The Rural or the Rural Environment? Key Elements in the Social Construction of the Environmental Question in Rural Areas in a Historical Context of Change

Abstract

To define rurality has been a recurring problem in geographical debate since the beginning of this century. Since the Seventies, this distinction has been conditioned by a degree of functionality in relation to urban areas. In Europe until the start of the Nineties, a Fordist or modernist approach prevailed associated with a so-called underdevelopment of rural compared to urban areas. It is useful to identify certain parameters that characterize rurality when developing assistential policies and also to demonstrate economic progress in relation to the range of agricultural employment or other parameters.