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Background: Rural areas in the United States have been severely impacted by recent rises in substance use related mortality and psychosocial consequences. There is a dearth of treatment resources to address substance use disorder (SUD). Rural recovery houses (RRH) are important services that provide individuals with SUD with an environment where they can engage in recovery-oriented activities, but dropout rates are unacceptably high, and evidence-based interventions such as contingency management (CM) may reduce dropout and improve outcomes for RRH residents. In this paper, we describe the results of a national convening of experts that addressed important issues concerning the implementation of CM within the context of RRHs.Methods: Twelve experts (five female) in the areas of CM, RRH and rural health participated in a one-day facilitated meeting that used nominal group technique to identify expert consensus in three areas as they pertain to RRH: (a) facilitators and barriers to CM implementation, (b) elements necessary for successful program building based on group feedback, and (c) recommendations for future implementation of CM.Results: Several RRH- and system-level barriers and facilitators to implementing CM were identified by the panel, and these were categorized based on the level of importance for and ease of implementation. CM funding, staff and resident buy-in, set policies, education on CM, and consistent fidelity to CM procedures and tracking were identified as important requirements for implementing CM in RRH.Conclusions: We provide recommendations for the implementation of CM in RRH that may be useful in this context, as well as more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal comfort studies in India are very much at an emerging stage. According to Indian codes, in the summer, the comfortable temperature range for residential buildings is 23–26 °C. The recommended Indian residential comfort range does not consider the impact of India's enormous cultural and geographical heterogeneity. Additionally, there seems to be very little effort to conduct a thermal comfort field survey in India's rural regions. In recent years, houses in rural India have been converted from kutcha (mud houses) to pucca (concrete houses). This work is aimed at proposing an adaptive thermal comfort model for the premonsoon season in the rural area of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. The model was achieved using a field study survey conducted in 80 rural area houses in the months of June and July. Regression analysis, the Griffiths method, and the Fanger method have been adopted to analyze thermal comfort. Based on the regression analysis, the comfort band (voting −1 to +1) is established in the range of 28.39 °C to 32.31 °C, with 30.30 °C as the neutral temperature. The study has been carried out to assess the influence of gender, age, controls, and fan usage on thermal comfort perception in rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults living in subsidized senior housing tend to be at risk for poor psychological well-being related to their advanced age and low income. This study aims to explore multilevel factors affecting perceived quality of life (QoL) among non-urban subsidized senior housing residents and to compare these factors between rural and suburban communities. Community/residential-level data were collected from the interviews with residential service coordinators (RSC) of five subsidized senior housing communities in the New England region: two rural and three suburban communities. Individual- and interpersonal-level data came from the survey with 82 residents. A mixed-methods approach was utilized. We used thematic content analyses for the interview data and multivariate ordered logit regression for the survey data. Our results showed that rural residence was positively associated with QoL (OR = 4.913, p<.01) even after controlling for all the individual-, interpersonal-, and community/residential-level factors. From RSCs' perspectives, four main themes emerged, which could potentially contribute to better QoL among senior housing residents: access to services, social spaces for residents, inequitable connections to community resources, and social engagements among senior housing residents and with RSCs. Our findings contribute to the development of strategies to improve QoL among older adults living in rural/non-metropolitan subsidized senior housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change impacts on housing are an essential concern for Alaska Native communities. Adaptation literature has largely ignored the role of inter-organizational coordination networks in supporting housing adaptation. To address this gap, we surveyed 26 organizations and 36 participants from organizations working regionally in rural Alaska on housing service, construction, and engineering projects. We employ social network analysis (SNA), including Logistic Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (LRQAP), to explore the influence of network centrality on an organization's ability to enact housing adaptation. Results indicate that when two organizations have similarities in their network centrality, or how connected an organization was in the network, the less likely they are to have similar, positive views in their ability to enact housing adaptation. With a limited capacity to prepare for climate change impacts and integrate adaptation into existing programs, it is important for organizations and governments to mobilize the entirety of inter-organizational coordination networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homelessness is often assumed to be mostly confined to urban spaces, leaving experiences of homelessness in rural contexts largely unexamined. The present study aims to understand the discursive context, or public understanding, of homelessness in rural communities. We examined community narratives related to the idea of "homelessness" in rural spaces. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 70 key stakeholders from four rural communities in the U.S. State of Maine. Participants were asked to give their impressions related to homelessness in their community. We conducted a systematic qualitative analysis of these interviews and our analysis was grounded in a critical discourse analysis perspective. Using Rappaport's framework for understanding helpful and harmful community narratives, we identified three community narratives that harm by stereotyping or erasing homelessness in rural communities: Not Here, That One Guy, and Mainly Outsiders. We also examined counter-narratives that worked against each of the three primary narratives: It Looks Different, It's More Hidden, and Local Struggle and Lack of Resources. The counter-narratives tell a different, more compassionate, story of homelessness in rural spaces. Our main goal was to analyze the "work" that each of these narratives were doing in terms of constructing different understandings of "rural homelessness." The implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing policy is a growing problem in many countries. Three online experiments were conducted to test framing effects in the context of housing policies in Germany. In experiment 1 (N = 303), urban growth was either described as 'rural exodus' or 'influx' of the rural population into urban areas. Experiment 2 (N = 300) focused on framing effects in the current expropriation debate in Germany. A reacquisition policy of private housing was either framed as a measure of 'expropriation' or 'repurchase'. In experiment 3 (N = 311), a vacancy taxation was either labelled to 'punish' or 'overcome' actual problems with housing shortage. A mini meta-analysis across all three studies shows that conceptual framing affects policy support in a consistent way. The data supports our hypotheses that framing has the power to influence mental representations of policy and solutions. Moreover, moderation analyses were conducted to systematically test the influence of political ideology and perceived issue relevance on framing effects. Results indicate that participants' ideological self-placement partly affects the effectiveness of linguistic framing in some contexts. Thus, the results expand existing knowledge about the effectiveness of political framing, by making visible not only the possibilities but also the boundaries of framing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using CHFS data and quantile regression method, this study empirically analyzes the impact of current homestead housing on rural household financial asset allocation in China. The main findings are as followings: The homestead housing system effectively protects the residential rights and interests of rural residents, but it is constrained by the system and fails to give full play to the investment value; Only on the premise of meeting the needs of family mobility, homestead housing can effectively play the wealth effect; In the family risk portfolio, homestead housing and risk financial asset allocation are mutually exclusive; In private lending, the impact of homestead housing on the provision of loans is more complex, but not always statistically significant; The impact of homestead housing on family financial asset allocation shows obvious heterogeneity and differentiation. Further releasing the liquidity of homestead housing, enriching the level of rural financial products and services, and encouraging rural families to appropriately participate in venture financial asset investment are the reform direction to improve the welfare level of rural families and optimize the allocation of family assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning studies on rural housing are heavily shaped by concepts from urbanized countries with larger populations and attendant conservation pressures on agricultural or otherwise protected land. In particular, Anglo-American theorization on counterurbanisation and the differentiated countryside have enabled planning theory to engage with and compare multiple planning realities, albeit with the secondary effect of distorting appraisal in countries that do not reflect their originating context. This may unwittingly result in the pathologisation of rural planning practices that do not conform to expected norms in rurally-dominated countries with low populations and distributed rather than concentrated land ownership patterns. Ireland, as a northern European country with a proportionately large rural population, illustrates the importance of examining path dependencies as a means of forming meaningful and effective responses to challenges such as the decline of rural settlements and decarbonization. Case study data are presented to illustrate the specific dynamics of housing and planning in rural Ireland, and attention is drawn towards examples of endogenous and exogenous responses to the path dependencies identified. We argue that path dependencies are often more important in shaping rural places than the performance of the planning system itself, underlying the importance of wider perspectives on rural planning practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of large-scale urbanisation and rural land expropriation, rural resettlement residential housing has been built to accommodate local rural residents in the peripheral areas of China. To explore the context-specific policy implications for improving neighbourhood satisfaction (NS) of residents in rural resettlement residential communities (RRRCs), this paper examines the determinants of NS, and their spatial effects, in rural resettlement residential neighbourhoods using Suqian, in Jiangsu Province, as a case study. This study contributes to the current literature in two ways: it constitutes the first attempt to examine NS among RRRCs; second, our spatial model helps to gain further understanding of horizontal and vertical spatial dependence effects. Our results indicate that income, gender, age, family structure, number of years living in a community, transport and architectural age all have significant effects on NS in RRRCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, questionnaire surveys and field measurements were conducted at houses with elderly people in urban and rural areas across six regions of China. The prevalence of hypertension was approximately 40% in both urban and rural areas. The logistic analysis results indicated a greater prevalence of hypertension in the elderly of rural residences and a low indoor temperature-induced hypertension. According to the field measurement survey, the room temperature was stable at around 23 °C in the housing in northern urban areas equipped with district heating systems, and fluctuated from being equivalent to outdoor temperature to around 15 °C in the southern regions where air-conditioners were used. For housing in the northern rural areas where Chinese Kangs were used, the daily fluctuation in room temperature was significant, and room temperature was stable at a low level in the southern part without space heating. The room temperature and blood pressure were negatively correlated. Therefore, to maintain the health of the elderly in houses with low room temperatures in winter, it is necessary to improve the thermal environment by enhancing the thermal performance of the building and the heating equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited by the climate, economic level and energy-saving awareness of rural residents in the western China, rural houses are still in a stage of high energy consumption (EC) and low comfort. The passive design strategies should be given priority to provide an optimal design mode. The challenge is to find the best combination of design parameters. In this paper, rural single-storey detached houses are taken as the research objects. Three conflicted indicators are set as the objective function, namely building EC, thermal comfort and economy. The investigated design variables include building orientation, insulating layer thickness, window width & type, and indoor design temperature. A methodology of combining EnergyPlus and MOBO is used for multi-objective optimization, thus getting the Pareto solutions and using the weighted sum method to obtain the optimum parameter combinations. The proposed methodology for simulation-based multi-objective optimization is a useful tool to facilitate decision-making in building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural libraries serve the specific information need(s) of communities where they are domiciled. They are vital to the knowledge society, fundamental to the information access and distribution framework at the community level. Today, rural areas are almost void of crucial contemporary information-based technological infrastructure. Preservation of information resources is crucial to its sustainable utilization either for individualist or communal development. This study presents the status quo on preservation of information resources in public libraries in rural communities in southern Nigeria. The survey design was adopted; random sampling was used to draw 98 respondents, questionnaire was constructed to elicit responses with 91% returned rate. Results showed that information resources are in poor state of preservation due to deposition of particulate matter, dilapidation of library building, and mutilation. Dusting/cleaning of shelves/books and the engagement of humans to secure information resources were the most frequently used to preserve the information resources. Rural libraries lacked CCTV and no RFID installed to prevent theft. There are almost no visible digital preservation activities in place. The constraints to preservation include the obsolete nature of information resources, delay in government's response to plea on preservation requirements, no air conditioning, poor electricity and underfunding. Staff training on preservation, workable preservation policy, increase budgetary allocation, and community awareness of use of information resources may enhance preservation efforts. Rural libraries are merely fast fading store houses of information resources with its purpose almost been defeated. There is need for urgent attention from the public and concerned agencies. Useful recommendations were put forward accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second-home tourism's transformative power on local communities is widely recognized through numerous studies on its social, environmental and economic effects in many parts of the world. A significant share of this literature examines how second-home tourism impacts local housing markets and access to housing. However, few studies have looked into how planning authorities navigate these impacts of second-home tourism and how they differ spatially. Based on previous studies on the heterogeneity of second-home tourism and a comprehensive interview material from 20 Swedish municipalities, this paper examines impacts on local housing markets and the management efforts by local planning authorities. The results show how second-home tourism impact housing markets very differently depending on context when it comes to growth, housing demand and effects for locals' access to housing. The study argues for an acknowledgement of this heterogeneous geography and more context-aware second-home research that moves beyond the rural-urban dichotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of eco-bricks have been highlighted in contemporary literature. Notwithstanding, the adoption of eco-bricks masonry for the construction of houses in rural communities of low-income countries is significantly low. This study investigated the features, benefits, drivers and barriers to eco-bricks masonry from the expert's perception. Yelwa village, where the first bottle bricks masonry building was constructed in Africa, was selected for the study. Empirical survey, interview and questionnaire design approach were used to gather data for the research. The study found that eco-bricks are used in the construction of masonry walls and columns, septic tanks, and water reservoirs, and in the construction of multistorey buildings. Door and window openings are created with wooden or metallic frames, and wall plate clits are secured with mortar. Principal drivers of eco-bricks masonry include job creation, high durability, cleaner environment promotion and high cost of conventional building materials. Inadequate skilled workers, lack of government incentives and research funding were identified as significant barriers to the propagation of bottle brick technology. This study is of value in that it can assist in the reduction of plastic waste and the housing deficit, and is also expected to inform policy deliberations and directions towards the creation of innovation-friendly environments in the housing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although globally used as construction material in earthquake zones, adobes' low tensile and flexural strength produce brittle behavior and low ductility of structures under seismic loads. Adobe buildings are widespread in Colombian rural and urban areas: as monumental buildings or informal housing, theyrepresents an immeasurable architectural and cultural heritage. Albeit high Colombian seismic risk, national building regulations do not include earthen architecture references. The paper analyzes the most frequent seismic subsidence mechanisms of earthen architecture, adobe building retrofitting and its seismic behavior improvement via specific interventions. The main goal is to associate possible causes—due to common local adobe building practices—with failure mechanisms, to deduce which retrofitting strategies could reduce seismic effects into adobe structures. The research innovation lies in the effectiveness and feasibility evaluation of the retrofitting strategies through "sustainability" indicators, based on literature quantitative and qualitative data, and strictly related to rural Colombian conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overall, my dissertation shows how local acts of meaning making contribute to gender policy inaction in agriculture and climate change in Uganda. Keywords: Discourse analysis; gender; meaning making; norm translation; Uganda EN Discourse analysis gender meaning making norm translation Uganda 736 740 5 06/14/22 20220501 NES 220501 My dissertation takes a deep dive into the ways in which local meaning influence the effectivity of gender equality strategies for rural development in Uganda. [Extracted from the article]

In order to solve the problem of power supply and heating in remote rural household of north China, taking rural houses in Yinchuan as the research object, a solar-proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) combined heat and power (CHP) system that is suitable for supplying power and heating to household in remote rural areas in north China is proposed in this paper. The simulation model is developed by using the MATLAB/Simulink platform and the effects of key operating parameters (i.e. current density and active area) on the performances of the PEMFC are studied. And the control effects of PID and fuzzy PID on the outlet temperature of the PEMFC stack are analyzed. The changes in temperature of water tank and indoor heating temperature under different electric loads and solar radiation are compared and studied. Meanwhile, the change in temperature of water tank is analyzed with or without solar energy, and the electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency, and CHP efficiency of PEMFC CHP are studied. The results show that the current density and active area have a significant impact on PEMFC stack. The temperature of water tank can be increased by 20°C combining solar energy and PEMFC. In winter, under different electric loads and solar radiation, the solar-PEMFC CHP system can make the temperature of the water tank reach above 55°C, and make the indoor heating temperature reach 20°C~27°C.In addition, the maximum efficiency of PEMFC CHP system is about 83%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores key elements of an extension approach for enhancing the sustainability and realizing the scaling-up of tree growing by smallholder farmers in rural remote areas where extension services seldom reach and access to external markets is difficult. By referring to the case in Madagascar, the paper discusses that creating a certain number of local trainers is effective because they function as a driver to promote tree growing and new livelihood activities introduced by external agents using locally available resources. One critical issue of being a local trainer is to have good communication skills in relation to fellow farmers. This issue can be addressed by sharing the importance of communication skills of local trainers in a community so that fellow farmers can facilitate local trainers' reflection unless a farmer does not feel reliable to a local trainer. On a mid- to longer-term basis, income opportunities will become an important point of motivation for local trainers. Creating new livelihood activities that can generate income and simultaneously contribute to village development is the way to go. This will enable local trainers to maintain their motivation and thus lead to sustainable tree growing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on urban–rural fringes, which represent regions facing various urbanization problems caused by rapid expansion, have steadily increased in recent years. However, problems persist in the quantitative delimitation of such regions. Based on the characteristics of abrupt urbanization-level changes in urban–rural fringe areas, we propose a constraint-based method in this study to detect the urban–rural fringes of cities with a spatial polycentric structure of 'Main center–Subcenter' based on data from multiple sources. We used the proposed approach to delimitate the fringe areas of Jiangyin and Zhangjiagang and identify their urban main center and subcenter pre-defined by their city master plans, towns, and rural hinterlands. Comparison of the identified results of different single urbanization indices, a single detection center, kernel density estimation, and a single constraint revealed that the patch density and Shannon's diversity index of the proposed method were higher in urban–rural fringes and smaller in city centers and rural hinterlands. This suggests that the landscape of urban–rural fringes delimitated by the proposed method is more fragmented, diverse, and complicated, thereby performing better. This study is significant for future urban spatial analysis, planning, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Peruvian Central Rainforest is a territory delimited by socio-cultural affinity and economic dynamics. The diversity of ecological zones in this territory has allowed agriculture to be the main activity of its rural population. This research seeks to analyse the factors that influence the spatial configuration of agricultural landscapes in the Peruvian Central Rainforest. The Río Negro district was selected as a case study to analyse three factors groups: settlements, ecosystems, and housing. Mapping, photo-interpretation, and field data collection were used to carry out the study. As a result, three types of agricultural landscapes have been identified, which include four modes of settlement organisation, three types of agricultural ecosystems, and eight types of agricultural housing. The discussion shows different heterogeneity levels in each type of agricultural landscape determined by the various configurations of its elements that should be considered for future territorial planning and studies in the Peruvian Central Rainforest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This practice review examines some of the early evidence, and reporting, of housing market change in England prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking a transect from central London, through surrounding near-urban areas, to the countryside beyond, it looks at the possibility and implications of more dispersed housing market choices and what sorts of challenges these may present to local planning practice. The pandemic has the potential to accelerate multiple home ownership (MHO), widening current inequalities in the distribution of housing wealth and bringing new demand pressures to near urban and rural locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although rurality is regarded as core terminology in rural geography and an essential characteristic of rural and rural tourism, researchers have not attached enough academic importance to the hybridity and multisensory characteristics of the rural, including its soundscapes. From the perspective of history and culture, the ancient Chinese were obsessed with the geomantic conception of the harmonious coexistence of man and nature in their rural construction, and Chinese pastoral poetry covered the harmonious soundscape symphony of natural ecology and rural community. Acoustic rurality can be defined as sustainable rural soundscapes in the changed and changing human-environment contexts comprising quiet and tranquility; wild, domestic, and social soundscapes; and the rural soundscapes as important indicators of good rural ecological environment and traditional rural heritages that can be preserved and developed through acoustic rurality-based planning. Using the practical roadmaps of China's Beautiful Rural Construction and Rural Vitalization Strategy for reference, this study sums up the four proposed guidelines for conserving and developing acoustic rurality: noise control and protecting the quiet and tranquil countryside, conserving wildlife habitat of the rural wild soundscapes, safeguarding cultural soundscape heritages, and developing recreational soundscapes for rural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Input-driven agriculture has led to an epidemic of impoverishment, farmer suicides, and environmental degradation in India, but has also shown consistent staying power in Indian politics. We examine the case of organic farming policy adoption to explore this paradox. Specifically, our objective was to evaluate how the state-wide Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) program (now formally known as Community Managed Natural Farming) in Andhra Pradesh, India came to be. Evidence was drawn from government documents, field notes from a ZBNF workshop and farmer interactions, and in-depth interviews with stakeholders. Results suggest that advocacy of civil society networks, champions within the bureaucracy, emphasis on rural livelihoods, and the 20-year history of consensus building around agroecology all played a key role in the adoption of the ZBNF program in this state. Given the possibility of scaling up ZBNF at the national level, our analysis of the enabling environment is especially timely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of population in the major metropolitan cities has again become prominent in public debate in Australia. Politicians and commentators have called for an increase in the population of rural areas by improving commuter access to metropolitan employment through infrastructure investments that facilitate commuting from regional places of residence to metropolitan places of work, referred to as metro-bound commuters. This article investigates the impact of commuter-based population growth on rural communities, and particularly housing markets. Increasing rural housing markets indicate a process of gentrification, calling into question policies that promote population redistribution not underpinned by rural employment growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmworkers seldom experience place attachment and frequently suffer from social disruption. In South Africa in 1998 one thousand farmworker families were assisted by their employers, via the government's Housing Subsidy Programme, to access housing in the nearest urban area. We investigated whether their ownership of urban housing did indeed create stability through place attachment, asset building and integration into the community. We discussed this with 32 of these relocated farmworkers in four focus groups and interviewed five key informants. We found little evidence of place attachment or stability and it appeared that discrimination against these farmworkers was reinforcing social disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial accessibility as a way of ensuring financial inclusion has received increasing attention. However, most of studies have drawn attention to the likelihood of becoming branchless and not on the differential characteristics of branchless municipalities. The aim this paper is to assess financial accessibility in branchless municipalities of the most populated region of Spain, Andalusia, and to examine their distribution across space. To that end, we identify the nearest bank branch for each branchless municipality. In addition, we incorporate socio-economic characteristics of each municipality in order to identify different groups of branchless municipalities. The results obtained suggest that there are substantial differences across branchless municipalities. In particular, we identify two degrees of financial accessibility: moderate and poor. Population dynamics are revealed as a key factor in explaining financial accessibility although this can be ameliorated by a higher per capita income and a greater industrial specialization. From a territorial point of view, we find a high concentration of branchless municipalities across space. Some initiatives should be taken in order to avoid that people become financially excluded. In this sense, local action groups responsible for rural development policies could identify the main negative effects and propose the most suitable alternative services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preservation of traditional rural landscape and community is affected not only by exogenous driving factors such as top-down policy and tourism industry, but by endogenous driving factors derived from the rural social and cultural context. The mechanism and performance of various forces has rarely been studied before. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of exogenous versus endogenous driving forces influencing rural landscape preservation from community level to individual level through a case of Tunpu villages in southwest China. Field mapping and analysis are conducted, expert scoring and questionnaire survey data are adopted, and OLS regressions are combined with qualitative analysis in this study. The results show that: 1) at community level, the socio-cultural vitality is strongly and positively correlated with the traditional rural landscape integrity; 2) at individual level, endogenous driving factors (i.e. human–environment connection and community-based organization) have more general and positive effects on residents' cognition, willingness, and behavior toward traditional rural landscape preservation comparing with the exogenous driving factors (i.e. top-down regulation policy and tourism development); resident's cognition, willingness, and behavior are homogenous despite different genders, occupations, and education levels. Our findings highlight the importance of community-based endogenous forces in promoting the preservation of traditional rural landscape. We also discuss the necessity of internal rural capacity building as well as the opportunities for a more inclusive neo-endogenous development strategy for future rural landscape preservation, policy-making, and tourism development. Overall, we hope to help promoting sustainable rural landscape preservation and utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural households engaged in the primary sector are vulnerable to climate shocks. The adaptation strategies are supposed to be locale specific, determined by biophysical and socio-economic factors and adoption is contingent on the results from vulnerability assessments. This study is an assessment of local level vulnerability of three heterogeneous groups of selected rural households in South Gondar zone in Ethiopia's Amhara region. The study analyses the effects of climate change induced shocks on livelihoods using the LVI-IPCC framework along with an econometric technique to determine factors responsible for variations across households. The study corroborates earlier results that rural households are adversely impacted by climate shocks. The poor non-off-farm diversified rural households are highly vulnerable in comparison to those households adopting an off-farm diversification strategy. Irrigation, improvements in access to water, health and other rural infrastructure are also factors reducing vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic heating systems are an important energy consumption market from a country's economic and environmental perspective. The domestic adoption of biomass heating systems is increasing in Europe and is considered environmentally friendly in terms of climate change in general, as well as secure in terms of fuel supply and price fluctuation. The results of this study indicate that potential Spanish adopters have a favorable attitude toward this type of heating. A potential adopter can be characterized as a female owner with an income level of €1800 or more, and with a house in a rural area. The most important issue for them is, in general, the annual cost of their heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adapting to the impacts of climate change is one of the most urgent priorities of our time. Given that the impacts of climate change are experienced at local scales, it makes sense that adaptation should occur locally, and yet, despite this, locals often have little control over how adaptation is funded, designed and delivered in order to climate-proof their places and futures. Increasingly competitive access to funding and limited progress towards sustainable adaptation outcomes prompts our call to rethink adaptation at the local scale. Drawing from grounded research with locals, we explore three case examples from the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from the coastal belt of Bangladesh, to a peri-urban informal settlement in the Philippines, and to a small rural island in Vanuatu. These examples help illustrate how locally led adaptation (LLA) gives us hope for more equitable, effective and sustainable adaptation outcomes. We show how LLA can help to reduce dependency and support local autonomy, diverse capabilities and creativity. We propose nine mutually reinforcing drivers of LLA to improve grassroots initiatives. These drivers focus on locally led decision-making, local strengths and resources (e.g. institutions, social networks, local knowledge and coping mechanisms), local realities, local vulnerability contexts and inequalities, local metrics for measuring "success", and local agendas which should be supported or enabled by external agencies. These drivers support local people to determine their own adaptation futures and ensure finite funding resources are utilised in meaningful ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews four housing typologies designed by Grupo Austral in 1939 for rural regions of Argentina. The design of each dwelling was adapted to the different climatic regions of the country, which range from warm subtropical to cold desert. Grupo Austral's design proposals demonstrate an outstanding environmental awareness. In this paper, the design features of these houses are evaluated against present knowledge and advanced environmental simulation tools. The original building specifications are found to compare very well with contemporary environmental design practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of landscape aesthetics and sustainability in the development of new rural housing prototypes. Historically, rural building forms were largely influenced by immediately available materials, climate and specific use, resulting in regionally identifiable typologies. Changes in the way we live, proximity to place of work, and the relationship between home, community and land-use have resulted in rural domestic buildings losing specific regional distinctions. The aim of this research is to generate new spatial models of autarkic housing and alternative massing arrangements that respond to local landscape qualities, hybrid land-use, urban densities and local renewable energy production. The outcomes provide semi-quantifiable spatial development prototypes that integrate these requirements within holistic conceptual frameworks for rural sustainable living providing alternative approaches to addressing Scottish policy legislation and a primer for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is considered a way to mitigate adjustments in the regional industrial structure. Three cases in this study illustrate the importance of initial conditions and how stakeholder collaboration can mitigate these deficiencies. We proposed a new model for rural destinations in different phases, and concluded that by addressing the needs of tourists and providing proper products, path innovation can be advanced. Study results also showed that creating a more inclusive culture advances innovation and the sustainable development of the region. This requires the participation of local communities to jointly advance path innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people living in rural communities have unique needs related to cultural and information access about their identities. A growing body of literature is concerned with the experiences of rural LGBTQ people's experiences and their use of information and communication technologies for supporting identity and community. However, there is opportunity to better understand relationships between various information sources and how information access itself lends to the creation of queer communities. Seeing the need for a more holistic understanding of the LGBTQ information landscape, this study builds on existing work with rural LGBTQ people, and asks how do rural LGBTQ people get access to information about sexual and gender identity and how is that information embedded through the practice of circulation? Drawing from ethnographic research in a rural region of the Midwestern United States, this study proposes the concept of queer information literacy: a process through which LGBTQ people find, recognize, share, and create information related to their sexual and gender identities. Using queer information literacy as a framework, the paper shows how disparate information access results in the formation of different, and often conflicting, LGBTQ experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was analyzed the impact of off-farm activities on food security status of rural households in the Dibatie district of the Bebishangul Gumuz region. The study was used in a simple random sampling technique to select respondent households with proportionate sample size based on the number of households exist in sampled kebele administrations. The primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire and key informants' interview. Both descriptive statistics and econometric model (an endogenous switching probit) were used to analyze this data at household levels. This model accounts for selection bias resulting from unobserved factors that potentially affect both household's participation and food security outcomes and also the model shows the counterfactual case of food security outcomes. Food security index is used to measure the food security status of sample households based on average kCal/day/adult equivalent. The result of this study revealed that about 59.4% of the households were food secure and 40.6% of households were food insecure. And also, about 55.4% of the households were off-farm participants and 44.6% of households were off-farm non-participants. Moreover, computing switch_probit command, the impacts of participant household have higher probability of food security status as compared with the counterfactual case of non-participants. In addition, the model result shows that variables such as household size, distance to the nearest market, age of household head, education level of household head, special skill, utilization of formal credit, access to electricity and frequency of extension contact were found to have a significant influence on off-farm participation. Finally, the study suggesting that the interventions designed to promote farmers participating in off-farm activities that are made to increase food security status at the household level in the study area. This is because there could be increased productivity effects in this off-farm economy, better agricultural linkages and indeed, stronger structural transformation of the rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The share of women among forest owners is growing in the traditionally masculine family forest sector. The present study continues the research on women who own forest in the Nordic setting. The focus is on the behaviour and role of rural female forest owners in Finland, as well as on the benefits of peer learning when building self-efficacy as a forest owner. The qualitative data consist of interviews with female forest owners, peer-learning group observations and feedback. The studied female forest owners who participated in the peer-learning group focused on silvicultural actions on the home farm. These women were eager to learn, but uncertain about their experience and capabilities as forest owners, which reduced their confidence to participate in forest-related discussions outside the home farm. The responsibility and decision-making power regarding the forest property is, in many cases, given to the husband. Within the studied group, the desired aim of learning seems to be the same silvicultural and timber production-oriented knowledge as held by male forest owners. In order to create new ideas and even business opportunities, the facilitator of peer-learning group plays an important role in encouraging participants to take part in more diverse discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores the connections between young people's livelihoods, education and visions of the future in Ethiopia. It engages with educated youth's narratives of precarity, dispossession, and 'intimate exclusions,' discussing how development has impacted rural livelihoods. Educated youth protests in the Oromia region reveal how shortages of farmland and education play crucial roles in the conflict about sovereignty and development. Qeerroo (Oromo youth) are particularly active in the protests because they are excluded from a rural future through land grabbing and population growth as well as from a modernist development future that unequally distributes the fruits of economic growth. By politicizing educated unemployment and landlessness and connecting them to neoliberal capitalism, this article analyses the intentions of the Ethiopian state to 'save' its youth through economic development while youths claim to 'lose' their futures to generate grassroots politics. The article also draws analytical attention to why there is a need to rethink concepts like development, waithood, and rural futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indigenous Sami population have inhabited rural northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia for thousands of years. Today, many Sami live in cities. No large quantitative studies have investigated the health and life of urban Sami in Norway. As a basis for further research, this paper describes the background, methods, participation and sample characteristics of the survey From Rural to Urban Living, conducted in 2014. The unique sampling design is based on internal migration records. Those invited were everyone born 1950–1975 who had relocated from preselected rural Sami core areas to cities in Norway. Their children above the age of 18 were also invited. The paper is descriptive with some basic statistical tests. In total, 2058 (response rate 34%) first-generation and 1168 (response rate 19%) second-generation migrants responded. The response rate was lowest in the younger age groups and among men. One out of three reported Sami background. The education level was in general high. From Rural to Urban Living enables numerous research possibilities within health and social sciences, and may contribute to new insight into the health, culture and identity of the growing Sami population in urban areas of Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In environmental discourse, sustainability and sustainable development are buzzwords. In practice, these goals are widely advocated by international agencies, governments, and local non-governmental organizations. While the global discourse of sustainability and sustainable development operates as a powerful source of influence worldwide, we have access to few studies that specifically examine how development practitioners in the Global South interpret and apply these concepts. To fill this gap in environmental-communication research, the case study reported in this article investigates how a local NGO in rural Cambodia interprets and applies the terms "sustainability" and "sustainable development." Examining local NGO interpretations promotes nuanced insights about a range of development issues, reduces buzzword vagueness, and illuminates gaps in the global discourse. The critical discourse analysis applied reveals the value of conducting additional local investigations in various development contexts that will further inform dialogue about sustainability and sustainable development by incorporating a wider range of local perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a 2017 survey in western China, we examine whether remittances received from migrant family members and household work burden play moderating roles in children's depression. We also explore the extent to which interpersonal factors (parent-child communication and parenting practices) and child's intrapersonal personality trait (assessed by self-esteem) mediate the impact of parental migration on children's depression. Results show that receipt of remittances significantly helps mitigate their depression. Regardless of children's left-behind-status, household work burden significantly increases their levels of depression. Levels of depression among children left-behind by both parents are mediated by parent-child communication, parental responsiveness, and children's self-esteem. Findings reveal significant social costs due to parental migration in terms of child development. The policy implications of our findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combination of development constraint, low wages in seasonal employment and market intrusion by more affluent households generates housing access and affordability difficulties in many rural amenity areas. In response, residents' groups and public planners have sometimes sought to prioritise 'local needs', restricting the occupancy of new housing to key workers or others deemed 'local'. Drawing on examples from England, this paper illustrates how these down-stream interventions are often rendered ineffective by the upstream and structural drivers of housing access inequality, revealing a need for up-stream reforms focused on community control of land and the tax treatment of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers how solar energy discourse in the 1970s othered rural bodies in India. In the 1970s, proponents of solar energy seized the opportunity provided by the oil crisis to argue for their technology as a clean, cheap, abundant, and universal alternate. The community characterized solar energy as a technical problem, yet in house design, they relied on subjective parameters like thermal comfort. Investigating the designs of solar cooling and heating systems for houses in semi-arid rural Punjab in the 1970s, this article argues that first world parameters like "comfort" and "house" were taken as universal standards when in fact they were historically constituted ideas. This elision of history had the effect of othering the rural bodies for which they were designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban–rural renewal is an instrument not only to manage urbanization but also for sustainable development. In this process, major stakeholders are affected differentially. The case studied here shows how the most vulnerable stakeholders are deprived of benefits in the urban–rural renewal process. Through an analysis of Mantin, a small Malaysian town, the study depicts conflicts among stakeholders. Beyond the traditional stakeholder analysis framework stressing the role of government, developers, and the community affected by development, this research delves into an extended nexus of related stakeholders (the nongovernmental organization sector and media) that complicates the confrontation between the developer with legal right to the land and residents who claim hereditary occupation rights. It also reveals the stance of the government, often neglected in discussions of private–public partnerships. Here, politicians from both opposition and government saw opportunities to gain political advantage from the contest. The result of these stakeholder interfaces was a conflict that dragged on for a protracted period. The events show that the involvement of third-party stakeholders can increase the likelihood of and prolong conflict. Generally, the case also illustrates the failure of top-down policies that can be subverted at local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of private landowner's perceptions can guide decisions about conservation in rural landscapes. However, mailed surveys that evaluate landowner views are increasingly plagued by falling response rates and nonresponse bias. Using survey data from research conducted in the Midwestern United States in 2007 and 2017, we adapted a framework for testing nonresponse bias across demographics, attitudes, and land-use practices inferred from aerial imagery. We compared respondents and nonrespondents, early and late-respondents, low- and high-interest respondents, and our sample and published data. Across all comparisons, we found little consistent evidence of nonresponse bias, except a possible under-sampling of Amish landowners and conflicting results on gender. Many discrepancies were likely related to the sampling methodology. Because comparisons yielded conflicting results, we recommend that researchers engaged in survey research with rural communities use multiple methods to triangulate nonresponse bias to determine whether subgroups of rural populations are under-sampled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an ethnographic study of a party for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)+ women, this article examines contemporary sociospatial practices LGBT+/queer women utilize to build community during the festas juninas in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. While these popular festivals associated with the rural space of the Brazilian Northeast may seem to replicate colonial, religious, and traditional structures, they have also have become fertile ground for queer contestations of heteronormative structures in the Northeast. I argue that LGBT + women in Natal engage in a cultural and spatial anthropophagy: devouring, absorbing, and hybridizing different cultural influences and types of space to create new community formations. By consuming many of the symbols, images, and cultural productions of the festas juninas they actively construct a hybrid anthropophagic space for LGBT + women and challenge moralistic values associated with rural Northeastern culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines evidence for whether housing costs are more likely to be associated with poverty in rural than in urban Scotland. It reports the results from probit modelling of British Household Panel Survey data from 1999 to 2008. Empirical work is set in the context of understandings of factors associated with poverty, defined on an income basis, and specific features associated with rural locations. Attention is drawn to the way in which rurality is defined and that definition operationalized. The finding from the multivariate analysis is that a household's housing costs do not appear to have a different association with its propensity to experience poverty in rural as opposed to urban Scotland. The paper sets out conclusions in the recognition of possible limitations and identifies ways in which the evidence can be extended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathways to higher education can appear opaque and unattainable to rural adults, despite the affordances provided by modern broadband and increasing provision of university online learning options. This paper describes an innovative partnership model that connects rural adults to university and technical and further education pathways through 'warm connections' developed between staff in rural libraries and 'neighbourhood houses', and people working in university outreach and preparation programmes. Through the Warm Connections project, local staff were provided with training and on campus experiences that equipped them to have conversations with rural people about what university is 'like' and what it takes to get a place in a university course. Rural community staff reported being confident in providing customised front-line information and advice to rural residents and were able to direct enquiries to appropriate people in tertiary institutions. Some staff themselves enrolled in and successfully completed university short courses, providing role models for their communities. The project reduced the socio-economic distance between rural adults and tertiary education. It successfully built social capital networks of 'warm connections' between tertiary institutions and rural communities, although the longevity of those networks will depend on continuing effort by tertiary institutions to maintain and refresh connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore patience as an attitude towards imposed waiting in uncertainty among peasants in rural Northern Sudan who were flooded out of their homes along the Nile during the 2003–2009 Merowe dam construction project. My aim is to examine the complex temporalities that appear in the politics of displacement. I show how such temporal alterations were related to the implementation of a large infrastructural project and to the shaping of the Manasir people's perception of time as they attempted to stay and revive life in their homeland on the shores of the emerging reservoir. Corresponding to the gendered experience of imposed inactivity and the resultant dissolution of time, patience is practised to varying degrees. Amongst the displaced communities, patience, as a temporal practice, represents a commitment both to future divine rewards and to living within the present situation. This commitment, in turn, offers hope and enables people to persevere. I argue that patience is not, as is often assumed, a quietist attitude, but a political practice directed against attacks by the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]