Working Group 5.8

Sustainable Ruralism

Convenors:
Mark Shucksmith, Newcastle University m.shucksmith@ncl.ac.uk
Sally Shortall, Queen’s University Belfast  s.shortall@qub.ac.uk  

‘Sustainable ruralism’ is the support for and celebration of sustainable rural communities (Shucksmith 2008). It has two faces, one discursive and the other policy related, and this working group seeks to address both.

On the discursive level, the concept of ‘sustainable ruralism’ mirrors and contests the concepts of ‘sustainable urbanism’ and ‘new urbanism’ which are now widely used to advocate urban settlements as “walkable communities on a human scale, with local character and a sense of identity, which provide for social balance and show respect for the environment”. The new urbanism discourse thus attempts to expropriate the gemeinschaft characteristics once ascribed to rural communities, while also being in essence a political movement against suburbs and rural settlements, which are presented as inherently unsustainable because of their reliance on private cars, among other supposed deficiencies. In some countries a dualism has emerged between those communities which are regarded as sustainable, where future investment will be concentrated, and those regarded as unsustainable, which will be starved of resources. Sustainable ruralism contests this exercise of discursive power and its political consequences for rural areas. Papers will be welcomed in this working group which explore these issues including, for example, case studies of the exercise of discursive power in different countries asking how power is exercised, whose interests are served, and how such discourses are contested.  More conceptual and theoretical reflections on the exercise of discursive power in this context, or indeed on the concept of sustainable ruralism itself, are also invited.

The notion of ‘sustainable ruralism’ also raises policy and practice relatedquestions of what is a sustainable rural community and how to promote and support the efforts of rural communities to be sustainable. Instead of a false dualism between sustainable and unsustainable rural communities, the question becomes how all communities might become more sustainable (CEC Territorial Cohesion Green Paper 2008), reflecting a belief that all communities have the right to be sustainable (Matthew Taylor review, 2008). Inescapably this draws us into the contested and chaotic concept of sustainability itself, with its roots in a principle of equity between and within generations (Brundtland 1987) and its evolution into the advancement of social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The focus in this workshop, though, will be on the policy and practice aspects of defining, promoting and supporting rural communities themselves to become more sustainable. Rural policy increasingly advocates empowerment of local communities to develop through deliberative processes their own strategies for the future, supported by appropriate multi-level governance structures and managerial technologies. What can our research on such neo-endogenous rural development attempts tell us about what is a sustainable rural community and how best to promote and support the efforts of rural communities to be sustainable? Again, case studies as well as more conceptual and theoretical papers will be welcomed, particularly those that analyse conflict or explore themes of power, ideology and the role of government.