ABSTRACT
The construction of an index of rurality for England and Wales is an attempt to formulate previously subjective ideas into one concise statement of rural-urban differentials. The index of rurality presented here arose from the need to select comparable case study units for use in the author's study of key settlement planning policies in rural areas. The formulation of rurality data for two dates enables the measurement of inter-index changes in degree of rurality, and offers the capability of monitoring rurality trends in rural areas at different scales. Generally, the selection of variables was dictated by the expectation that each one chosen would vary appreciably with changing rurality, some increasing and some decreasing. Moreover it can be argued that many boundary changes may be viewed as an integral part of an upward spiral model of rural change and as such should be included in the indexation of rurality.
