Multitasking in the rural world: technological change and sustainability

Abstract

The rural world offers a heterogeneous picture caused by a rich past and varied responses to a diversity of socio-economic, demographic and political challenges. The present paper aims to trace new opportunities for rurality in the context of a metamorphosis of current production and consumption systems.Addressing issues like diversification, local competition or networking, rural firms are adapting to new conditions by segmenting and moving towards less concentrated forms, in an attempt to integrate the marketing of non-market commodities as the most adequate strategies for consumers. Such strategies that presuppose skills based on a specific know-how and technological improvements also oblige locals to enhance their knowledge basis and learning capacities, thereby facilitating a more environmentally sustainable production model that simultaneously stimulates balanced development. The case of biotechnology in the region of Andalusia (Spain) was used as an illustration to map out the above complex force field.The rural world suggests a new paradigm in which social participation is more needed and local and regional actors are encouraged to find meaningful compromises for the sustainable governance of natural resources and the advancement of social learning.

The use of gravity concepts for agricultural land-use dynamics: a case study on the Algarve

“…On the other hand, away from the international context and from a more microeconomic and local point of view, the rural world is multitasking, as pointed out by Vaz and Nijkamp (2009), and agriculture is multi-functioning, as pointed out by van Huylenbroeck and Durand (2004). Due to the spatial input of these multiple forces, land use is dynamic and modelling its change may help us to better accept and access new insights, such as the long-term environmental costs of exceeding the land's carrying capacity.…”

The multifunctional use of urban greenspace

“…In conclusion, the post-productivist model opens perspectives to many new-farm types and new urban-garden forms in cities, which are rapidly changing their general red-brownish cartographic colour into an exciting mix with splashes of bluish-green. Or, in other terms, it is amazing how -just when the rural world is becoming multi-tasking (Vaz and Nijkamp 2009) because of the emergence of multifunctional agriculture -urban areas are beginning to identify the important role of agriculture in reshaping the landscape architecture of cities and to put into practice the many new concepts for business-farms and green land-use forms.…”

Spatial Analyses for Policy Evaluation of the Rural World: Portuguese Agriculture in the Last Decade

“…However, rural areas have developed different specific characteristics (Gülümser et al, 2008) and thus have become multitasking entities (Vaz and Nijkamp, 2009) and urbanized regions (van Leeuwen and Nijkamp, 2006), prompting us to wonder whether the CAP might not be able to achieve new, possibly, surprising results by using new policy instruments. For example, now calling on knowledge assets that earlier would not be connected to agriculture but are nowadays relevant when handling production, processing and marketing, we must accept that, in general, there may exist a diversification of success factors responsible for the positive impacts of the CAP in rural Europe.…”

“…The multitask functioning of rurality (see Vaz and Nijkamp, 2009) and multifunctional agriculture (van Huylenbroeck and Durand, 2004) should be faced in Portugal as a major challenge and a possible solution to maintain population in those distant hinterlands that once were mainly used for agricultural production. Apart from agricultural activities, in the Portuguese rural areas, other factors should be pursued as tools for sustainable development.…”