This paper presents a critical approach to the New Rurality and the Rural Territorial Development (RTD) perspectives, which nowadays are hegemonic for governmental organizations and Latin American academies. RTD's core requirements, which are functional for neoliberal policies resulting in the loss of food sovereignty, the globalization of agribusinesses, and migration as a consequence of peasant agricultural weakening, were critically reviewed on the basis of the principal challenges faced by Latin American rural areas. In light of the above consequences, it is thought that changes in such areas are based on neoliberal rurality rather than on the purported New Rurality. By stressing the need for a global historical view that reintroduces the Latin American critical thinking tradition, the urgency for public policies that stop neoliberal prescriptions and seek to strengthen peasant and indigenous agriculture in order to encourage rural development based on food sovereignty, democracy, equity and sustainability were established.

Esse artigo tem por objetivo analisar a abordagem territorial a partir da perspectiva multidimensional, sob a ótica das políticas públicas de desenvolvimento de territórios rurais. Sendo assim, realizamos dois estudos de caso: um no Brasil, o Território Rural Vale do Rio Pardo localizado no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul e outro no México, a Região Atenco-Texcoco localizada no Estado do México. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, subdividimos o presente artigo em duas seções, além da introdução. Na primeira, discute-se sobre Desenvolvimento de Territórios Rurais com um olhar para América Latina, e a segunda aborda a multidimensionalidade, entendida como interação de aspectos sociais, econômicos, culturais, políticos e ambientais na configuração do Território. Por fim, as considerações finais acerca da temática abordada. Conclui-se, portanto, que a abordagem multidimensional é bastante complexa, tendo em vista que a dinâmica do território não deve supervalorizar nenhuma das dimensões do desenvolvimento, mas sim entender que a multidimensionalidade na abordagem territorial é a condição chave para a valorização das potencialidades e particularidades de determinado território. Dessa forma, entende-se que a participação social é fundamental para a construção dos processos de desenvolvimento.

The term “rural development” is exceptionally multifaceted, which makes it difficult to define. This and other features make it a ‘wicked problem’, which means the consequences of ruraldevelopmental problems can create other complications. To date, the important discussion of rural development has dealt with productivity and economic concerns. This discussion has many crucial aspects such as the environment, infrastructure, and respect for fundamental rights. This paper describes the ‘Heritage and Patrimony of the Peasantry’ as an alternative analytical framework for addressing rural development. This analytical framework takes important topics from other rural development perspectives (primarily focused on food sovereignty principles). The heritage and patrimony of the peasantry framework moves away from the market point of view, which converts everything into an asset that can be marketed, and utilizes other sources of heritage. The peasantry has seven kinds of ‘heritages’ or ‘patrimonies’: natural, cultural, economic, physical, social, institutional, and human. These heritages or patrimonies are the bases of construction for a decent standard of living which will accomplish full rights for all rural inhabitants, i.e. rural development.

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