ABSTRACT
Without exception, nations in the ‘Global North’ were all born in the countryside. Over time, however, industrialisation, technological innovation, and economic and demographic change combined to urbanise these countries to the extent that rural areas and communities often came to be viewed as largely peripheral and subordinate to metropolitan areas. While viewed as centres of resource extraction in the forms of agriculture, forestry, mining, water and human capital transfer, the countryside was rarely seen as requiring careful and deliberate planning action and policy. They were often described as ‘places left behind’. Over time, however, countries in the Global North came to recognise some of the unique advantages, contributions and challenges posed by rural places and communities. If rural areas and populations were to be sustained, then planning, investment and control over extractive activities and significant amenity locations had to be forthcoming. This chapter seeks to delineate the evolution of rural planning activities by national and sub-national political entities, authorities and constituencies.
