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Rural Space Between Marginality and Centrality. Approaches to Marginality Issues in Rural Areas

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Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges

Part of the book series: Perspectives on Geographical Marginality ((PGEO,volume 4))

Abstract

Rural areas and their inhabitants are often considered as being at the margin of societies. However, this is a myopic perspective as it ignores the key role the rural space plays for humanity as provider of primary products (food and others). Also, it serves human recreation and is vital for the natural ecosystem. Playing off urban versus rural spaces is therefore a wrong debate because in reality there is often no clear distinction between the two; rather they merge in the zone of rurban transition. Besides, town and countryside are complementary and essential for human societies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The same holds good for the definitions of rich or poor, for example.

  2. 2.

    Marginal carries with it a negative connotation. Characterizing rural areas as marginal comes therefore close to an offense to those inhabitants who supply their urban fellow humans with food and all other raw materials. They work hard to produce all sorts of goods that we need for physical and social survival—from this perspective they are not marginal at all but occupy a key position in the world.

  3. 3.

    This is, of course, a simplification. Land grabbing is a much more complicated process, but I cannot enter into this debate here. See Borras and Franco (2012), Moyo (2012, p. 32 f.) and Rullo et al. (2013) for details.

  4. 4.

    Problems persist, as the co-existence of native land titles and pastoral leases (for ‘white’ settlers) is controversial and concerns “the overall treatment of the Aboriginal population” (Cullen 2003, p. 142).

  5. 5.

    “Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” (UN General Assembly 2014, p. 10).

  6. 6.

    Sub-Saharan Africa registered 71.1 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people in 2014 (UNDP 2015, Table 15, p. 265), well below world average (96.2) or the OECD mean (110.4). However, they are catching up fast: 2009–2014 the number increased by 111.5%, more than twice world and OECD averages (+50% and +9.7% respectively). The UNDP sees them as important elements in rural development and for agriculture (ibid., p. 89).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Fribourg/CH, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Walter Leimgruber

  2. National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chang-yi David Chang

  3. Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chang-yi David Chang

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  1. Walter Leimgruber
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  2. Chang-yi David Chang
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Correspondence to Walter Leimgruber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Geography Unit, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Walter Leimgruber

  2. Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Chang-yi David Chang

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Leimgruber, W., Chang, Cy.D. (2019). Rural Space Between Marginality and Centrality. Approaches to Marginality Issues in Rural Areas. In: Leimgruber, W., Chang, Cy. (eds) Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges. Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04393-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04393-3_1

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