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Rural education is a strategic sector for rural revival projects. The presence and state of rural schools is an indicator on the sustainability of rural communities in its economic, social, and ecosystemic interactions. This study explores the Chilean case as it shows a movement in student mobility towards rural schools. Based on new data from the Ministry of Education, the study shows that primary school students indicate a shift in tutors and families' preferences for rural schools, as rural schools' enrolment has increased by 1% in the 2015–2020 period. In the context of a market-based education system, the data indicate a process in which rural systems are seen as viable alternatives for families. There is a clear landmark in rural mobility during the pandemic years; however, the study concludes that there is no indication of a catalyst for migration different from previous years or signs of rural revival yet. We suggest that further studies should be conducted to map how this trend may be replicating in different countries and geographies, as well as to ponder its implications for rural communities and its capacity to harbor urban out-migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization and ecological efforts in China have significantly altered agricultural land use affecting both the quantity and quality of arable land. There has been a rise in the use of energy, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastic films to enhance production. However, these unsustainable farming practices have led to higher greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of agricultural non-point source pollution. The Yunnan Province government aims for sustainable agriculture to enhance product quality and China’s green farming. Yunnan’s proximity to the Yangtze, Lancang, and Yuan Rivers makes agriculture vital for the downstream livelihoods and biodiversity. This study explored factors affecting agriculture in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The study proposed a comprehensive system of 33 indexes to assess agricultural sustainability performance using the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework. It employed a composite weight method combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process and Entropy Weight methods. The assessment showed that all counties except Dali City scored a performance index below 0.5. Furthermore, the “Response” indicator was found to be crucial in advancing agricultural sustainability. Conversely, factors leading to unsustainable changes, like “Driver” were less significant. The study reveals that data statistics prioritize indexes related to land resources while experts emphasize indexes linked to socioeconomic status when assessing agricultural sustainability.

As a response and a reaction to the phenomenon of rural decline, the study of rural transformations has become an important research field in recent years, with special concern to the adaptation of agricultural systems, to the survival of rural communities and to the strategies of permanence in place at an individual farmer level. Based on a field research among farmers operating in the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park (a mountainous area in Central Italy that presents some rural decline related characteristics), this study is aimed at identifying the reasons behind permanence in place from the farmers' perspective. The farms' situation and the farmers' choice to keep staying in the remote areas of the Park are analyzed. The research has been carried out following a partially mixed methodology, which has combined quantitative and qualitative techniques, such as a secondary data analysis, a direct survey, territorial focus groups and face-to-face in-depth interviews. Based on the structural analysis of the rural decline within the area of the Park, the paper analyzes the processes of rural change associated with farmers' strategies to cope with the difficulties as well as the reasons behind their willingness to stay (permanence) according to an anti-reductionist view of individualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural education is a strategic sector for rural revival projects. The presence and state of rural schools is an indicator on the sustainability of rural communities in its economic, social, and ecosystemic interactions. This study explores the Chilean case as it shows a movement in student mobility towards rural schools. Based on new data from the Ministry of Education, the study shows that primary school students indicate a shift in tutors and families’ preferences for rural schools, as rural schools’ enrolment has increased by 1% in the 2015–2020 period. In the context of a market-based education system, the data indicate a process in which rural systems are seen as viable alternatives for families. There is a clear landmark in rural mobility during the pandemic years; however, the study concludes that there is no indication of a catalyst for migration different from previous years or signs of rural revival yet. We suggest that further studies should be conducted to map how this trend may be replicating in different countries and geographies, as well as to ponder its implications for rural communities and its capacity to harbor urban out-migration.

The population distribution in Canada across subnational jurisdictions exhibits significant inequality. Precipitous growth within concentrated urban agglomerations, culminating in severe rural depopulation, has perpetuated existing subnational population growth disparities. More densely populated metropolitan areas are experiencing an increasing proportion of the aggregate population, while ruralized jurisdictions succumb to a dramatic population exodus. Accordingly, the geographic dispersion of the Canadian population has become increasingly skewed, and thus a substantial proportion of the national populace is concentrated within a handful of metropolitan jurisdictions. The localization of growth within urbanized zones renders the geography of the population distribution increasingly volatile, thereby carving a fault line into the landscape of the national economy. Using census data from 1991 to the most recent (2021), this study formulates a novel quantification of the unequal distribution of population in Canada over time, utilizing an adaptation of the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. The findings exhibit significant and growing inequality in the population distribution with a substantial proportion of the national populace concentrated within a few metropolitan areas. Rising rent and real estate prices have led to increasing gentrification, fundamentally altering the economic and social reality of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The administrative-cultural centers of collective farms, which are some of the best examples of the rural architecture of late socialism in the former Baltic Soviet republics, are still there in the Baltic countryside, but their preservation is currently in doubt. This study shows that the greatest threat to this rural built heritage in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is the shrinking and peripheralization of rural areas and small towns. Greater emphasis should be placed on strengthening the community, finding a new function, and on national protection in order to preserve collective farm centers and enhance their value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), necessitating the evaluation of rural sustainability transitions. A precondition for evaluating sustainable rural development is to adapt the SDGs to rural contexts while maintaining global comparability. Besides, tradeoff relationships among evaluation indicators should be captured to overcome the limitations of traditional weighting aggregation methods. In this study, we propose an integrated framework that incorporates the SDGs into a composite indicator system for assessing sustainable rural development. Our framework quantifies these indicators using the index thresholds outlined in the SDGs dashboard, along with customized rules that reflectrural contexts. Furthermore, we employ the Pareto ranking approach to evaluate the sustainable development potentials of rural areas regarding tradeoff relationships among different indicators. In a case study of Zhaoyuan City, China, our findings indicate that only 20 % of the sustainable development goals are achieved on average across all indicator dimensions. The economic and social dimensions are closer to their ideal targets and more compatible with each other, while the ecological dimension remains relatively unsustainable. Sustainable rural development depends primarily on natural resource endowment, ecological sustainability, and residential sustainability of villages. Understanding tradeoff relationships among different indicators enables us to better adapt rural policies to the specific contexts of villages. • Incorporating the SDGs for comprehensive assessment of sustainable rural development. • Constructing composite indicator system for global comparability and local rural contexts. • Redefining potentials for rural sustainability as Pareto ranks of villages across indicators. • Identification of targeted rural policies based on tradeoff relationships of indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International efforts to combat climate change are reflected in diverse national and subnational policies, the effects of which can stimulate fundamental changes in land use at the regional scale. Since 2012, the Australian Government has provided incentives for landholders to implement "carbon farming" through methods that either sequester or avoid the release of carbon emissions in vegetation and soils. While the factors leading to individual landholder adoption of carbon farming is widely researched, there is comparatively limited analysis of broader community perceptions and potential impacts of its resulting changes in land use and management. This research uses semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis to explore community perceptions of carbon farming in the vast and remote Mulga Lands of Queensland, Australia, a region that supports nearly 200 carbon projects across 7 million hectares. We found that individual landholders were motivated to adopt carbon farming primarily for the economic benefits, despite sharing concerns with the broader community over potential environmental and social impacts. Long-standing local attitudes, values and beliefs around perceived desirable natural landscapes, and their role in maintaining agricultural production, underpin a view that non-active land management and absentee land ownership – considered by some in the community to be a consequence of carbon farming – would contribute to ongoing rural decline. Our findings show that the scale and pace of land use changes facilitated by carbon farming have led to a community impact in the Mulga Lands. Such impacts must be explicitly considered in future research, policy and planning to ensure land use transitions stimulated by carbon farming policy are effectively and fairly managed. • Carbon farming can provide economic benefits to rural landholders. • Economic incentives motivated adoption in the Mulga lands, despite community concerns. • A mismatch in normative expectations and carbon farming has led to negative community impacts. • There is mistrust and uncertainty around carbon farming in the Mulga Lands. • Policy and planning should seek to manage carbon farming land use transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent rise of populism in the developed world, the division between large cities and rural areas is in the spotlight as never before. This article explores the effect of the urban–rural divide on satisfaction with democracy in 27 European countries. I argue that individuals living in rural areas are less satisfied with the way democracy works, in particular, in those countries more affected by rural depopulation. Using data from approximately 35,000 respondents to the European Social Survey, I demonstrate that there is a "geography of discontent" when accounting for citizen satisfaction with democracy. Specifically, I find that individuals living in rural areas show lower levels of satisfaction than do those in urban areas. Moreover, there is an interaction between the geographical distribution of population and the area where a person lives. Individuals in rural areas tend to be less satisfied with democracy when the country exhibits a higher degree of urbanization. The hypotheses are examined through single-country linear regressions and multilevel models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over several decades, Portugal has experienced significant demographic and economic decline within its inland rural settlements, alongside substantial population growth in its urban centers and coastal communities. These transformations have contributed to widespread fears and laments of "o fim do mundo rural" in contemporary public discourse and cultural production, all of which is a starting point for studying the poetry of Rui Lage (b. 1975). Concentrating primarily on Lage's Estrada nacional (2016), this essay argues that despite the seemingly "elegiac" manner in which the poet depicts rural settlements and landscapes in twenty-first-century Portugal, his 2016 collection presents an ironic, ambivalent, and resistant approach toward "mourning" Portuguese rural communities. Furthermore, this text maintains that Lage repeatedly undermines, destabilizes, and reacts against extant preconceptions of "rural loss" and bucolic nostalgia in contemporary Portuguese society, while critiquing anthropocentric attitudes toward existence and survival within Portugal's contemporary natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural–urban migration is considered one of the main reasons for rural decline, but the links between out-migration and rural settlement change are not well understood. This study explores the microimpact of out-migration on rural livelihoods and housing strategies in Southwest China. It is based on the results of a survey with 411 respondents. A cluster analysis revealed five distinct types of rural households considering their ways of migration and livelihoods. Only one of them depends on agriculture, whereas the others are characterized by different kinds of migration and off-farm activities. This study provides in-depth insights into the microimpact, thus informing future rural development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has led to the sharp decline of some rural villages. Idle rural residential land (IRRL) is symbolic of rural decline, and the academic community is in urgent need of quantitative studies on the spatial pattern of IRRL from the perspective of geography. Taking Pinggu as a case area, we explored the spatial pattern and layout mode of IRRL and evaluated its utilizability and reuse under different spatial layout modes. Our findings show that the idle rate of rural residential land (RRL) in Pinggu, which is in a suburb of a metropolis, is more serious than that of urban land. The patches of IRRL are generally small and fragmented, showing the characteristics of overall dispersion and local agglomeration of the whole area. The agglomerative point type and scattered point type are the main spatial layout modes of IRRL. In villages, the spatial distribution of IRRL is characterized by a small and scattered point distribution, and large-area polygon agglomeration and belt agglomeration are relatively less common. The utilizability of IRRL in Pinggu decreases from the urban fringe to the surrounding rural area. The utilizability of the agglomerative polygon type, agglomerative belt type, and agglomerative point type in the urban suburbs and agricultural plains areas is higher, while the utilizability of the scattered strip type and scattered point type in the northern and eastern suburban mountainous areas is lower. Our research contributes to filling the gap in the geographical quantitative research on IRRL by exploring the interactions between humans and land under rural decline and providing a theoretical basis for the revitalization of declining rural areas and the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. • Idle rural residential land is a type of symbolic land use of rural decline. • Rapid urbanization caused unprecedentedly growing idle rural residential land. • Different idle rural residential land patterns always present different utilization potential. • The spatial pattern of idle rural residential land should be considered as the fundamental element for its reutilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern Murray–Darling Basin of Australia has the world's largest and most sophisticated water markets. However, there has been little study on the drivers of permanent and temporary water market movements within local areas, or the substitution effects between groundwater and surface‐water extraction over time. This topic is important as it is often claimed that water market trade patterns (especially selling large amounts of permanent water) are associated with rural decline. This study uses random‐effects tobit panel models to investigate the association of regional and spatial socio‐economic characteristics with temporary and permanent southern Murray–Darling Basin water market trade, using a broker panel database at postcode level from 2010/11 to 2013/14. Overall, results suggest there is no statistical significant evidence that more disadvantaged communities sold larger amounts of permanent water. Permanent water selling was statistically more likely to be associated with other spatial and land productivity characteristics, while temporary water market trade volumes were more related to water scarcity factors. In addition, there was evidence to suggest a substitution effect between rural areas selling higher volumes of permanent water and using higher volumes of groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a Danish case, this paper investigates how strategic urban and landscape design can contribute to positive developments in rural areas that are challenged by population decline. From 2007–2012, the municipality of Bornholm conducted a strategic planning process, which aimed to enhance quality of life by strengthening place-based qualities and potential through local physical projects. Guided by actor-network theory (ANT) we analyse the socio-material effects of the new assemblages of people and things around the design interventions that were made. We find that strategic spatial projects can contribute considerably to quality of life in declining rural areas. From a wider strategic perspective, they can also define new spatial development perspectives rooted in place-based resources and potential. Methodologically, ANT offers a pertinent framework for studying the long-term performance of strategic spatial projects and how design actions can continue to gather new actors, spark new initiatives and, thereby, fuel repercussive effects.

The urban-rural transformation from dichotomy to integration is a gradual process. Like rural areas in many countries, Chinese rural society is experiencing a decline in all spheres due to depopulation, aging, lack of economic opportunity, and so on. Aiming at solving the serious rural issues, China proposed the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy and the promotion of an integrated urban-rural development for the first time in 2017. This proposal marks the transformation of the urban-rural relationship, and the integrated urban-rural development reflects a significant conceptual change. Researches on issues of rural decline are urgently needed to determine the most effective method for rural revitalization and development from the perspective of the urban-rural dynamics. In this context, this paper focuses on studying the theory, technology and management of rural revitalization and development. We construct a theoretical framework for urban-rural integration based on population-land-industry-right between the urban and rural systems, regarding land engineering for land capacity building as the technical support and the rural land system reform and reconstruction as the policy support for management. This research will provide theoretical support for the implementation of China's rural revitalization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2011, the Western Australian State Government has spent $85 million on its SuperTowns project that aimed to boost the population and viability of subregional centres or 'SuperTowns.' Using the Wheatbelt SuperTowns of Northam, Morawa, Katanning and Boddington this paper explores how local governments have employed spatial design interventions to shift the image of these inland towns in a bid to attract population from Western Australia's major urban centres. Despite six years having elapsed since the government inaugurated the SuperTown policy, demographic data shows declining populations in these subregional centres. This paper highlights the limits of spatial design interventions in relation to delivering population decentralisation to inland towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural decline is an inevitable process as human society transforms from the agrarian to the urban-industrial economy, and further on to the knowledge economy. Through an extensive literature review, this paper aims to interpret why some rural areas decline while some others do not. The findings show that it is by the interactions between rural areas and the external environment that rural communities either grow, decline or even vanish. The paper emphasizes the necessity to improve rural communities' resilient capacity through adjusting their internal components' function and structure to survive the external changes. In this process, rural livelihood diversification, the creation of market oriented institutions and strong social capital are considered to enhance rural resilience and build up sustaining rural communities. Finally, three conditions for sustainable rural development in the knowledge economy are discussed: 1) development of new economic activities that can respond to potential urban demand; 2) local entrepreneurship that can establish and expand these new activities; and 3) social capital that can support the entrepreneurship in new activities with access to credits, labor, human capital, external markets and external knowledge for learning and innovation. • Rural decline is an inevitable phenomenon as human society transforms. • Interactions between rural areas and the external environment decide rural evolution. • Rural communities' resilient capacity must be enhanced against external challenges. • Collaboration within & between local actor groups is needed for rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is actively promoting the idea of “smart villages”. The increased uptake of new technology and in particular, the use of the internet, is seen as a vital part of strategies to combat rural decline. It is evident that those areas most poorly connected to the internet are those confronted by the greatest decline. The analysis in this paper is based on Poland, which at the time of EU accession had many deeply disadvantaged rural areas. Using fine-grained socio-economic data, an association can be found between weak internet access and rural decline in Poland. The preliminary conclusions about the utility of the smart village concept as a revitalisation tool for rural Poland point to theoretical and methodological dilemmas. Barriers to the concept’s implementation are also observed, although there is a chance they may be overcome with the continued spread of information and communication technologies in rural areas.

In recent years, population aging has been recognized as an emerging challenge in many parts of the world. Earlier studies discussed its impacts on the sustainability of social security systems and national economic growth; however, they tended to focus on the issues at the national level and were limited to developed countries. With the knowledge that population aging will be a predominant trend in both developed and developing countries, this paper aims to: (i) describe the global population aging trend and its regional demography; (ii) provide a structural review of population aging challenges at the national, communal and individual levels; and (iii) elaborate future research topics on population aging with a particular emphasis on developing countries. Several indicators suggest rapid population aging in the coming decades, especially in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The structural review presents the diverse challenges that affect both young and older population groups. Finally, the need for linking population aging with the sustainable development concept and the possible rural decline caused by rapid urbanization are suggested as future research topics. Further studies to establish a body of knowledge on population aging in developing countries are required to place population aging on the agenda of future sustainable development discussions.

China's rapid urbanization growth during the past decades which has highly promoted its affluence has induced various challenges for the countryside. The problem of rural decline of quite many villages which are suffering depopulation in turn challenges the urbanization sustainability in China. By way of in-depth historical and literature review, the paper finds distorted urban-rural relationship and the tendency of village decline owing to China's long time urban biased policy. By further investigating China's new-type urbanization strategy, the paper draws concerns about future rural development which is less mentioned in the plan. It calls for ruralization and actions to revitalize the countryside so as to be adapted to China's new-type urbanization plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation comprises both novelty and practicability. These two dimensions of innovation correlate partly negatively in our analysis of survey data about planning processes in declining rural districts. As argued in the literature, declining regions need innovative concepts beyond traditional counteracting strategies to ‘shrink smart’. Competitions are suggested as feasible-to-initiate innovative local concepts by the state. The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture invited 39 particularly affected rural districts to participate in such a competition among the best concepts. We address the questions of how the districts dealt with the requirements for novelty and practicability in their concepts and how the rules of competitive bidding procedures influence those concepts. Answering these questions, we conducted a survey and statistically tested hypotheses deduced from governance and innovation theory. Moreover, we analysed the bidding documents. The results show that most districts came up with hardly novel and only partly practicable concepts because the organization of the competition, and local bargaining processes impede innovation. Furthermore, the ministry’s requirements for the competition overburdened local actors with a lack of resources in declining regions. As a policy implication, we propose to integrate external experts in local networks and to accompany declining regions over a longer time instead of short-term competitions and projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing international immigration is often portrayed as a potential solution to persistent economic and population decline in rural areas. Based on longitudinal register data, this study examines the extent to which international migration has contributed to demographic and labour market changes in rural Sweden between 1990 and 2010. Results show that the urbanisation rate of international migrants is very high while their employment rate in rural areas remains comparatively low. Small positive changes are noticeable in the rate of higher education, self-employment and employment in new service-related industries among particular groups of immigrants. Immigrants to rural areas are a highly heterogeneous group in terms of their demographic and labour market characteristics, which should be considered when estimating the contributions of immigration to socio-economic development in rural areas. This study shows that, while international migration may dampen population decline in rural areas to some extent, particularly in the working-age groups, its potential to stimulate socio-economic revitalisation in rural areas needs to be questioned and examined from a more nuanced and longitudinal perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since World War 2 in Europe, village populations have generally declined. In Greece, ancient towns and villages built as refuges in turbulent times have lost population. The high-altitude mountain villages in Greek Macedonia, originally built to escape invaders, also became refuges in World War 2. Presently, any current-day tourist visiting the area would wonder about the decline of these picturesque villages, unaware of their brutal past. In the Peloponnese, Monemvasia, once a thriving wine-exporting city of 40,000 people fell into ruins after wine production was suppressed under Islamic rule. Barely-visible terraces, over-grazed by goats, are now barren. The country bears environmental scars of centuries of hardship. Since the global Financial Crisis, Greek welfare payments have been slashed, while in 2013 60% of workers under 24 were unemployed. However, loyalty to the villages continues. Every winter Greeks descend on the villages to take part in traditional activities coming back to Greece from places as far away as Australia, to harvest olives and renew family ties. Greeks are renewing their subsistence agriculture. Despite current hardships, a village resurgence may result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is necessary for rural communities to meet conditions of decline, including depopulation, with effective strategies for rural revival and revitalisation. Based on Hirschman’s ‘exit-voice’ theory, this paper investigates the way in which local stakeholders respond to processes of rural depopulation. Case studies undertaken in Xiaoguan village in China and in Åre in Sweden reveal the effectiveness of bottom-up revitalization initiatives in combating rural decline. We show how local stakeholders’ strong “voices” in these places—which called for improved living conditions and increased job opportunities—held people and groups together, encouraging them to work together with shared values and attitude. The strong leadership demonstrated either by local committees or in stakeholders’ self-organized actions played an important role in carrying out revitalisation initiatives. We highlight the importance of not only reviving economies but also creating desirable rural lifestyles. Our findings also emphasize the need for bottom-up initiatives to align with government policy and regional development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the impact of a new extractive industry, namely unconventional natural gas, on rural decline. Rural decline is defined as comprising loss of rural youth, reduced human capital and increasing rural poverty. Since the start of the current century, the unconventional natural gas industry has been expanding around the world, often in close proximity to pre-existing agricultural communities. The social impacts of this new industry represent a growing area of interest in rural studies. We contribute to this new research area through a case study of coal seam gas (CSG) development in Queensland, Australia, comparing regions where gas development occurred between 2001 and 2011 against a control group of similar regions without gas development. The study eliminated the influence of non-resident workforces by analysing census data based on place of usual residence as well as place of enumeration. A key finding of the study is that regions with CSG development have experienced a growing youth share of the population and, of particular note, a growing female youth share of the population. CSG regions had a higher proportion of youth with university degrees and advanced technical training compared to other rural regions. Poverty reduction was also observed in some specific CSG regions. The extensive spatial footprint of unconventional gas and increased female rural youth populations indicate a diversion from traditional boomtown social impacts observed in previous energy booms. Taken together, the results show signs of mitigating and reversing rural community decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the context of changes wrought by globalisation and subsequent neoliberal responses, studies of locally-specific institutional frameworks of governance may suggest more effective ways of responding to rural economic decline. There is no consensus as to whether collaborative forms of governance empower regions to successfully adapt to economic change and the mechanisms through which partnerships may influence the distribution of resources. In this article we examine how formalised partnerships between governments, businesses, not-for-profit and community-based organisations facilitate integrated responses to rural decline. Research on partnership governance to date has tended to focus on power from either a relational, or a strategic-relational/structuralist point of view. We draw on literature that combines these approaches to examine how policy actors are able to generate and assemble resources to address problems through place-based partnerships. Using documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, a case study of the Cradle Coast Authority in Northwest Tasmania shows that partnerships generate networks through micro-processes that enhance collective efficacy and build political capital amongst key policy actors, which are important pre-conditions for effective rural planning and decision making and policy development to distribute resources to address rural problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Locality studies, a form of community mapping, emerged as a popular technique of sustainable development in early-21st-century Japan. Its proponents contend that by cataloging the features of their surroundings rural residents can "rediscover" dormant resources and mobilize civic energies to sustain homes hollowed by decades of persistent socioeconomic decline. Despite its empowering potential, the practice of locality studies also reflects a political climate of devolving responsibility epitomized by decentralization reforms that demand greater autonomy and self-reliance of Japan's regions. Through an ethnographic examination of locality studies and debates surrounding its practice in Japan's northeastern Tōhoku region, I argue that it embodies a politics of recognition suited to an era of state streamlining. Its diverse proponents encourage residents of Tōhoku's mountainous peripheries to convert legacies of marginalization into celebrations of cultural diversity as a way of shifting responsibility for the future of the depleted countryside onto its inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been documented in 28 countries and adversely affected farmers and rural communities around the world. Our study examines the impacts of and adaptive responses of producers to BSE in western Canada. Moreover, it explores the role that holistic management (HM), and its combined focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, might play in mitigating the effects of BSE. One survey was sent to 835 HM producers and another to 9,740 producers across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The disease, and concomitant climate change and low commodity prices, had devastating impacts on both groups. Yet, HM producers were much more optimistic about their ability to adapt to BSE and the future of agriculture than their non-HM counterparts. Social networks, namely HM clubs and the larger HM community, enabled these producers to mitigate the impacts of BSE. Agronomic responses, especially those associated with rotational grazing and increases in on-farm biodiversity were also important. That HM has been such an effective adaptive response to BSE indicates the importance of this and other grassroots responses to rural crises, whether they be associated with zoonotic diseases or indeed environmental change as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I trace the links among neoliberalism, regional ecological decline, and the dynamics of therapeutic processes in rural Senegal. By focusing on illness management in a small rural community, the article explores how economic reform is mediated by existing social structures, and how household social organization in turn influences therapeutic decision making. The illness episodes relayed here demonstrate how the acute economic and social crisis facing the Ganjool region becomes written on the bodies of young men, and how the fault lines of gender and generation shape illness experiences. These narratives also illuminate the tremendous discrepancy between the lived realities of sickness and death, and the idealized models of health participation and empowerment envisioned by the state. Rather than “neoliberal subjects” who behave as rational economic actors, men and women coping with illness are social beings embedded in fields of power characterized by highly stratified household social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tension between dominant urban political and economic centres and associated rural communities continues despite various programs to decentralisation. This phenomenon is often explained in terms of a core-periphery political economy. To generate complementary explanatory hypotheses from a social perspective, we examine the impacts of rural–urban community interactions on the development of social norms such as the strength of mutual cooperation. We explore this using deliberately abstracted models of the “Iterated Prisoners’ Dilemma” to represent intra- and inter-community interactions, in regionalised and centralised interaction arrangements. We have considered changes in mutual cooperation as an indicator of social capital dynamics. In our model, increasing interaction of rural communities with urban centres increases “non-cooperative” behaviour of members of the small rural communities. Moreover, as the strength of centralisation (the proportion of interaction between each rural community and the urban centre as compared with the interaction among rural communities) increases, cooperative behaviour among the members of smaller rural communities and mutual cooperation with individuals of larger urban centre decreases. Our hypothesis is that interaction with urban centres disrupts norms used in resolving local social dilemmas. If so, this partly explains the dissatisfaction expressed in rural–urban relations, which may be a fundamental emergent property of particular settlement patterns. Understanding these relationships could guide better policies to facilitate rural–urban interactions in the worldwide trend towards regionalism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Enhancing rural resilience plays an important role in sustaining rural development when certain rural communities' decline becomes an inevitable process in the world. The paper evaluates China's rural resilience and investigates the spatio-temporal differences of rural resilience across the country in the period 2000–2018. Theoretical analysis indicates that rural resilience determines how and to what extent rural communities interact with external challenges. Empirical analysis shows a slight increasing tendency of China's rural resilience that remains below the median level. Rural resilience in Eastern China, which has a developed economy, is higher than that in Central and Western China. Compared with social resilience and engineering resilience, economic resilience is found to be the key restriction factor to China's rural resilience in the research period. This is mainly attributed to rural laborers' outflow to cities. The same findings are also seen in China's three regions. Policy implication emphasizes the importance of prioritizing rural economic growth to realize China's rural revitalization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural development has lagged behind in contrast to the rapid development of urban areas in China and one of the biggest consequences for this change is the serious rural out-migration. The accompanying demographic problems represented by serious rural population aging and underdeveloped rural population educational level are under-researched. By comparing the average population age and educational level with and without the large number of the exodus of rural residents in rural area, this research calculated the specific impacts of rural out-migration on rural population aging and educational level in Hubei, Central China. The average age of rural population in Hubei has increased by 2.67, and the average education year of rural population in Hubei has decreased by 0.42 by not taking into account the huge group of rural out-migration in 2010. Research results indicated that rural out-migration has significantly intensified the rural population aging and deterioration of education level. And furthermore, the influences and underlying reasons of the changing rural demographic were interpreted far and wide. The counties in Hubei were divided into eight categories according to population aging, educational level and the comprehensive impacts of out-migration on the former two. Well-calibrated and differential development strategies were put forward according to various categories to which the areas belong to revitalize the rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We systematically investigated the history and potential impact of land consolidation in China. • The mechanism of land consolidation promoting rural revitalization was analyzed. • Land consolidation can provide a platform and lever and injects vitality for revitalizing the countryside. • Land consolidation is moving towards multi-objective and multi-functional transformation. • Land consolidation shows its social, economic and ecological benefits, but its potential risks cannot be ignored. Land consolidation has multi-functionality. Most of the existing researches focus on the supplementary function of cultivated land, but lack of systematic research on its function of promoting the sustainable development and revitalization of rural areas. In the context of the current global rural decline, land consolidation has been endowed with the connotation of promoting rural revitalization and regional sustainable development. This study systematically reviewed the evolution history of land consolidation in China, and then explored the current status, characteristics and potential impact of land consolidation as well as the driving mechanism of land consolidation promoting rural revitalization, and finally explained the feasible way to revitalize countryside by land consolidation in a typical case. Results showed that China's land consolidation has played an irreplaceable role in stabilizing the dynamic balance of arable land and ensuring food security. It has made or is moving towards supporting the development of modern agriculture, poverty alleviation and rural revitalization as well as regional sustainable development. Land consolidation is gradually favored in promoting rural development and revitalization because of its social, economic and ecological benefits, and it can provide a platform and inject new vitality for rural revitalization by solving the difficulties of lack of fund, land, technology, talent and industry. Comprehensive land consolidation helps to promote the overall revitalization of rural industry, ecology, organization, culture and talent. However, it also needs to be alert to the eco-environmental risks and negative effects brought by land consolidation projects. The problem-solving oriented land consolidation is needed in the process of promoting rural revitalization and regional sustainable development. The internal logic of rural decline at different development stages varies across countries, and the strategies to promote rural revitalization through land consolidation also need to be adjusted in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]