboration on the connection between mobilities and housing needs. A narrow focus upon housing provision that does not take into account access to services and communications as well as contemporary mobility flows of different groups challenges equality and well-being in rural areas. In Sweden, housing is primarily a municipal, local responsibility. However, exogenous forces or trends mean that housing issues play out at both the regional and national levels and put the municipalities in a difficult situation. • The effects of mobility are decisive for handling the rural housing issue. • The terms 'hot spots' and 'cold spots' make visible spatial and social inequalities. • Planning measures need to account for 'hot' as well as 'cold' rural areas. • Coordination and cooperation at regional and local level is crucial. • Both new constructions and vacancy chains contribute to a balanced housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich body of literature is stressing the crucial importance of migration and market evolution on the underutilization of housing in cities. Rural housing is unique given its less mature market structure. Drawing on an empirical case of Sunan, the work reported in this paper addresses underlying mechanisms of housing land underutilization in rural China. Employing a multi-level modeling approach, results suggest that the likelihood of underutilization relates to household and village features, such as family attributes, housing/parcel characteristics, type of villages, and geographical locations. Additionally, underutilization was also closely associated with regional contexts including local economic development levels and migration patterns. Theoretically, we conceptualized rural housing land underutilization as a land use transition with villagers' awareness of policy change possibilities in the context of both rapid urbanization and rural transformation with nested hybrid results. We argue that urban-rural differences do not induce underutilization. Rather, policy-induced overbuilding of new houses and insistence on retaining uninhabited older houses combined with the tendency for villagers' to view investments as a mechanism to retain ties to their rural hometowns drove underutilizaiton. • We propose a multi-scalar analytical framework on the underutilization of rural housing land. • We identify the nested impacts of factors at different levels on the utility of rural housing land. • The dualistically organized regime is argued as the primary driver of housing land underutilization in rural China. • The transition of rural space from productivism to post-productivism matters as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of place attachment in motivating residents of rural communities to form community land trusts (CLTs). CLTs are non-profit community-led organisations formed and managed by volunteers. Their objectives typically relate to the provision of affordable housing. Using qualitative interview data collected from 8 CLTs in rural England, this paper highlights the ways in which their founding members mobilise place attachments to form CLTs, define and target beneficiaries, and acquire resources to facilitate affordable housing development. Founding members perceive CLT housing as a vehicle through which visions and attachments of place can be articulated, using restrictions on resales, lettings and use to enhance and maintain place attachments whilst challenging conventional logics of market housing provision. While CLT objectives are explicitly derived from a desire to maintain, protect and enhance social and functional bonds to place, strong emphases on place attachment in the planning and allocation of rural housing may deny housing opportunities to those without such attachments. • Social, cultural, environmental and functional aspects of place attachment stimulate citizen participation in CLTs. • CLTs challenge conventional logics of housing provision, using restrictions on resales and lettings to retain affordability. • CLT housing is often prioritised for residents who hold social and/or functional attachments to place and community. • Place attachment helps CLTs acquire land and resources from those who share concern for and attachment to place and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on a study in the North East of Scotland, this paper presents the impact on rural micro businesses of public policy-led next generation broadband (NGB) upgrades to broadband infrastructure. Two major strands of research are presented, digital connectivity and micro business development. Examining digital connectivity, we conclude that digital divides can now feature five levels of inequity, which cannot be portrayed by existing spatial urban/rural classifications. Policy-led broadband programmes do not address local broadband disparities, fall short of addressing digital inequity issues, and often the most in need remain underserved by their broadband service. Examining micro businesses, this paper concludes that such businesses, regardless of their information and communications technology (ICT) skills and methods of exploitation, exhibit the same level of broadband need as their urban counterparts. Further, the rapid and exponential development of ICTs requiring at least an NGB connection is surpassing the ability of businesses to access a 'fit-for-purpose' broadband connection. It is evident that some rural settlements are becoming 'digital deserts'. However, contrary to being solely linked to one's proximity to population centres, this research demonstrates that lack of access to NGB can occur anywhere over 1.5 km from an NGB fibre connection and is determined by proximity to the digital engineering infrastructure connectivity nodes, rather than proximity to urban centres. These digitally isolated spots may or may not be situated in densely populated urban areas. This finding suggests a need to rethink how we frame our perceptions of digital inequity at the territorial level as access to, and experience of, digital connectivity is restructured and organised as a result of NGB upgrade locations and the impact of technologies associated with the digital revolution. We recommend that in order to address these emerging digital disparities, interventions should adopt a co-production, multi stakeholder approach involving actors from community, policy and private sectors in order to realise place-based digital solutions. • Territorial digital divides, whilst more likely in remote rural areas, can be found in both urban and rural locations. • Contextualises new territorial digital divides and associated typologies with current spatial classifications. • Exemplifies the integral relationship between rural small/micro businesses, place, location and NGB accessibility. • How post NGB deployment, new digital inequities impact on ICT dependent features of contemporary rural business practices. • Questions the impact of this on rural business survival and wider societal reorganisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As rural landscapes change in both geography and population, it is increasingly important to understand the unique challenges faced by these communities. Of notable significance is the rising cost of housing relative to household income – a measure often referred to as the housing cost-burden. Its subsequent effect on affordable and accessible housing is experienced on a national level, yet perceptions often place rural communities among the most vulnerable. The proceeding research seeks to challenge this notion and further analyze what rural residents, specifically rural renters, face in managing their housing costs. For instance, utilities are an often-overlooked contribution to the severity of the overall burden. Their presence as fixed, unadjusted, housing costs lie in aggregate of more direct expenditures. While utilities may lack immediacy, they are pervasive in their prolonged impact. Therefore, it is a combination of factors that make sub-populations of rural areas more susceptible to housing cost externalities. The importance lies in the subtle differences, where considerable policy opportunities exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of declining rural economies and dissipating rural populations, scholars, policy makers and program developers have increasingly looked to local business development and entrepreneurship as a means of revitalizing small communities across the United States. This study explores the perceptions of youth and business owners regarding the unique challenges and benefits or rural contexts for entrepreneurship, as well as perceptions regarding the potential role of youth in contributing to rural economies. Drawing from in-depth interviews and focus groups among local business owners and young rural residents, findings support earlier research regarding structural challenges that hamper rural business development (e.g., weak infrastructure) but also shed light on social challenges brought about by small and tightly bonded communities (e.g., openness to unfamiliar businesses). Notwithstanding these challenges, findings also suggest several perceived benefits of small communities such as local support for residents' enterprises and ease of communication with one's customer base. Finally, business owners expressed placing a high value on rural youth and their potential to make unique contributions to business development, nonetheless, found challenges around providing meaningful hands-on experiences for youth to learn about business operations. • Rural business owners' and rural youths' perceptions regarding business development were explored in four small U.S. communities. • Responses highlight unique challenges of rural structural contexts, as well as challenges around the social contexts of rural communities. • Respondents noted benefits of rural contexts that are often overlooked in scholarship. • Business owners value youth as contributors to the business environment but struggle with finding meaningful ways to include them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in immobility studies prompted by declining internal migration rates. While recent studies have examined the agency of stayers, this paper sheds light on an overlooked structural influence in a rural context: namely, planning policy on house building in the countryside. Using young adult interview data from a pilot study in rural Northern Ireland we demonstrate a strong place attachment with the home area which is entangled in complex patterns of family history, farm ownership and continuing familial networks. This attachment translates into an equally strong desire to stay, which is enabled through Northern Ireland's different past and present countryside planning policies. A planning presumption in favour of countryside development at specific times has facilitated one-off self-built homes by farm families. Such development is regarded as normal and represents the least expensive route into owner-occupied housing. However, the policy provides young adults from farm families with a considerable insider-advantage when it comes to being able to stay in the countryside and, as a consequence, staying may become the preserve of those from existing farm families. • Rural planning policy which permits one-off self build housing is an important structural factor in enabling young adults to stay in rural areas. • Place attachment to rural places is entangled in complex webs of family history, farm ownership and familial networks. • Rural planning policy is an important structural factor in enabling young adults to stay. • Rural place attachment relates to family history, farm ownership and familial networks. • Family farms help maintain a personal connection to previous generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging orthodoxy supports the proposition that the rural economy – built around agriculture but encompassing much more – will serve as sweet spot of employment opportunities for many millions of young people into the foreseeable future. However, our understanding of how rural young people in Africa take advantage of processes of rural transformation or engage with the rural economy is limited. Drawing on qualitative research conducted with 117 rural young people in three country contexts (Ghana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania), this paper reports the findings on the steps and pathways through which young people construct livelihoods in hotspots of agricultural commercialisation. Overall what emerges from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and pathways is that the commercialised rural economy within which they operate offer them a variety of income earning opportunities. Family and broader social relations are key in enabling young people to access the needed resources in the form of land, capital, and inputs to begin their ventures. Between family and rental markets, there is little evidence that young people's engagement with crop production is limited by their inability to access land. We also find evidence of asset accumulation by young people in the form of housing, furniture and savings among others, which reflects the combination of relatively dynamic rural economies, enabling social relations, and hard work. However, for many it is a struggle to stay afloat, requiring effort, persistence, and an ability to navigate setbacks and hazards. Our findings challenge a number of assumptions underlying policy and public discourse around rural young people and employment in Africa. We highlight some key implications for policy seeking to promote youth employment in rural Africa. • It is widely accepted that rural areas will provide employment for Africa's young people for decades to come. • There is little evidence about how young people actually engage with the rural economy in hotspots of agricultural commercialisation. • Data from Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe challenge some key elements of public and policy discourse around rural youth in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, immigration to Western countries has been an urban phenomenon, but in recent decades, larger immigrant populations have also arrived in rural destinations. In this paper, we address the dynamics of inbound flows and geographical distribution of labour migrants within rural regions: While some rural localities have received large numbers of migrants, others have seen just a few. Specifically, we explore the case of Eastern and Central European labour migrants (EU11 countries) travelling to Norway's rural regions following the EU enlargements in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Which factors explain the spatial distribution of EU11 labour migrants in Norway's rural regions? We evaluate three assumptions in the extant literature – that labour migrant inflows are related to labour market characteristics, demographic profiles and localities' degree of peripherality. Norwegian register data at municipality levels are employed to estimate a regression model for how these characteristics impact sizes of EU11 labour migrant populations in rural municipalities. Finding show that EU11 migrants are found where the most labour-intensive rural industries dominate; industry-particularly fish processing industry, agriculture and the hospitality sector. Further, they reside in areas with higher unemployment and few refugees. Lastly, we find that the rural municipalities that struggles the most with depopulation has not received the relatively largest number of labour migrant, as EU11 migrants are more often found in the more demographically viable rural communities. • In recent years, larger immigrant populations have arrived in rural destinations. • EU11 migrants are unevenly distributed across rural Norway. • Localities with larger primary industries host more labour migrants. • EU11 migrants reside in areas with higher unemployment and few refugees. • The rural localities that struggles the most with depopulation have received fewer EU11 migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an ethnographic examination of the response to proposed housing development in an English village which provides broader insights into the nature of democratic and decision-making processes around local development projects. Dissecting the complexities of class, age and length of residence, it argues that attributions of either 'NIMBYism' or 'community cohesion' simplify how and why people come together. Charges of NIMBYism in popular representation seek to exploit difference through certain well-established tropes. These often distinguish between the interests of poorer and longer-established residents with livelihoods rooted in rural areas, and those of wealthier people with urban-based livelihoods for whom rural housing is a lifestyle choice. Academic discussions of NIMBYism have sought to unpack the complexity of opposition, identifying problems in the uncritical use of the term. In contributing to this literature, I argue that it is important to consider how responses are shaped by both a combination of individual interest and sense of investment in place. I suggest that 'community' is an effective organising device for protesters that can obscure numerous differences and that the nature of political process and consultation also are crucial factors in shaping opposition. Concerns with the nature of nominally democratic processes and the role of outsider imposition are especially significant here. • The article is an ethnographic examination of opposition to a housing development in an English village. • Ideas of both 'NIMBYism' and 'community cohesion' simplify why people come together in response to development plans of external origin. • The intersection of individual interests with the nature of consultation plays an important role in responses to development planning. • Narratives of community are used strategically to galvanise opposition in ways that obscure difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural homelessness has largely been silenced in homelessness narratives and social policy in Australia and throughout the world. This paper reports on data from a larger qualitative study about homelessness in rural and regional Central Queensland mining communities located within the Bowen Basin region, inland from Australia's eastern seaboard. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with people who had lived experience of homelessness in the rural mining communities of Mackay (regional), Moranbah and Dysart (rural), and service provider representatives and community advocates. The qualitative analysis revealed that people experience homelessness in rural and regional communities in unique ways that are different to metropolitan constructions of homelessness. This research identified rural and regional poverty, the nature of boom or bust economies, over-stressed human service providers, social isolation and lack of affordable housing as factors contributing to homelessness in rural and regional mining communities. This paper highlights the urgent need for more scholarly research to inform and promote more critical social policy approaches that frame homelessness as a public policy priority in rural and regional mining communities. • The article highlights the urgent need for Australian social policy makers to address housing and homelessness in rural and regional mining communities. • Rural and regional communities have largely been silenced in the development and implementation of housing and homelessness policy. • The unique contextual factors associated with rural and regional mining communities such as boom/bust cycles and associated demand and supply issues need to be better addressed in policy processes. • Learnings from previous boom phases of the cycle need to better inform policy development and resource allocation. • The lived experiences of people in rural and regional mining communities need to inform future policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir areas in the Spanish urban fringe are under increasing pressure from construction sprawls, including illegal construction, human movement, and growing recreational and tourist awareness. Consequently, the conflict between rapid urban development and water body maintenance in such areas needs to be urgently addressed. This paper presents an integrated operational approach using a participatory multi-criteria evaluation method based on the understanding of all possible aspects and implications for a rural housing development in a case study compromising a reservoir area. This method was implemented for the case study area located in the mixed rural-urban fringe of Badajoz province, Spain. Priority criteria were investigated by analysing different dynamics which were modelled based on a literature review, expert discussion, internet-based public participation, and objective comparison. In addition, applying the participatory contingent valuation method to water visibility in the priority areas improves the integration of sustainable rural housing, to better balance tourism activity expansion and ecological conservation. This study identified and compared the various interests of public participants by analysing a priority map via a visibility valuation. The assessment results provide a new empirical and valuable management tool to evaluate the existing infrastructure and environment, and to predict their future improvements. It can be applied to other destinations. Thus, this model can be used to ensure sustainable rural housing development in reservoir areas, the main objective being to increase the quality of life for the reservoir's residents as well as tourist satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural construction land consolidation (RCLC) is an innovative approach to coordinating the outmigration of a rural population and the increase in rural housing land, thereby protecting farmland and ensuring food security, adding to urban construction land quotas, and improving the rural habitat environment in China. Since 2005, several different models or approaches to RCLC have been practiced by local governments. Regardless of public interest in the specific projects of RCLC, its implementation is not successful without the cooperation of relevant villagers whose attitudes and behaviours in response to RCLC have thus far been given only minimal academic attention. Focusing on one of the approaches of RCLC, viz. the homestead exchange apartment approach (HEA), this paper analyses the means and ends of its practices and villagers' attitudes and behaviours in response to them based on a comparison of a failed case (Village A) and a successful case (Village B) in Changchun City, which is located in the northeast of China. The results show that the geographical location and associated socio-economic background of villages endow them with different potentials, strengths, and weaknesses in implementing HEA, the higher adaptability to urban living usually accompany with lower consolidation potential of rural construction land, and vice versa; The different means of HEA result in different ends, both absolute private property-based means and absolute population-based means are dogmatic and impractical; Under constrained socio-economic, biophysical, and institutional situations, the main factors influencing villagers' attitudes and behaviours in response to the various means of HEA include household population size, original housing conditions, livelihood, life course, and Guanxi. Critically, RCLC should follow a trial and error approach and villagers must have real opportunities to take part in the decision-making that will influence their futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While mobility has long been recognised to be a core dynamic affecting the consumption of rural housing very little is known about the politics that exist around the connections between mobility and rural housing. To investigate how mobility informs policy approaches to rural housing in Australia this paper brings together the concepts of the politics of mobility and governmentality. Through a case study examining housing policy discourses relating to rural and regional Australia from 1985 to 2000, this paper analyses the way in which various governmentalities of mobility have infused Australian rural housing policy. The paper finds that, during this period, mobility was an important governmental rationality informing Australian regional development and rural housing policies. This study contributes to the critical engagement with the mobility turn in contemporary rural studies by showing that a particular dimension of the mobility turn – the politics of mobility – can be augmented through the application of governmentality theory. Such an analytical approach enables a critical assessment of how such governmentalities of mobility contribute to constructions of the rural as problematic and the implications of such representations for rural regions and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although agriculture remains the main economic livelihood activity for the majority of rural households in sub-Saharan Africa it has also been observed that livelihood diversity is the norm. Using household panel data from Ghana this article argues that aside from farming many rural economic livelihood options are transient because of a large gap between livelihood activity and professional vocation development. Further, the household welfare effect of being livelihood diversity transient is examined under the premise that of utmost relevance is the welfare implication of such behaviour. Evidence suggests that a substantial proportion (55%) of households exhibit considerable instability in livelihood diversity behaviour. More importantly, being livelihood diversity transient imposes statistically significant albeit economically marginal household welfare cost. The findings also reveal that spatial location of household, demographics factors, education, and consumer–producer price differentials were the most important determinants of rural household welfare. The key message from the findings is the need to develop entrepreneurial skills of rural households to acquire gainful employment opportunities, which leads to more stable livelihood diversity behaviour and poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the national strategy of 'building a new socialist countryside', concentrated rural housing is increasing in some rural regions in China. In this research we use three case studies to analyze decision making on concentrated rural housing and the potential for future low carbon rural housing. The empirical results show that concentrated rural housing can improve both the energy efficiency of houses and the living conditions of households, compared to traditional stand-alone modes of housing. Providers are the major decision makers with regard to the kind of materials, technologies and energy networks applied in rural housing development. Local governments, private property developers and local (energy) authorities in principle have the power to select and apply low carbon alternatives. The involvement of Chinese householders in concentrated housing project turns out to be low or non-existent. The introduction of market incentives, stricter building regulations, better decision making processes and communication with householders are relevant social factors for improving low carbon housing provision in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There has been much debate in rural studies concerning (uneven) processes of rural restructuring and its impact on redefining the role of rural areas and in underpinning different development trajectories across rural space. However, to date, there is currently a dearth of literature examining the impact of the current global financial crisis on rural localities, either in terms of how public policies have responded and/or adapted in relation to the potential increased vulnerability of rural localities in the face of extraordinary economic events and shocks. In this paper, we address this deficit by examining the impact of the global financial crisis and its implications for rural localities and households, drawing on Ireland as a case study. The paper aims to explore household everyday financial practices and coping strategies in relation to recession conditions in rural Ireland, in particular related to the bursting of the housing market bubble since 2007/08. To address these themes, the paper is structured as follows: first, we locate the discussion in the literature surrounding the global financial crisis and the role of the housing sector, before examining the implications for rural localities and rural housing markets. Second, the paper examines the housing boom and bust in Ireland and its relationship to the wider economy. Then, drawing on a customised household survey (n = 753), the paper examines the impact of the housing crash on life satisfaction, everyday financial practices and coping strategies among rural households. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: One of the most pressing questions in the rural gentrification literature is whether rural residents face difficulties in finding a home within their locality due to the influx of more wealthy newcomers. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which intended local movers and intended non-local movers have realised their rural residential preferences in their preferred municipality. We perform multilevel multinomial logistic regression analysis on data from two housing surveys for the Netherlands that are enriched with register data from the longitudinal Social Statistical Database (SSD). Our results show that, despite of their lower income, intended local movers are more likely to find homes within their preferred rural location than are intended non-local movers. Intended non-local movers move more often to a location other than that initially preferred, with urbanites facing a higher likelihood to move to an urban area. The findings suggest that ties to the residential environment are more important in successfully finding housing in one''s preferred rural location than are financial resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Drawing on consultation meetings with eight community groups across rural England, this paper examines local perspectives on housing affordability, and the consequences of low levels of ‘within area’ housing access for rural economies and communities, contrasting the reflective understanding of residents with normative and established perspectives on the same issues. Because it now seems likely that rural planning policy in England will, in some measure, be reconstructed from the bottom-up, prioritising local control, an analysis of residents'' perspectives gives some insight into the shape of future policy intervention. The research reveals a highly nuanced understanding of affordability and the development needs of villages. Sometimes local views – particularly those of commuting or retired households – are dismissed as being motivated by NIMBYism. But this is a partial truth, with rural residents displaying reflective dissatisfaction with official perspectives on rural housing problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Dutch rural areas have changed into a post-modern countryside and have become marketable commodities. The demand for rural space and rural amenities has increased, with concomitant tensions on the rural housing market, tensions which are enhanced by the restrictive spatial policy in Dutch rural areas. The demand for rural residential environments appears to be large. This paper reports the results of our research into the preferences of urban households for living in a rural residential environment. These preferences will be linked with images and representations of the countryside. It is assumed that individual images of the countryside (whether idyllic or not) affect residential preferences and these preferences have, in turn, their effect on migration behaviour. Empirical evidence suggests that perceptions, preferences and behaviour pertaining to rural residential environments are indeed interrelated. The Dutch countryside commands a very positive image and the demand for residential environments with rural characteristics is considerable. Consequently, a rural idyll can be identified in The Netherlands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Drawing on data relating to some 500 households, taken from local government records and questionnaire surveys, this paper examines the processes of migration and social change associated with the resale offormer local authority dwellings in a rural part of the East Midlands, England, UK. Legislative change principally stemming from the Housing Act (1980) has given tenants a `right to buy' their rented dwelling from the local authority landlord. By focussing on the longer termimpact of this process the findings of this study reveal a radical discontinuity with the past, as new households with contrasting characteristics to previous occupants move in when these dwellings are resold on the open market. The study shows that the relative affordability of the dwellings in a highly competitive rural housing market is creating an opportunity for comparatively young, dual-career and largely urban families to move to the countryside. Their movement into former local authority dwellings has important implications for the future provision of local needs housing in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]