Routledge Regional Resilience, Economy and Society: Globalising Rural Places (The Dynamics of Economic Space)

Product Description There has been a great deal of restructuring of rural places and communities under globalisation, highlighting the interaction of local and global actors to produce new hybrid socio-economic relations. Recent research highlights the heterogeneity of globalisation in which rural places are different to each other, but also different to how they were in the past. Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of academics, and comparative case studies from Europe (West and East) and Asia, this book explores and discusses opportunities and challenges associated with globalising rural places, and identifies possibilities for policy and practical intervention by rural development actors. Special attention is paid to multi-scalar processes through which rural places are reshaped through globalisation. Taking a geographical approach, the book produces new critical work on the interdependence between globalisation and rural spaces. It is organised into five sections: Part I focuses on ’Global-Rural Linkages’ showing the multifaceted interrelation between actors at different geographical scale and demonstrating that globalisation is not only external to rural spaces. Part II on ’Rural Entrepreneurship and Labour Markets’ explores the potential of business start-ups in rural spaces which are not only necessity driven. Part III ’Rural Innovation and Learning’ shows that rural places are also places for innovation and learning. Part IV on ’Rural Policies and Governance’ argues that regional policies for rural places should promote side activities to maintain social capital and that regional policy should take a more integrative perspective between urban and rural spaces in order to explore complementary development paths. The concluding chapter ’New Approaches to Rural Spaces’ discusses new approaches to globalising rural places in relation to the preceding chapters published in this book. Review ’Rather than globalisation producing more sameness among the world’s rural areas, studies seem to reveal ever more difference. What this conundrum might mean for the strengthening of the social and economic resilience of rural areas is the question at the heart of this thoughtful and stimulating book.’ Neil Ward, University of East Anglia, UK ’Concepts of resilience and globalisation are central to contemporary discussions on rural sustainability. In this book, exploration of these concepts and the clever weaving of the debate around the interaction of global and local actors and the notion of place distinct rural trajectories provide a timely contribution to a debate which impacts within and beyond rural Europe. The exciting array of contributors and case studies certainly provides an excellent resource for researchers and students grappling with the challenges and opportunities of the ever dynamic rural.’ John McDonagh, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland About the Author Christine Tamásy, University of Vechta, Germany, and Javier Revilla Diez, University of Hanover, Germany.