Proposal for a sustainable development index for rural municipalities

López-Penabad, Maria Celia; Casal, Ana Iglesias; Rey‐Ares, Lucía

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131876

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Based on a review of the rural sustainability assessments (Table 1) and considering the availability of data at the administrative village level, we conceived a multi-dimensional indicator system (Table 3) that embraced the perspectives of villagers, tourists, and the government, who are the key actors and stakeholders in rural development and sustainability (He et al 2020;Moreau et al 2023). More specifically, from the villagers' perspective, indicators of population density and population growth were selected from the social dimension (Ferretti et al 2020;González-García et al 2019;López-Penabad et al 2022;Martínez-Vega et al 2020). Resident population data for each administrative village in Huzhou City were obtained from the WorldPOP Project database (Gaughan et al 2016), which is currently the most accurate high-resolution population database for China (Bai et al 2018).…”

Section: Multi-dimensional Rural Sustainability Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability assessment of rural landscapes from spatial and multiple stakeholders’ perspective

Lyu,

Huang,

Weng

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Context Sustainable rural development, closely linked to well-being of both urban and rural residents, is essential to achieving regional sustainability. Understanding the spatial characteristics vital for rural sustainability is fundamental to rural sustainability assessment, regional ecosystem services provisioning, and human well-being research. Objective This study aimed to construct an indicator system to assess rural sustainability from multiple stakeholders' perspectives, and examine the spatial characteristics that affect rural sustainability from the perspectives of villagers, tourists, and the government. Methods This study proposed indicator systems for each group of stakeholders at the scale of administrative villages. It assessed the rural sustainability of Huzhou, one of China's most developed rural areas, by using multi-source and innovative datasets. Spatial heterogeneity of rural sustainability was examined by hot spots and gradient analysis and the spatial characteristics of rural landscapes were quantified from the dimensions of natural, humanistic, and infrastructural characteristics. The spatial random forest model was adopted to identify effects of different spatial characteristics on rural sustainability. Results Our results showed that hot spots of rural sustainability mainly concentrated in proximity to urban areas and scenic spots, showing a decreasing and then increasing trend with increasing distance. Compared with humanistic and infrastructural characteristics, natural characteristics of villages were more important to rural sustainability. The relationship between rural sustainability and spatial characteristics varied among different stakeholders. Natural characteristics had the greatest impact on rural sustainability from the perspectives of villagers and tourists, and humanistic and natural characteristics were more important from the perspective of governments. Conclusion This study revealed the relationship between rural sustainability and spatial characteristics at the administrative village scale from multi-stakeholder perspectives, which helps to guide rural landscape planning and governance, and improve the contributions of rural landscapes to regional sustainability.

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Section: Multi-dimensional Rural Sustainability Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability assessment of rural landscapes from spatial and multiple stakeholders’ perspective

Lyu,

Huang,

Weng

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Besides, it leads to an increase in the average age of the population within the rural environment, with a clear tendency for young people to migrate to the cities [31]. It is widely recognized that not preventing the movement of young population away from rural environments is problematic, as it affects different professions such as agriculture, livestock, and various industries that are fundamental in the economic and social functioning of the country, and to successfully achieve so-called "sustainable development" [33]. Such is the scale of the problem that an organization called "España Vaciada" [Emptied Spain] has even been launched to work towards the recovery of these rural areas [34].…”

Section: Social Problem Addressed: Rural Depopulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also evident that not all areas of Spain present this problem. Coastal areas and large cities are more densely populated, and the problem of depopulation is found mainly in the interior of Spain [33]. Castilla y León, for example, is a region located in the north of Spain, where the rural population has decreased by 14.3% between 2000 and 2020 [32].…”

Section: Social Problem Addressed: Rural Depopulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educating Future Agricultural Engineers at the University of Burgos, Spain, through a Service-Learning Project on Rural Depopulation and Its Social Consequences

et al. 2023

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A Service-Learning Project (S-LP) is a teaching experience through which the concepts covered during an educational course can practically be applied to address a given social problem. It is therefore a useful teaching methodology to bring courses closer to the real world. An S-LP experience is reported in this paper that was conducted with students of agricultural engineering to address the problem of rural depopulation, through the design of agri-food buildings for industries, and economic activities that help to maintain a stable population. After the S-LP, a survey was administered to both students and teachers, to assess the success of this teaching experience. The responses of the students showed not only an awareness of the social problem that was addressed, but also a critical spirit that led them to seek the best possible answer, and a global vision of the issue. It helped them to reflect on all of its facets to arrive at a way of engaging with the social problem. Importantly, the students were able to reflect upon how engineers can also serve society through their technical knowledge. The teachers indicated that the S-LP motivated the students on the course, while enabling them to successfully learn the concepts, and to develop independent study skills searching for information. In general, an S-LP is an experience that the teachers in this study would recommend and that could be especially relevant for universities assuming a role as a social entity to heighten the visibility of social problems and needs.

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“…López-Penabad et al [38] introduced a benchmarking system for assessing rural sustainable development in Galician municipalities in Spain. They identify crucial factors linked to the rural sustainable development index and utilize the Benefit of the Doubt, common weights, super-efficiency, and logistic-geometric methodologies to construct a composite index.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability performance of rural municipalities in Germany

Karami,

Madlener

2023

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background Sustainable rural development entails efforts to enhance the well-being of rural communities while safeguarding natural resources for future generations. The thorough examination of sustainable rural development is still scarce but nevertheless crucial, as it enables to reveal the various challenges and remaining potentials in rural areas, to identify key stakeholders and their respective roles in promoting sustainable rural development, and to determine the best practices for attaining set goals along the various sustainability dimensions considered. Germany has implemented a range of policies, initiatives, and programs to foster sustainable development, extending its efforts to also encompass rural areas. This study assesses the sustainability performance of rural municipalities in Germany, proposing a novel and comprehensive sustainability benchmarking system. For this purpose, the performance of selected rural municipalities along the ecological, social, economic, and technological dimensions is examined. Results Based on the systematic implementation of methodological stages, a rigorous literature review process, a systematic indicator selection, and stringent filtering criteria, the selected indicators of our study cover environmental, energy, quality of life, economic, and technological aspects. These indicators enable to efficiently and effectively measure, compare, and evaluate the sustainability performance of rural municipalities. After normalization, weighting, and aggregation of the considered indicators, the performance is visualized in radar charts. Radar charts are handy for comparing a larger number of variables and displaying them in compact and comprehensible form in a single chart. Finally, the overall relative sustainability performance of the selected rural municipalities in Germany is compared based on an aggregated single score. The adopted methodology of aggregating indicators enables us to assess the sustainability performance of municipalities as well as to highlight variations among them. Conclusion Most databases and sustainable development reports are updated only every couple of years and often do not report the performance of small rural municipalities but only larger (more urban) ones. By conducting a detailed analysis of these specific cases, we can identify key challenges and opportunities unique to rural communities and develop targeted strategies for a more sustainable development. Adding digitalization as a technological value indicator makes our approach more comprehensive than comparable others, and accounts for the important new sustainability dimension of societal transition. This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing a novel sustainability benchmarking system specifically tailored for rural areas. From a practical standpoint, the developed sustainability benchmarking system offers a practical tool for rural municipalities to assess and monitor their sustainability performance and to reflect on variations among them. The identified dimensions and indicators can guide the development of targeted strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing sustainability in rural communities. Finally, policymakers can utilize the benchmarking results to design policies, (incentive) programs, and initiatives that address the specific sustainability challenges faced by rural municipalities and account for limitations in the local potentials.

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Proposal for a sustainable development index for rural municipalities

Cited by 25 publications

References 35 publications

Sustainability assessment of rural landscapes from spatial and multiple stakeholders’ perspective

Sustainability assessment of rural landscapes from spatial and multiple stakeholders’ perspective

Educating Future Agricultural Engineers at the University of Burgos, Spain, through a Service-Learning Project on Rural Depopulation and Its Social Consequences

Sustainability performance of rural municipalities in Germany

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