Search

This book intends to initiate a fresh articulation of need-based infrastructure provisions in rural contexts. Departing from the conventional theories and practices of infrastructure planning and development applied in urban settings, the book presents a comprehensive suite of technical and non-technical indicators that rationalise fit-for-purpose planning, development, and operations of rural infrastructure. Drawing from global practices in public and private sectors and research-based evidence, a distinctive argument is put forward for promoting location-specific infrastructure development from effectiveness, practicality, affordability, and sustainability perspectives. The argument encompasses wider social, cultural, and economic contexts that are unique to rural settings and the book highlights a clear roadmap of how the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) are at the core of developing rural communities with necessary infrastructure provisions that are purpose-built, affordable, risk averse, and resilient.This book will provide an overview of some of the little-understood and sometimes counter-intuitive best practices on rural infrastructure and value-based priorities that have emerged in uplifting rural communities in developing economies over the last 30 years. Drawing from the global literature and practice-based evidence across a complete spectrum of relevant disciplines, this book will provide readers with a clear articulation of the innovative ideas around harnessing rural potential, and empowering rural communities with added support in growth and progressive development in the context of interconnected infrastructure systems and improved living standards. It is key reading for development, planning, and infrastructure courses as well as professionals and researchers involved in international development, aid, and provision in rural areas.

This book brings together interdisciplinary perspectives with the aim of broadening understandings of poverty. It contains both empirical and conceptual chapters, including those by local researchers, on a range of topics highlighting the relationship between poverty and sustainability. It cover themes such as: changes in the environment that pose an existential risk to humans; new concepts in tourism development that consider it as one of the key contributors in the prosperity and well-being of all stakeholders; natural, social and economic aspects of human behaviour and environmental sustainability; the impact of global warming on human well-being; immigration and integration policies and analyses of public discourse on migrants; and overconsumption and its impact on sustainable development. It will be a helpful resource for students and researchers of environmental management, tourism, global justice and sustainable development.

A new approach to rural development is emerging. Instead of being about attracting companies that might create jobs over which communities have no control, the emerging paradigm is about connecting the unique underutilized assets of place with market opportunity to grow assets that are owned and controlled by and for the benefit of low-wealth people and places. But asset development is about more than bricks and mortar or narrowly defined financial assets. There are many kinds of assets that communities require to thrive – such as social capital, natural capital, political capital, and intellectual capital. The emerging new approach to rural development is, then about broadening the definition of'wealth,'engaging underutilized assets, and a key third element: harnessing the power of the market – rather than relying solely on philanthropy and government. Wealth Creation provides a conceptual guide with practical examples for policymakers, practitioners of economic and community development, community organizers, environmentalists, funders, investors, and corporations seeking a values-based framework for identifying self-interests across sectors that can lead to opportunities to transform existing systems for the collective good.

This book initiates a fresh discussion of affordability in rural housing set in the context of the rapidly shifting balance between rural and urban populations. It conceptualises affordability in rural housing along a spectrum that is interlaced with cultural and social values integral to rural livelihoods at both personal and community level. Developed around four intersecting themes: explaining houses and housing in rural settings; exploring affordability in the context of aspirations and vulnerability; rural development agendas involving housing and communities; and construction for resilience in rural communities, the book provides an overview of some of the little understood and sometimes counter-intuitive best practices on rural affordability and affordable housing that have emerged in developing economies over the last thirty years. Drawing on practice-based evidence this book presents innovative ideas for harnessing rural potential, and empowering rural communities with added affordability and progressive development in the context of housing and improved living standards. For a student aspiring to work in rural areas in developing countries it is an introduction to and map of some key solutions around the critical area of affordable housing For the rural development professional, it provides a map of a territory they rarely see because they are absorbed in a particular rural area or project For the academic looking to expand their activities into rural areas, especially in rural housing, it provides a handy introduction to a body of knowledge serving 47% of the world's population, and how this differs from urban practice For the policy makers, it provides a map for understanding the dynamics around rural affordability, growth potential and community aspirations helping them to devise appropriate intervention programs on rural housing and development

This book focuses on the nature and role of entrepreneurship in modern developed and emerging economies and societies, its relation to governments and universities, and its role in the often-forgotten informal economy. The aim is to position entrepreneurship in the post-crisis context and explore how its relation to universities and governments contributes to explain the countries'and territories'growth performance and resilience or vulnerability to the crisis. The accent is particularly on processes and patterns at local level and in small and medium-sized enterprises in local economic systems and districts, local systems of innovation, and the types and configurations of innovation these give origin to.With globalization, entrepreneurship has become fundamental for the competitiveness of territories and countries, for policy management and for development. The local dimension is fundamental because of agglomeration economies and effects, the advantages of proximity and the nature of knowledge and information. Furthermore, territories carry to the centre-stage tacit knowledge, localized social capital, embeddedness and interpersonal relations as fundamental components of their endogenous socio-economic development and competitiveness. When local systems are connected in a horizontal network, they contribute to the strength of national and international systems. To play a constructive role from this perspective, entrepreneurship must avoid local entrenchment and support the local economy to upgrade and be competitive. To do this, the entrepreneurs'interaction and alliance with universities and governments is a must for those countries and localities wanting to emerge. This requires that enterprises, universities and governments create synergies and spill-overs to their mutual advantage.

Rural areas are a key sector in every nation's economy due to a sizeable majority of the population living therein, as well as their impact on global agriculture and food security. Rural development transcends the availability of infrastructure, technology, and industrialization to also encompass the enviro-cultural and psycho-social needs of its inhabitants. The necessity for greater and deliberate efforts targeting all aspects of development of these rural areas is required to sustain growth. The Handbook of Research on Rural Sociology and Community Mobilization for Sustainable Growth is an essential reference source investigating how global trends, state policies, and grassroots movements affect contemporary rural areas in both developed and developing countries. Featuring research on topics such as gender and rural development, micro-financing, and water resource management, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policy makers, professionals, researchers, and students seeking coverage on the sustainable development of rural areas.

Promoting rural entrepreneurship is a necessary step to limit the negative effects of classical agricultural policy based on a linear process and attracting secondary resources to the economic process. The analysis of agricultural policy and rural development in conjunction to entrepreneurship in terms of production may represent a further step in understanding the role and importance of diversifying the rural potentials in contemporary economies. The Handbook of Research on Agricultural Policy, Rural Development, and Entrepreneurship in Contemporary Economies is an essential publication of academic research that examines agricultural policy and its impact on shaping future resilient economy in rural areas and identifies green business models and new business patterns in rural communities. Covering a range of topics such as entrepreneurship, product management, and marketing, this book is ideal for researchers, policymakers, academicians, economists, agriculture professionals, rural developers, business investors, and students.

Mountain regions are subject to a unique set of economic pressures: they act as collective enterprises which have to valorize rare resources, such as spectacular landscapes. While primarily rural in nature, they often border large cities, and the development of industries such as hydroelectric power and the rapid development of tourism can bring about sweeping socio-economic change and vast demographic alterations.The Spatial and Economic Transformation of Mountain Regions describes the socio-economic changes and spatial impacts of the last four decades, with the transformation of mountain areas held up as an example. Much of the real-world context draws on the Alps, spanning as they do the significant economies of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Chapters address academic discourse on regional development in these mountain areas and suggest alternative approaches to the liberal-productivist societal model.This book will be essential reading for professionals, institutions, and NGOs searching for counter-models to the existing marketing approaches for peripheral areas. It will also be of interest to students of regional development, economic geography, environmental studies, and industrial economics.

Most developed economies, including single-industry and resource dependent rural or small town regions, are transforming rapidly as a result of social, political, and economic change. Collectively, they face a number of challenges as well as new opportunities. This international collaboration describes a critical political economy framework that will be useful for understanding these transitions.Transformation of Resource Towns and Peripheries describes the multi-faceted process of transition and change in resource dependent rural and small town regions since the end of the Second World War. The book incorporates international case studies from Australia, Canada, Finland and New Zealand, with the express purpose of highlighting similarities and differences in patterns and practices in each country. Chapters explore three main themes: how corporate ties and trade linkages are changing and impacting rural communities and regions; how resource industry employment is changing in these small communities; and how local community capacity and leadership are working to mitigate challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.This book will be of interest to students of regional studies, geography, and rural and industrial sociology. It will also have a strong appeal to policy-makers and local regional development practitioners.

This book focuses on empirical experiences related to market development, and specifically new markets with structurally different characteristics than mainstream markets. Europe, Brazil, China and the rather robust and complex African experiences are covered to provide a rich multidisciplinary and multi-level analysis of the dynamics of newly emerging markets. Rural Development and the Construction of New Markets analyses newly constructed markets as nested markets. Although they are specific market segments that are nested in the wider commodity markets for food, they have a different nature, different dynamics, a different redistribution of value added, different prices and different relations between producers and consumers. Nested markets embody distinction viz-a-viz the general markets in which they are embedded. A key aspect of nested markets is that these are constructed in and through social struggles, which in turn positions this book in relation to classic and new institutional economic analyses of markets. These markets emerge as steadily growing parts of the farmer populations are dedicating their time, energy and resources to the design and production of new goods and services that differ from conventional agricultural outputs. The speed and intensity with which this is taking place, and the products and services involved, vary considerably across the world. In large parts of the South, notably Africa, farmers are ‘structurally'combining farming with other activities. By contrast, in Europe and large parts of Latin America farmers have taken steps to generate new products and services which exist alongside ongoing agricultural production.This book not only discusses the economic rationales and dynamics for these markets, but also their likely futures and the threats and opportunities they face.

This book investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. The authors define wealth as all assets net of liabilities that can contribute to well-being, and they provide examples of many forms of capital – physical, financial, human, natural, social, and others. They propose a conceptual framework for rural wealth creation that considers how multiple forms of wealth provide opportunities for rural development, and how development strategies affect the dynamics of wealth. They also provide a new accounting framework for measuring wealth stocks and flows. These conceptual frameworks are employed in case study chapters on measuring rural wealth and on rural wealth creation strategies.Rural Wealth Creation makes numerous contributions to research on sustainable rural development. Important distinctions are drawn to help guide wealth measurement, such as the difference between the wealth located within a region and the wealth owned by residents of a region, and privately owned versus publicly owned wealth. Case study chapters illustrate these distinctions and demonstrate how different forms of wealth can be measured. Several key hypotheses are proposed about the process of rural wealth creation, and these are investigated by case study chapters assessing common rural development strategies, such as promoting rural energy industries and amenity-based development. Based on these case studies, a typology of rural wealth creation strategies is proposed and an approach to mapping the potential of such strategies in different contexts is demonstrated. This book will be relevant to students, researchers, and policy makers looking at rural community development, sustainable economic development, and wealth measurement.

'United Nations publication sales no. E.06.II.A.1'--T.p. verso.

Efforts to reduce poverty and improve food security in developing countries are hampered by declining support for strong agricultural growth, long considered a hallmark of successful poverty reduction strategies, according to the 2008 Trends in Sustainable Development report published by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The report highlights recent trends in agriculture, rural development, land, desertification and drought --five of the six themes being considered by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its 16th and 17th sessions (2008-2009). Strong agricultural growth is four times more effective than growth in other sectors in benefiting the poorest half of the population, the report finds. However, while many developing countries have posted gains in agricultural production, distribution and exports, people living in areas of high inequality and in isolation from the broader economy typically benefit little from them.

This book provides the latest conceptual thinking on, and case study exemplification of, rural tourism and sustainable business development from Europe, North America, Australasia, the Middle East and Japan in 19 concise, manageable chapters. The book is organised into distinct yet interrelated sections, and benefits from strong editorial input in terms of context setting and summary chapters. Rural Tourism and Sustainable Business represents a high quality text integrating the latest thinking on the evolving strategic roles of rural tourism and its role in sustainable business development. It provides readily accessible material drawn from a range of environmental and cultural contexts and draws attention to the nature and interrelationships between local and global issues in rural tourism and development.

Science faces major challenges in tackling the inter-linked problems of poverty and environmental sustainability. This book reviews how practical science can be applied to real-life conservation and development problems, and aims to demystify the sometimes obscure science of natural resources management, interpreting it for the benefit of those who need to deal with the day to day problems of managing complex natural resource systems. The authors give practical guidance to those who design and manage conservation programmes and demonstrate that technologies are available that enable integrated natural resource management to move from a theory to a reality. They argue that the threats to the natural environment posed by globalisation require an integrated response encompassing different scales, system components, disciplines and knowledge types, and that such a response can yield real benefits to those living in tropical developing countries, whilst also achieving global environment objectives.