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Behind rural lives lurk several forms of latent precarity that are unique to rural dwellers and rural contexts. Latent precarities may never become actualised or experienced, and the expression of latent precarity can be mitigated by both individual and community resources. For older rural dwellers, the latent precarities associated with rural life intersect with those associated with ageing and when experienced or actualised, can impact on an individual's ability to successfully 'age in place' within their rural community. We interviewed adults across the lifespan who lived in a small rural southern New Zealand community, and this article explores the latent precarities of rurality and ageing that they identified. If community assets dwindle or become unavailable, and health capabilities decline, latent precarities may multiply, or become actual/experienced precarities. The experience of ageing well in rural places can be improved and older adults better supported through the identification of, and attention to, forms of latent precarity within these rural places. • Latent forms of precarity can become experienced precarity for rural dwellers as they age. • There is the potential for expression of latent precarity to be mitigated so it does not become experienced precarity. • The experience of ageing well in rural places might be improved by attending to forms of latent precarity within rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of COVID-19, the benefits of online platforms to enhance rural service accessibility are more acknowledged. However, questions remain about the interconnected roles of geographical community and online digital communities in enhancing rural life – particularly for marginalised groups. In this study, we examine one Australian non-profit's online peer support forums as technology enabling transformed community experiences for rural people with mental health conditions. Interviews exploring forum use were conducted with 20 rural forum users in 2021. We found technology affordances were appropriated to target rural service and social interaction gaps, giving people resources used online, and also enabling coping in their geographical community. The study illustrates the benefits of understanding what rural people do with different technologies that can illuminate how apparently "one-size-fits-all" technologies can be appropriated to fill certain rural structural holes in social and service systems. • Digital technologies can target key health service and social interaction gaps. • Online mental health forums can support rural people to cope in their communities. • Such technologies can be used by rural people to address gaps and problems. • Online forums may be efficacious but cannot replace offline clinical treatment. • Technologies should be integrated into rural health service system design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tackling spatial inequalities needs to make sure that it improves the lives of people in rural and peripheral regions. Whilst local metrics and key indicators may be improved by measures implemented, this does not always translate to local people 'feeling' that development has improved their lives. Using ethnographic fieldwork and embodied and conversational research techniques, this paper adds to the place-based, evolutionary economic geography and resilience literature to develop the concept of the complex adaptive region assemblage, which draws on Deleuzian-based theory. I question whether this might be a lens to explore and better understand the measures that can be put in place in order to address the gap between regional development programmes, and the experiences of members of the public. The starting point was to explore the positionality of local people, and the paper finds that in the case studies (Cornwall UK and Southwest Virginia USA), systems put in place to revitalise these areas could be more effective if they pay attention to connecting spaces between local residents, and how they navigate their localities. • Place-based development needs to understand how local people experience rural regions. • Often, certain gaps make it more difficult for people to participate effectively in their regions. • Rural development needs to connect (missing) gaps in how people navigate place. • Viewing rural regions as complex adaptive assemblages helps to understand these gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the loan sources used by rural solar home system adopters to meet their everyday needs, as well as the motivations for using these sources. The findings show that people in rural areas take into account social and economic factors when making a decision regarding where to seek a loan. People borrowed money from individuals with whom they had strong ties, which could be parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, friends, or neighbours, and there was heterogeneity regarding where people situate family members along the weak/strong tie continuum. The results show that people preferred borrowing money from individuals with whom they had relationships based on the principle of reciprocity, suggesting their preference to avoid dependency in favour of equality. The findings also show that spatial and social proximity are intimately interconnected, and that both play an important role in determining where people turn to when in need of a loan. In several cases, the provision of a loan was based on a combination of both dimensions of proximity. Our findings have implications for energy policies that increasingly require households to bear the financial demands of access to basic energy services. • We examine the socio-economic landscape in which SHS adoption is entangled. • Social and economic factors matter when deciding where to seek a loan. • Relationships based on reciprocity are preferred over those based on dependency. • Spatial and social proximity play an important and complementary role in loan provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral status is an important indicator of past lifestyles. Determining the presence and extent of oral pathologies helps reconstruct average oral health, paramasticatory activities and diet of ancient and historical populations. In this study, the dental remains from the early medieval cemetery of Früebergstrasse in Baar (Canton of Zug, Switzerland) and the high medieval Dalheim cemetery (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) were analyzed. Caries, periodontal condition, periapical lesions, antemortem tooth loss, and enamel hypoplasia were assessed in 654 teeth (993 observable loci) from 68 individuals (Baar: n = 36; Dalheim: n = 32). The oral status of both populations was affected by age with higher values of tooth wear in advanced age individuals. High tooth wear values in both populations point towards the consumption of abrasive foods. Pronounced anterior tooth wear in Baar may also be due to non-masticatory tooth usage. Finally, possible nutritional deficiencies were hypothesized for the Baar population. A higher caries prevalence was observed in the Baar group, probably due to differences in carbohydrate intake. The oral conditions observed in the two studied populations exhibited several analogies, suggesting comparable lifestyles despite their separation in space and time. The only differences observed are related to the use of teeth as "tools" and are thus determined by behavioral choices rather than diverse socioeconomic factors. Using multiple dental parameters to examine the oral health of premodern individuals can provide useful insights into the interactions between humans and their environment, from dietary patterns to paramasticatory activities. • Different lifestyles can be inferred by studying past human dentitions. • Oral health did not differ massively in the two early and high medieval populations. • Paramasticatory activities were identified only in the earlier population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• EKs and global paper output have increased continually since 1971. • 64% of countries had peak to generate HS-EKs from 1991–2000. • HS-EK generation efficiency is independent of economic status. • Topics have homogenized since 1980s. • The homogenization is negatively correlated with HS-EK generation efficiency. While advantages of global homogenization and standardization have been discussed on scientific and technological research activities, specific discussion on the disadvantages to generate scientific innovation has been limited. In this study, we aim to clarify the impact of globalization to generate emerging topics in life science and medicine by applying the emerging keywords (EKs) and highly successful emerging keywords (HS-EKs) methodology, which represent scientometric elements of emerging topics and high-impact emerging topics, respectively, as indicators. We analyzed all paper output from 53 countries using PubMed and found a global increase in paper output and EK generation in line with economic growth in the past 50 years. However, the efficiency to generate scientific innovation, reflected in HS-EKs, was significantly reduced and this effect was independent of country-level economic output. We also reported homogenization in research topics over the study period as a possible factor for the observed decrease in HS-EK generation efficiency. Finally, we discuss the foundational issues that gave rise to homogenized science, the impact on scientific innovation, and what policies might be necessary to repair the scientific innovation-generating engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of digital healthcare technologies—eHealth—is presented as a solution to increasing costs, demographic changes, and quality issues in rural healthcare. Employing the concept of affective atmospheres, this article uses interviews to explore the emotional aspects of digital healthcare among rural persons of advanced age. Our results suggest that participants were clearly influenced by an affective atmosphere that was deeply embedded in spatial imageries as well as in notions of old age. Strong feelings of resignation, necessity, low entitlement, and defiance tended to encourage participants' wishes for local face-to-face healthcare to translate into viewing eHealth solutions as positive. This also meant that participants came to enact neoliberal identities of "active ageing". In conclusion, the concept of affective atmospheres highlights how human subjects and digital materialities interact in the production of human emotional responses to digital healthcare technologies, and emphasises how the conditions and shared imageries of geographic space and age are active components in that process. • Responses to rural eHealth are influenced by spatially embedded affective atmosphere. • Responses to rural eHealth are influenced by age-sensitive cultural imageries. • Rural affective atmosphere encouraged seeing eHealth solutions as positive. • Rural affective atmosphere made territorial inequalities seem sensible. • Rural affective atmosphere reproduced neoliberal subjectivities of active ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid fuels usage may have a negative impact on people's living environment, worsen indoor air quality, thus affect people's health status. Using CFPS panel data from 2010 to 2018, this paper studies the impact of solid fuels usage on life satisfaction of rural residents in China. Through two-stage least squares regression and other methods, we find that the use of solid fuels is negatively correlated with life satisfaction of rural residents. When rural residents use solid fuels for cooking, their life satisfaction will be reduced by around 0.082–0.138 units. Through grouping regression, we found that the negative impact of the use of solid fuels on the life satisfaction of rural residents increases with the increase of the individual's age. Through further mechanism analysis, we found that the negative impact of the use of solid fuels on the life satisfaction may be due to that the use of solid fuels will reduce the probability of individuals being in a healthy state, thus leading to a reduction in labor supply and a decline in income levels. • This paper investigates how solid fuels use affects life satisfaction. • This paper finds that the use of solid fuels is negatively correlated with life satisfaction of rural residents. • This paper enriches the research on the influencing factors of life satisfaction. • This paper provides new insights on understanding residents' life satisfaction. • This paper aids the implementation of the government energy subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging travel to higher-order centers is important for enhancing the quality of life of rural residents and promoting rural development. Although the literature shows that the built environment influences travel behavior, few studies have explored the relationship between the built environment and the frequency of travel to higher-order centers, particularly in rural contexts. Even less attention has been given to the synergetic effects that occur across built environment elements and county heterogeneity. Using data from 659 respondents in three Chinese counties collected between 2019 and 2020, we applied multilevel ordered logistic models to explore the associations between the rural built environment and travel frequency to higher-order centers (including townships, counties, and city centers). The results show that rural residents' travel frequency to higher-order centers decreases with increasing distance from such centers. The relationships between built environment elements and travel frequency to higher-order centers differ according to the level of such centers. Moreover, built environment elements exert synergetic impacts on travel frequency to higher-order centers. The association of the built environment with travel frequency to higher-order centers is moderated by the developmental levels of counties. These findings suggest that interventions in the rural built environment are important for ensuring the enhancement of rural resident travel behavior and access to better services, which, in turn, benefits rural revitalization. • We explored the association of built environment with higher-order centers travel in the rural context. • A higher land use diversity promotes a greater frequency of travel to townships. • Shorter distances to transit and county centers encourage more trips to county centers. • Higher highway and city center accessibility encourages more city center trips. • Built environment elements exert synergistic effects on travel to higher-order centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical examination of smart farming. I follow other critical analyses in recognizing the centrality of innovation processes in generating smart farming products, services, arrangements, and problematic outcomes. I subsequently use insights from critical human geography scholarship on the significance of understanding topological transformations to move beyond interpretations that identify only a narrow range of smart farming problems, such as a lack of coordination or limited uptake by farmers. Instead, I examine a broader set of challenges produced by smart farming developments. The overriding concern, I argue, is that smart farming unfolds via the production of numerous 'misconfigured innovations.' Using insights from literature on responsible research and innovation I then probe the stakes of looking beyond the misconfigured innovations of smart farming and discuss how new technologies might come to play a role in producing emancipatory smart farming. I pay attention to research on the 'internet of people,' which paints a stark new picture of social life generally, and in particular how rural life might be computed and calculated according to new conceptualizations of sociality and spatiality. • Smart farming developments amplify the relationship between agriculture and the planetary cognitive ecology. • Extant smart farming developments yield 'misconfigured innovations'. • 'Emancipatory smart farming' is needed to move beyond 'Responsible Research and Innovation' frameworks. • 'Internet of people' technologies look set to play an unpredictable role in the creation of emancipatory smart farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural studies now has a well-established corpus of work exploring how rural spaces and practices become (re)presented within various media and how these representations serve to perpetuate the 'cultural fantasy' of the rural idyll. To date, however, there has been a dearth of studies which have considered the role that social media may play within representing rural spaces and activities. The following paper attends to this omission through a consideration of farmers' use of social media and an exploration of how it may be used to document and (re)present their everyday working lives and practices. Drawing on the communicative practice of "working out loud" (WOL) and through analysing 5000 farming tweets, the paper shows how social media may offer a more broadly sourced, grassroots, depiction of rural farming life and examines how farmers assemble a range of sources – including the non-human – in (re)presenting the countryside and revealing the nature of their work. The paper notes how social media might enable farmers to reveal the often-hidden aspects of farm work, share and document practices as well as express and reflect their perspectives in communicating to (and with) farming and non-farming audiences, and how such communicative practices might serve to (re)construct their farming identities. • Social media plays a role in representing rural spaces and activities. • Social media can offer a grassroots depiction of farming life as it happens. • Farmers assemble a range of sources in (re)presenting the countryside. • Twitter allows farmers to share and document the often-hidden aspects of farm work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A life-cycle assessment for MSW in regional cities from developing countries is shown. • The illustrative case of city of Valdivia (Chile) is studied. • An environmental performance analysis of six MSW management scenarios is carried out. • The waste-to-energy scenario shows the best performance in terms of GHG and energy. • From the results obtained, an alternative for heating the city is provided. Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important challenge in developing and emerging countries, where two realities co-exist. On the one hand, their metropolitan cities exhibit an integrated MSW system with a specialized fleet for the collection and landfills for the final disposal, concentrating on environmental initiatives such as municipal recycling programs. On the other hand, their regional cities show an MSW system based on adapted transports for collection and open dumps for final disposal. Besides, they face other environmental problems due to local conditions. This research proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to close the gap between these two realities. In particular, we study the city of Valdivia (Chile), one of the main regional capitals of South America, which shares similarities with other southern regional cities in the Global South. This city disposes 95% of its MSW in open dumps and presents one of the highest environmental pollution rates in Latin America. We analyze the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy performance of six scenarios, seeking a solution for these problems. The results obtained show that a waste-to-energy scenario would generate savings of GHG emission and particulate matter, reaching 11.3% and 21.8%, respectively. Using our LCA approach, we can provide environmental evidence to highlight the importance of improving MSW management in regional cities, closing the gap with MSW management in metropolitan cities, and contributing to national targets such as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Nationally-Determined Contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how past notions of idyllic rural dwelling were mobilised and enacted during the implementation of the UK Land Settlement Association (LSA) scheme established in 1934. The LSA was a UK Government programme set up to resettle unemployed workers from depressed industrial urban areas to the countryside. Between 1934 and 1939, 1100 smallholdings were established within 20 settlements across the country. These smallholdings were run as cooperatives, but many failed when relocated families complained of long hours, low pay and isolation. Recruitment to the scheme ceased at the outbreak of World War II, with the settlements being fully dissolved and privatised in 1983. By drawing on a unique archive housed in the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), analysis centres on how the LSA represented and promoted rural living to settlers and the wider public. The paper illuminates three overlapping but distinct elements to this project: the production of physical space as a setting that has been designed to bring about particular forms of behaviour and community cohesion; notions of labour, independence of spirit and reconnecting with the land; and building the physiques of men through hard work, fresh air and good food, thus improving the national stock. The findings demonstrate the power of the rural idyll in producing particular forms of sociality, belonging and masculinity, with many of the ideas that undergirded the LSA continuing to resonate today. • The rural idyll produces distinct forms of sociality, belongingness and masculinity. • Many past English land settlement schemes drew on the notion of the rural idyll. • The rural idyll underlaid formation of the 1930s Land Settlement Association (LSA). • The LSA captured imaginations at the time but had limited practical success. • Many ideas concerning rurality that undergirded the LSA continue to resonate today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial justice includes the right of residents to define their own space of habitation, the places in which their everyday lives unfold. Recent scholarship has shown how this right has come under pressure in the countryside, prompting a need for research that attends in-depth do the ways in which rural dwellers exercise this aspect of spatial justice. The paper addresses this need by studying the affective relations in everyday rural life between human residents, wild and domestic animals, landscapes, and 'baroque' natures. Utilising photoethnographic fieldwork in the Danish countryside, the paper shows how animals, natures, and landscapes come to play distinctive parts in the (re)production and breaking up of the vernacular rhythms that form the stable but fluctuating and uncertain backbone of everyday life in the countryside. The practices expressed through these rhythms represent important local ways of knowing the rural as a space of habitation, but their vague, diffuse, and ephemeral nature make them difficult to translate into policy and planning. The genuine attempt to do so, however, remains indispensable to the pursuit of spatial justice, because it may be the only way to ensure that such efforts do not become counterproductive by unwittingly reproducing hegemonic ideas about what certain places are and ought to be. On the part of researchers, this requires an insistence on the necessary contingency of rurality, while on the part of planners and policy-makers it requires awareness of the necessarily imperfect, partial, and crude nature of available knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the sense of place and belonging among refugees settled in small towns in Denmark and the role local, rural communities can play in encouraging it. The entry point for creating a sense of place and belonging is rooted in their new everyday lives, the extent to which, and in what form, this is linked to the new small town in which they live, and to what factors might inhibit or promote these links and sense of belonging. The paper is based on 43 interviews conducted in 2016/2017 with refugees and members of local communities in seven small towns, as well as other key formal stakeholders. The results show that several structural factors can have a detrimental effect on the sense of belonging in a small town; for example, a lack of cheap rented accommodation, combined with a busy everyday life, affording little free time to spend in the town, and the fact that the refugees are often originally from cities and would have preferred to be settled in one. They are uncertain how to behave in a small-town setting and make the most of it. Their links to the local community are via social relations with other migrants and committed local volunteers. Volunteers can play an important role in helping refugees navigate their new everyday life and help them counter many of the problems of living in an unfamiliar and rural environment. If refugees are to settle permanently in these communities, structural challenges such as the lack of rental accommodation must be addressed; something that local communities cannot do on their own. • Lack of cheap rental housing and big city backgrounds challenge refugees' sense of belonging. • Local belonging also means local social relations to other migrants and active local people. • Local engagement plays a key role in ameliorating the drawbacks of being resettled in a small town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a close reading of a 2018 special issue of the popular British magazine Country Life guest edited by Prince Charles, this paper highlights the tension between its stated inclusive view of the rural and the exclusionary paternalistic-conservative politics pursued under this veneer. Combining a narratological method with a posthuman perspective grounded in the recent work of Donna Haraway and Karen Barad, which undoes binary oppositions such as nature-culture and rural-urban by radically reconfiguring notions of agency, difference, and responsibility, we ask: who and what makes up 'country life' in the stories presented in the special issue, who and what gets to tell these stories, and which human and non-human actors are marginalised or left out by how the stories are told? Our analysis, which focuses on the special issue's engagement with notions of rural resilience and conservation, advances debates in rural studies about how to challenge non-inclusive narratives of the rural by: 1) highlighting the continued urgency of critiquing such narratives, especially when they appear in popular outlets like Country Life ; 2) drawing attention to the way these narratives may be implicitly rather than explicitly exclusionary, which indicates a need to pay close attention to exactly how their politics of the rural is constructed; and 3) proposing that more intensive engagement with Barad and Haraway can advance the work of rural studies scholars who have long sought to think the rural as more-than-human. • Analyses the politics of the rural in an issue of Country Life guest edited by Prince Charles from a posthuman perspective. • Shows how the issue's paternalist-conservative view on rural resilience and conservation belies its claim to inclusivity. • Draws attention to the way popular narratives of the rural may be implicitly rather than explicitly exclusionary • Builds on ongoing discussions in rural studies about how to establish more inclusive accounts of the rural • Advances the thinking of the rural as more-than-human through the recent work of Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bushfires (wildfires) present an increasing threat to rural Australia. Effective messaging about planning and preparing for bushfires is essential, as is the provision of accurate and timely information to residents when they come under bushfire threat. We argue that an understanding of the ways in which collective narratives about disaster events are developed at a locality level is required, and that these narratives are influenced by features of locality, community and rural life which act as filters that enable residents to shape their perceptions of bushfire risk and views on what constitutes "good information". This process eventually drives their choice of bushfire information sources and communication pathways. The outcome is a preference for local sources of information and a level of mistrust of information provided by centrally orchestrated bushfire information sources. This conclusion raises challenging questions about the idea of shared responsibility in relation to disaster events between agencies and communities. We propose that bushfire safety initiatives must be tailored to take into consideration locality and community features. Of note, these processes are likely to be ineffective unless they are also tailored in relation to the narratives and understandings of these communities within the localities that define specific populations confronted by the prospect of bushfire events. We present three case studies of contrasting rural towns in Australia to identify how locality and community features inform resident perceptions of bushfire risk and preferences for bushfire information. • Shared responsibility in bushfire risk requires effective communication strategies. • Successful bushfire risk communication depends on community engagement. • We present case studies of three contrasting fire prone rural towns in Australia. • Locality features informed resident views of bushfire risk and information sources. • Leveraging local communication pathways enhances uptake of bushfire information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several studies have found that poor sleep quality appeared to be negatively associated with quality of life in older adults, but the mechanism underlying this association remained unclear. In this study, we aimed to examine whether mental health mediated the association between sleep quality and quality of life among rural elderly and to explore the moderated role of physical activity between mental health and quality of life.Methods: Data were extracted from the baseline survey of rural elderly household health services in Shandong province, in which 3,243 older adults aged 60 years and above were included. The moderated mediation models were examined using SPSS PROCESS Version 3.4 software, in which the mediation variable was mental health, and the moderation variable was physical activity.Results: We found that mental health partially mediated the effect of sleep quality on quality of life [indirect effect = -0.158, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = -0.185, -0.133], with the mediating effect accounting for 51% of the total effect. The indirect effect was moderated by physical activity (β = 0.056, p < 0.001), and a greater effect was observed among older adults with lower level of physical activity.Limitations: We included two mediators in one model, and interpretation of the observed associative direction was limited.Conclusions: Physical activity moderated the indirect effect of mental health on association between sleep quality and quality of life. Encouraging the rural elderly to increase physical activity appropriately might improve the quality of life for the elderly with poor sleep quality and mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a notable lack of attention to the post-migration everyday lives of rural idyll seekers. Do they find the good life in the countryside? The overall purpose of the article is to contribute to filling this research gap. It reports a follow-up study in which urban–rural migrants within Norway who were first interviewed in 1998 were interviewed again in the period 2015–2016. It is argued that migration should be perceived as an ongoing process without an end point, as it is related to negotiations on life course events and lifestyle aspirations, among other things. The main aim is to elaborate on how urban–rural migrants' well-being and place attachment are connected to whether they stay in or leave the countryside. Through presentations of couples' histories, the article focuses on what people are attached to and the associated consequences for their well-being. The stories illustrate the significance of social relations, materialities, the past and memories, and emotions and affects. The author concludes that scholarship of rural studies and studies of internal migration would benefit from wellbeing and place attachment research in order for careful consideration to be given to the role of an emplaced wellbeing and its linkages with place attachment for migration when thinking about how 'the rural' and 'the good life' intersect. • Geographies of well-being and place attachment: Revisiting urban-rural migrants. • It is important to study the post-migration everyday life of rural idyll seekers. • Well-being and place attachment is decisive for staying in or leaving the countryside. • Complex intersections of people, places and nature-culture relations are what count. • Migration is a never-ending process related to life course events and lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The rural Global South increasingly hosts cosmopolitan encounters. • Any cosmopolitan encounter in any locality provokes adaptations in habits. • Habitual cosmopolitanism is linked to individuals rather than localities. • Individual parameters influence changes in habits following cosmopolitan encounters. This exploratory study aims to analyse how rural societies in the Global South respond to encounters with new, modern cultural practices from the Global North when they appear in their familiar rural settings. The empirical study explores the case of automated slot machines that Chinese operators have been installing in rural villages in Ghana since summer 2016. In a bid to analyse how such cosmopolitan encounters change the local population's behaviour, the study applies theories of ordinary cosmopolitanism and habitus. The empirical results suggest the existence of two types of response to slot machines as a means of entertainment: they are either accepted, inducing behavioural change, or they are rejected, primarily due to the adverse effects of gambling and gambling addiction. Gambling machines users, who are often young and relatively poor, welcome this new cultural practice for several reasons, and change their daily routines accordingly. In contrast, non-users tend to be older and socio-economically more settled. They consider gambling machines to be a serious danger to individuals and the local community alike and reject such change. The findings also suggest that cosmopolitan encounters foster ordinary cosmopolitan attitudes, such as openness to global scale societal networks, which are culturally different and extended (albeit imaginary) in rural areas of the Global South. Traditional discourse on cosmopolitanism has long overlooked such developments. However, behavioural change due to cosmopolitan stimuli depends to a great extent on individuals' characteristics and on the type of encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article is presented methodological approaches of Vector Measure Construction Method (VMCM) used to analyze complex socio-economic process described by many features (indicators). The outcome of the analysis has the most reliable and acceptable representation of the studied process specific to chosen case. In order to solve complex problems (depending on the situation, case under consideration), methods from multidimensional comparative analysis groups are very useful and most often used. In the article will be presented the general methodological assumptions of VMCM method, the advantages of using it in context of consumer issues and there will be presented application of the method to estimate consumer's quality of life in different EU countries. It will be presented in dynamic perspective comparing changes over 8 years (since year 2010 to 2017). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Rural peripheries are a residential environment offering limited opportunities. • Families in rural peripheries don't perceive universal constraints on family life. • The impact of the residential environment intersects with resources and ambitions. • High values attached to free choice of alternatives, result in perceived constraints. • Localized and extra-local family life constellations were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, researchers have focused on counterurbanisation, with a particular emphasis on the 'representations of rural places'. They have frequently contended that this is a phenomenon mainly expressed by older adults or those from more privileged social backgrounds. However, attention has recently moved away from simply seeing pro-rural migrants as a calculating subject to considering them more as a contextual subject. Concerns have also shifted from 'rural idyll' migration to why migrants stay, despite a significant mismatch between representation and reality. While scholarly investigations on rural migration have drawn attention to how inertia is cumulative, insufficient attention has been paid to what newcomers encounter in their everyday lives and how nonhuman entities shape migrants' calculations and recalibrations. This paper draws on recent scholarship on a more-than-representational approach, developing the idea of rural as the site of eventful encounters, or rural eventful atmospheres , to bridge these conceptual and empirical gaps. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews with young pro-rural migrants, this paper suggests that rural places provide opportunities for young people to experience an eventful life where both humans and nonhumans play important roles. These affective experiences can be unexpected and even painful, challenging the romanticised portrayal of more-than-representational rurality. By focusing on the nonrepresentational dimensions of rural life, the paper emphasises the need to pay closer attention to young migrants' sensory and embodied encounters with the diverse rural environment rather than solely relying on their expressions of rurality from a distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural settlements are carriers of ethnic culture, and their spatial morphology is restricted by the natural environment and ethnic culture, especially in areas where ethnic consciousness is strong. In this study, we selected multi-ethic communities in northwest China to analyze spatial morphology of rural settlements, and we described the relationship between ethnic culture and spatial morphology from the perspective of different ethnicities, leading industries, religious beliefs, and modern education. There were obvious geographical clustering characteristics and gradient variations in morphological structure of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, China. Spatial morphology of rural settlements in different multi-ethnic communities highlighted the ethnic characteristics of this unique nation, and it had an obvious relationship with their leading industries, modern education, and religious beliefs. The relationship between the spatial morphology of rural settlements and the leading economic activity revealed regular change in characteristics, from farming towns (F) to farming and animal husbandry towns (F-AH) to animal husbandry and farming towns (AH-F), and finally to animal husbandry towns (AH). The spatial morphology of other industrial towns (OI) did not show the coordinated regulation as did the other four categories, which showed the particularity of spatial morphology. All ethnic rural settlements had a significantly higher dependence on primary education than on religious beliefs. We concluded that educational resources will become an important factor in the future for optimizing the spatial pattern of rural settlements of multi-ethnic settlements in Northwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a tradition can be looked upon and integrated in the present tool set of an architect, a collective conscience and an individual, by using modern technology. In modern Romania, the rural areas have not only been disregarded, but heavily destroyed at a hallucinating rhythm, because of immature collective mentality, imported models from other cultures without applying any filters, the assimilation by nearby cities and the destruction of identity, the aging of the population, the constant seek for comfort, industrialization etc. - all of which have made society jump from one extreme to the other. Despite these mutations, Romania still keeps important fragments of rural living, which are worth taking into consideration for their past virtues, but also for recuperating some cultural, historical, aesthetical and behavioural components, which could be understood and used to inspire new concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to explore the interplay of spatial affordance and lifestyles within a metropolitan context. The reorganisation of urban regions in integrated metropolitan areas generates new lifestyles based on hyper-mobility (often in the form of car dependency) and poly-topic practice of space. At the same time, the physical and functional characteristics of urban and rural components of space are modified. Within a quantitative approach, spatial indicators are used to describe the different facets of spatial affordance and of lifestyles of the resident population. The case study is the French Riviera metropolitan area, in south-eastern France. The indicators are used within a Bayesian Network model to identify typologies of place in the metropolitan area. Two typologies are produced. The first one identifies seven classes of spatial affordance ranging from regularly planned, dense and mixed urban cores to less accessible peripheral rural villages under metropolitan influence. The second one looks for profiles of place based on the prevalent lifestyles of its population (dwelling regimes). Once again seven classes are determined, including urban, suburban and metropolitan-rural lifestyles. The correspondence between spatial affordance and lifestyles is later explored to compose a more thorough description of places. The research confirms the need to enlarge the view of the built-up form/mobility relationship, shows the usefulness of the concepts of spatial affordance and dwelling regimes and explores new methodologies for identifying profiles of place. The probabilistic framework of Bayesian Networks proves particularly well suited to capture the fuzzy relationship between spatial affordance and lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to analyze the effects of drought on rural livelihood systems in Iran with an emphasis on the mediator role of livelihood assets in relationship between drought and livelihood outcomes. The relationships between these concepts were explored through the lens of sustainable livelihoods approach. A conceptual model was developed based on the literature review and was evaluated using cross-sectional data based on 11 years average of each variable from 2002 to the end of 2012. Regarding research objectives, a documentary review was applied to collect necessary data and information. So, secondary data were obtained from national surveys and statistical sources of governmental organizations. Data were analyzed using multiple regression. We followed the Baron and Kenny’s (1986) three-step procedure to test mediating relationships between variables. Results generally showed that drought duration had destructive effects on rural livelihood capitals and outcomes, while the negative influences of drought severity were far more restricted than drought duration. Complete mediation of livelihood assets in the relationship between drought intensity and inequality was confirmed. We also found support for partial mediation of livelihood assets in the relationship between drought severity and duration with the added value of the agricultural sector as well as in the relationship between drought duration and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to reveal and highlight the socio-spatial processes related to the establishment, reorganisation and consolidation of rural life in informal settlements in the urban ravines of Valparaiso, as shown through social representations of inhabitants. These urban neighbourhoods located in the ravines of Valparaiso are a complex socio-spatial reality embedding meaning, representations, and social imaginaries associate with rural life. To understand the logic of this kind of appropriation of space in the ravines settlements, we worked with and studied the key players, the inhabitants who showed and revealed from their experiences, expectations and actions this imaginary reconstruction of rural life in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plantations of exotic conifers on ancient woodland sites retain many features of high conservation value and in many countries such sites are being actively restored. Clear-felling of the conifer trees is often a straight-forward first step, but recent guidance on restoration advocates gradual removal of the plantation crop to protect vulnerable woodland specialist plants. To date there has been little empirical evidence to support this policy. One hundred and four stands in 39 woodland sites in the UK owned by the Woodland Trust from Cornwall to Invernesshire were surveyed in 2001 and again in 2009 to assess the survival of woodland flora following restoration by both clear-felling and gradual removal of the plantation crop. On average, there were over seven woodland specialist and ancient woodland indicator species in each of the stands surveyed. Loss of specialist woodland species – the most shade adapted component of the flora – over this time period was strongly correlated with the degree of canopy opening. In contrast, the loss of more light demanding plant species was not related to the intensity of tree removals. This study suggests that a careful assessment and prioritisation of conservation values is needed before restoration. Rapid removal of an exotic species as part of a restoration programme may have an adverse effect on subsequent succession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the question, what makes a rural household a preferred choice for formal lenders? A sample selected ordered probit model is developed to address this question. While the selection equation models the determinants of access to credit, an ordered probit model is used to determine the factors affecting the choice of credit sources in hierarchical order. Using household data from six Indian states, this study finds corroborative evidence that relatively resource-rich households, even while staying at distant locations, enjoy greater access to formal creditors. It also identifies a new factor, i.e., interlinked credit, as a significant variable influencing access to formal credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural distributed photovoltaic (PV) is conducive to low-carbon development of China. Nevertheless, the development is hampered by multiple barriers and therefore lags behind expectations. Some studies have been devoted to this, but there are still problems including incomplete identification of obstacles and non-objective analysis methods. Thus, this paper is dedicated to establishing a complete and objective research framework to effectively identify obstacles and promote high level development of rural distributed PV. Firstly, a two-stage process is adopted to extract obstacles from the entire life cycle of rural distributed PV, and 10 obstacles are identified. Then the K-means clustering algorithm are introduced to improve the DEMATEL-ISM method for threshold determination and barrier analysis. Interactions between obstacles are divided into three levels and a network hierarchy that reflects these interactions is created. The results show that imperfect policies and regulations, diminished subsidy, high initial investment and aging equipment and poor quality are critical barriers, and corresponding suggestions on the collaboration between enterprises and the government are put forward. This paper comprehensively studies the obstacles to the development of rural distributed PV by objective methods and proposes suggestions for improvement, which is beneficial to the development of rural distributed PV in China. • A comprehensive barrier system of rural distributed PV projects is established. • K-means clustering algorithm is introduced to improve DEMATEL-ISM method. • The mechanism of barriers affecting the rural distributed PV are determined. • A series of recommendations for rural distributed PV are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Energy upgrade is promoted by interprovincial coordinating of economy and resource. • Energy upgrade is determined by change of farmers' preference for low-quality energy. • Energy upgrade can be promoted together in agriculture and rural life. Rural energy upgrade in developing countries is an essential part of the world climate mitigation work. To systematically promote rural energy upgrade, we took the case of China and used a spatiotemporal model to investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of energy ladders in agriculture and rural life of developing countries. The proportion of clean energy consumption in agriculture showed an interprovincial competition effect, whereas the proportion of oil consumption in rural life showed a demonstration effect. Severe reliance on coal hinders energy upgrade. Urbanisation has improved the clean level of energy use in agriculture but does not significantly affect the in rural life. Technological progress has increased the proportion of clean energy consumption but has little impact on the proportion of oil and gas consumption. The abundance of coal resources has prompted the massive use of coal and coal-fired power. Energy-use habit promotes the use of all types of energy. Except for that of gas, the consumption of different types of energy in agriculture and rural life mutually promotes. In summary, the development of energy technologies should be established based on the regional resource endowment and economic development level. Also, subsidy principles for clean energy projects should be established based on the development level of the agriculture and residents' income. Rural energy upgrade is coordinated with urbanisation and the modernisation of the agriculture and rural life styles while paying attention to the mutual promotion between the agriculture and rural life. During the change of the energy-use habit under policy guidance, attention must be paid to interprovincial cooperation. Finally, a reasonable market mechanism should be established to promote energy upgrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examining the daily activity pattern of rural residents in consolidated and unconsolidated villages through mobile phone locational data. • Housing land consolidation results in longer distance to work (371 m in average), and shorter distance for nonwork activities (529 m in average). • Housing land consolidation do not necessarily harm the daily life of rural residents. Housing land consolidation and relocation has been widely implemented in rural China as a policy tool to reduce the area of built-up land, reclaim agricultural land, and redistribute the use of land. Despite of the large scale of implementation, the impact of this policy on the daily life of rural people is not sufficiently evaluated. Our work aims to fill in this gap by examining the daily activity pattern of rural residents in consolidated and unconsolidated villages through mobile phone locational data, using the Chengdu city-region as the case. One week's locational data from all phone users of China Unicom was used. We found that housing land consolidation do not necessarily harm the daily life of rural residents, which has been a main concern of many research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asthma patients struggle to control their asthma symptoms. Compared to patients' with lower asthma self-management scores, patients with higher scores were less likely to have poor asthma control (OR: 0.882, CI: 0.814- 0.956). Further research should test interventions to strengthen the relationship between asthma self-management knowledge and asthma control to improve patient outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

• Rural residents form unique landscapes through everyday life. • Walking can reveal the relational characteristics of residents' landscape perceptions. • Landscape planning and management should incorporate landscapes perceptions on everyday landscapes. The rural landscape is "the dwelling place" of rural residents who generate a unique landscape through their daily activities. In order to strengthen the resident-led landscape management in rural areas, this study intends to gauge how and to what extent such rural landscapes are unique, as these landscapes are not easily appraised by existing landscape assessments that rely mainly on visual criteria, and suggest residents' perception should be consider in the landscape planning. To conduct this study, residents' subjective perceptions, in contrast with experts' perceptions, were collected via a survey method referred to as photo-elicitation with walking. The survey revealed various everyday landscape objects perceived by the residents as meaningful, as well as scenes where visual characteristics were prominent. The results of survey also demonstrated that the residents are relatively insensitive to the visual and physical characteristics of landscapes objects, while sensitive to the "relationship" with the landscapes formed through the residents' experiences. This pattern of sensitivity appears to be linked to the residents' consideration of the landscape as a kinetic "dwelling place" rather than a static image. This pattern can be regarded as the reason residents perceive meaning in everyday landscapes. The results of this study suggest that by interpreting rural landscapes as everyday landscapes, landscape planning and management could be adapted to fit the needs and perceptions of rural residents and could, therefore, provide a basis for sustainable resident-led landscape management methods in connection with the everyday lives of rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The relationship between urban and rural areas must be properly handled in regional development. • This paper analyzes the differences in urban and rural quality of life based on coordination and equalization. • Rural-urban integration includes the difference of rural-urban quality of life and the overall coordination of social factors. • This paper can provide reference for urban and rural coordinated development and rural revitalization. The relationship between urban and rural areas must be properly handled in regional development. With the implementation of rural revitalization strategy, China has entered a critical period of change of urban-rural relationship and rural development mode. Urban-rural integration is an urgent problem to be solved. Taking the 87 counties of Gansu Province as evaluation units, this paper constructed an index system of quality of urban and rural life involving economic, social and environmental aspects and established a model for evaluating quality of urban and rural life. Then, importance-performance analysis (IPA), information entropy, equalization index and model of urban-rural integration degree were used to analyze the spatial patterns of quality of urban and rural life as well as urban-rural integration degree. Results show: (1) Quality of urban and rural life presented consistent spatial patterns. Both presented significant spatial variation, positive spatial autocorrelation and relatively strong spatial agglomeration. (2) There was a close correlation between quality of urban and rural life. Evaluation units with high quality of urban life also showed high quality of rural life, and evaluation units with low quality of urban life also showed low quality of rural life, suggesting polarization effect. (3) The urban-rural integration in Gansu Province was mainly of medium or lower degree. Hexi Corridor region presented high degree of urban-rural integration, Longzhong region presented medium degree of urban-rural integration, Longdong region presented different degrees of urban-rural integration, and Longdongnan and Gannan regions presented medium or lower degree of urban-rural integration. In the background of rural revitalization and urban-rural integration, Gansu Province should establish or improve the institutional mechanism and policy system for urban-rural integration from the perspective of factor-industry-function. This can help solve the problems in urban-rural integration and promote the progression of urban-rural integration in Gansu Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]