ABSTRACT
Rural space has many functions and many meanings. Rural areas produce most of the world’s food, and capture most of its water supply. They are the source of most of our energy – whether from fossil fuels or renewable resources – and the origin of most of the minerals that feed industry. Historically, at least, rural areas have provided society with fi bre for clothing, stone and timber for building, and wood pulp to make paper. Rural areas have also become our playground – a place to walk, ride, cycle, sightsee, or simply escape in search of a slice of tranquillity. They are valued for their scenic landscapes and for their natural environments – rural areas host the vast majority of the globe’s plant and animal species. Rural areas are also home to diverse indigenous cultures, and can be venerated as places where elements of traditional, pre-industrial ways of life may be glimpsed. As such, rural areas are frequently endowed with symbolic importance as signifi ers of national identity, or as the counterpoint to modernity. Rural areas are celebrated variously both as wilderness and as a bucolic idyll. Yet, they can also be portrayed as remote, backward, under-developed places, in need of modernization.
