ABSTRACT
Defining and delineating ostensibly rural areas from urban ones has been a perennial concern of rural geographers and planners. What makes rural areas different and how should that difference shape policy planning approaches for the countryside? And what is the relevance of these differences internationally? Attempts to isolate key rural characteristics have been ongoing since at least the 1960s. This chapter tracks those attempts and reveals how thinking on the nature of ‘rurality’ has evolved over the last half century. It then provides a review of different traditions of rural planning internationally, to position contemporary rural planning concerns within a politics characterised by extremely diverse interests – and conflicts – about the development of rural places.
