Journal of Rural and Community Development
Not a member yet
598 research outputs found
Sort by
'New' Migrants in the British Countryside
No full textThe eastward expansion of the European Union (EU) in the early 2000s had a
number of consequences. One of these, deriving from the EU principle of
freedom of movement and the associated relaxation of border restrictions, was a
marked increase in migration from the new member states into the longer
established western ones. Within the United Kingdom much of that migration
was towards larger urban centres, but a relatively high (and perhaps unexpected)
proportion was to smaller towns, villages and more rural areas. This article
explores the extent of this migration and, more specifically, it seeks to highlight
some of the reactions to it. In doing so, there is a focus on rural parts of the
English west midlands, in particular the county of Herefordshire. The article
places this migratory movement within the context of increased east-west
migration more generally, the regulatory environment surrounding it, and the
broader responses to it at a national level.
Keywords: migration, Eastern Europe, employment, media reactions,
xenophobi
Improving Health Services Through Empowered Community Health Governance Structures in Tanzania
No full textDecentralization policy in Tanzania has facilitated the formation of local health governance structures to ensure greater participation of communities in the management of health services. Using different methods, such as a review of existing literature, interviews, and focus group discussions with various stakeholders at the central government level as well as in fourteen councils, this paper analyzes and discusses limitations to the proper functioning of local health governance structures. The study reveals that service boards and facility governing-committees are relevant health governance structures in providing checks for the accountability of health managers and providers, forging linkages between the technical-medical professionals and communities, and also in ensuring communities' participation in improving health service provision. Unfortunately, the performance of these structures is weak in most cases, which ultimately compromises community participation and ownership. Capacity strengthening with the aim of improving the understanding of their roles and functions, enhancing their planning and budgeting skills, and their understanding of hierarchies and division of roles and responsibilities among governance structures, are among the major recommendations from this study.
Keywords: health sector reforms, community participation, health governance structures, service boards, facility-governing committees, health service
Beyond Infrastructure: Broadband for Development in Remote and Indigenous Regions
Get PDFRecent telecommunications stimulus projects in the U.S. and Canada were intended to increase availability of broadband through funding infrastructure investments, largely in rural and remote regions. However, true access involves more than availability; it also includes affordability and adoption. This paper presents a framework for analyzing broadband adoption that takes into consideration geographical, economic and cultural environments in indigenous communities. It includes an overview of potential social and economic impacts of broadband in remote areas, using examples from the Alaska study and the Canadian North. It then reports on results of an evaluation of Internet use and potential adoption of broadband in remote indigenous communities of southwest Alaska. Finally, the paper provides a comparative analysis of U.S. and Canadian policies intended to achieve affordable access to broadband for rural users and sustainable business models for rural broadband providers
Policy Persistence and Cultural Resistance: The (Re-) Development of Horticulture In the Vale of Evesham
Get PDFRural geographers have frequently discussed the development of rural areas in
terms of paradigms. Focusing on the Vale of Evesham in the south Midlands of
England, UK, this paper instead uses the three cross-cutting themes of
historicity, conflict and neo-industrialisation to illuminate the development
trajectory of this locality based upon its strong horticultural tradition. The
emergence, growth and decline of a culturally, socially and economically unique
horticultural sector in the Vale is described against a backdrop of policy
persistence favouring other farming enterprises. The way in which historicities
of small-scale market gardening are being created, appropriated and reified for
local and tourist consumption, is discussed through analysis of four recent
horticultural-related inventions. These serve to deny the 'real' change occurring
in the Vale's horticultural sector driven by neo-industrialisation, although a lack
of conflict is found to be associated with such change. The paper concludes by
outlining the prospects for future tensions over the (re)development of
horticulture in the Vale.
Keywords: Horticulture; asparagus; historicity; conflict; neo-industrialisatio
Entrenched Instability: The Community Implications of Flexibility in British Columbia's Northern Interior
Get PDFEconomic restructuring of British Columbia's forestry sector, stimulated by the
recession in the 1980s, has challenged the viability of the post-war institutions and
economic landscape. This period marked an end the expansion of the forestry
sector as industry and the province worked to contend with a number of global and
local pressures. Restructuring instigated processes whereby engrained institutional
arrangements were dismantled and redefined. This paper examines how forestry
companies are redefining relationships at the local level, enacting flexibility
outside of the mill, within communities. The analysis of case study findings from
three communities explore how companies have negotiated flexibility and
rationalized business practices in an effort to address uncertainty. These processes
have exposed the inherent tension between companies and communities regarding
relationships. Furthermore, corporate visions of 'flexible communities' ignore the
structural and geographic realities embedded within resource-dependent
communities. The push for flexibility within the forestry sector and resourcedependent
communities has resulted in exacerbating longstanding issues of
dependence, vulnerability, and disparity; a result that runs contrary to the interest
of the province, resource-communities, and forestry companies.
Keywords: flexibility; restructuring; resource towns; forestry; local developmen
The Husbandry of Technology: Farm Families' Cultivation of Technological Knowledge under 'Neo-Productivist' Conditions
Get PDFIssues such as a rising world population, climate change and the economic
crisis have led to a questioning of the UK's agricultural sector to maintain a
sufficient and reliable food supply. As a result, led by various policy thinktanks,
the UK Government is looking to technology to increase sustainable
food production. This paper explores the contemporary nature and importance
of family farming in the UK, and interrogates how these changes may become
reality for these members of the agricultural sector. It is particularly concerned
with the processes that surround the introduction, use and maintenance of
technology on family farms. To do this, the article draws on six months of
ethnographic fieldwork conducted on family farms in Ceredigion, Wales, U.K.
The paper makes significant contributions to understandings of the family
farming way of life, theorisations of technologies in 'context' and 'culture',
and conceptualisations of future 'neo-productivist' agriculture.
Keywords: family farming, technology, neo-productivism, ethnography,
knowledge-practice
Regions Engaging Globalization: A Typology of Regional Responses in Rural Europe
Get PDFimpact of globalization processes on regional economies, societies and
environments. Accordingly, globalization is producing not a homogenized global
rural space, but rather a reconfigured but spatially differentiated 'global
countryside' in which rural regions as still distinct from each other, but they are
also different to how they were before. Reporting on the EU-funded project
'Developing Europe's Rural Regions in the Era of Globalization', this paper will
draw together findings from empirical research across ten case study regions in
rural Europe to develop a comparative conceptual understanding of the factors
shaping the differential engagement of regions with globalization, both in terms of
the impact of globalization processes and the response of regions to the challenges
and opportunities presented by globalization. From this analysis a typology of
regional responses to globalization is presented which aims to inform
understanding of how models of regional development may operate differently in
different regions.
Keywords: globalization, regional development, Europe, local agency, typolog
We Have Never Been Urban: Modernization, Small Schools, and Resilient Rurality in Atlantic Canada
Get PDFThis article considers some educational implications of resilient rurality in Nova Scotia, a province in eastern Canada. By Statistics Canada definitions, the province contains more than double the national percentage of rural residents, a figure that has not changed very much since the 1950s when rural school consolidation and other "modernization" schemes began in earnest. This resilient rurality is typically constructed in a metrocentric deficit perspective as a marker of underdevelopment and inevitable population decline and decay. I argue that subsequent educational reform initiatives have generally supported the closure of rural schools and have not significantly considered their effectiveness and potential to support strength-based rural development policy and social justice.
Keywords: rural education, history of education, development, Nova Scoti
Resource Development, Local Adjustment, and Regional Policy: Resolving the Problem of Rapid Growth in the Pilbara, Western Australia
Get PDFThis paper examines the implications of rapid resource-led development for the small, remote town of Onslow, Western Australia. Over the next five years, Onslow is set to become host to one of Australia's largest energy investments – the Wheatstone Liquefied Natural Gas project. The town is already feeling the effects of this project, with numerous impact studies indicating that significant economic, social, and demographic transformation can be expected as the project unfolds. Yet, despite considerable effort being invested in 'problem identification', both policy and 'on the ground' responses have been minimal, thereby hindering local adjustment and adaptation. In addition to examining the impacts of the Wheatstone project on Onslow, the paper considers the reasons for this lag in policy response and the extent to which this may exacerbate the problems facing the local community.
Keywords: resource towns, regional policy, housing, infrastructure, community adjustmen
Farmers and Rural Kansas Communities: Planning for the Future
Get PDFRural communities everywhere face ongoing questions about their resilience and plans for their futures. This study analyzes the perceptions Kansas farmers have of their communities as a basis for considering how rural planners might address such questions. Drawing primarily on interviews with 149 farmers across the state, as well as on a survey and Census data, the study finds that farmers perceive a variety of recent demographic, social and economic changes in their communities. The majority of these perceived changes are negative. Farmers in smaller, shrinking communities in the western part of Kansas were least optimistic about what is to come. Despite these perceptions, more than one in four farmers could not articulate ideas for desirable change. Planners in rural communities may need to engage residents in visioning exercises, and are likely to find that strategies for rural self-development and regional centers are most compelling to these residents.
Keywords: rural communities; rural planning; Kansas; farmer perceptions; community chang