Title:	Urban-Rural Interactions
Authors:	Eveline S. van Leeuwen
Keywords:	Rural Development
Issue Date:	2010
Publisher:	Springer
Description:	In terms of land area, modern Europe (EU-25) is 90% rural (European Communities 2006). The rural areas are quite diverse not only geographically and in terms of landscape but also in terms of the different challenges they face. However, the shift from agricultural production towards a multifunctional landscape and the increasing value assigned to environmental values affects all rural areas. According to the OECD, today, even in the predominantly rural regions, agriculture contributes less than 15% to the total production and income generated (OECD 2002). Much research has been undertaken on both urban issues and rural areas, but the number of recent studies dealing with small or medium-sized towns (5,000–20,000 inhabitants) is limited.1 In a way this is strange, because towns also have many of the advantages that cities have, and they are also strongly connected to their surrounding areas. Towns used to have a symbiotic relationship with their surrounding area, acting as a source of firm and farm inputs (both goods and services), as a first destination for farm outputs, as a provider of (supplementary) employment and income to households, and as a source of consumer goods and services for households (Tacoli 1998). Over the years, this symbiosis has certainly changed, but towns could still be considered as important tools in rural development, not only in peripheral areas but also in the vicinity of cities. Towns are locations where rural activities meet and where (often) organizational advantages are found. If something needs to be changed in rural areas, then towns could be a place to start. In this study, we will focus on the current function of towns in the regional economy in Europe in general and in the Netherlands more specifically. We will try to find out how important the local economy is for households, farms and firms in small and medium-sized towns and in which way.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/46491
ISBN:	978-3-7908-2407-0
Appears in Collections:	Rural Development Studies

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