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Imagining a Prosperous Periphery for the Rural in 2050 and Beyond

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Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future

Abstract

Most sustainability analyses of the future privilege the urban in future scenarios of climate change at the expense of providing scenarios about the future of the rural, in part because rural regions provide the urban with most of its resources. It is also expected that urban regions will potentially account for up to 70% of the global population by 2050 so most future scenarios of sustainability focus on such regions. Given this over privileging of the urban in sustainability studies, this chapter instead presents a condensed overview of three possible future scenarios of rural areas beginning in 2050 and beyond. Each scenario correlates with a different level of possible human-caused global warming and the correlated implications of possible sustainability in rural areas depending on how hot the earth will become by the end of the century. A variety of social, environmental, and economic metrics are briefly analyzed, with their implications for sustainable futures in rural areas analyzed and discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This article connects to the Academy of Finland funded research project ‘Skills of Self-Provisioning in Rural Communities’ (decision number 343277) and the HELSUS – Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science funded project ‘Bioeconomy and Strongly Sustainable Organization’. We thank the funders and our collaborators.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA

    Todd LeVasseur

  2. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Toni Ruuska & Pasi Heikkurinen

Authors
  1. Todd LeVasseur
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  2. Toni Ruuska
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  3. Pasi Heikkurinen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Todd LeVasseur .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Department of Business and Law, University of Milano-Bicocca, MILANO, Milano, Italy

    Federica Doni

  4. University of Passo Fundo, Sao Jose, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Amanda Lange Salvia

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LeVasseur, T., Ruuska, T., Heikkurinen, P. (2022). Imagining a Prosperous Periphery for the Rural in 2050 and Beyond. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Doni, F., Salvia, A.L. (eds) Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68074-9_12-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68074-9_12-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68074-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68074-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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