Placing the Rural in Regional Development

Abstract

Urban and regional development studies tend to focus on the urban as driving innovation and growth, with surrounding areas cast in a passive, residual role. As a result, rural and urban development debates are often conducted separately. This paper introduces a special issue on rural development. It sets out current rural development thinking in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and explores two trends affecting the place of rural areas in regional development – the differentiation of ruralities in the context of global changes and the changing nature of travel and communications – or mobilities. It then introduces the papers in the special issue.