Core Human Settlement dynamics 6.1 Change in rural settlements

• Rural settlements in HICs, MICs, and LICs have undergone significant changes recently.
• Factors driving these changes include rural-urban migration, urban-rural migration, urban growth, technological advancements, rural planning policies, and the distribution of government funds.

Changing Rural Environments in the UK

• Rural society was once seen as distinct from urban society, but this divide has blurred.
• The concept of a rural-urban continuum has emerged, representing a spectrum from remote rural areas to highly urbanized ones.
• Intermediate areas exhibit both rural and urban traits.
• Paul Cloke's 'index of rurality' used variables like population density, land use, and remoteness to assess rurality.
• Urban areas now significantly impact even the most remote rural areas.
• Rural areas are constantly changing due to economic, social, political, and environmental factors.
• The pace of change has accelerated in recent years, with the UK reflecting broader trends in HICs.

Traditional Rural Society Characteristics

• Close-knit communities with strong social interaction.
• Homogeneity in language, beliefs, opinions, and behaviors.
• Strong family ties, especially extended family connections.
• Religion holds greater importance compared to urban society.
• Less pronounced class differences compared to urban areas.
• Limited mobility, both spatially and socially.

The Rural Economy

• Rural economies are no longer dominated by farming and landowners.
• New businesses are locating in rural areas
• Manufacturing, high technology, and the service sector are driving this trend, with SMEs playing a key role.
• Employment has grown faster in rural areas than urban areas in recent decades.
• Recreation, tourism, and environmental conservation are also significant new uses of rural space.
• The rural landscape is evolving into a complex, multi-use resource, and this has altered the composition of rural populations.

Social Change in the Countryside

• Economic shifts have fueled social change, with in-migration of specific groups, particularly middle class.
• Affluent newcomers are influencing the social and physical nature of rural areas.
• Newcomers have impacted the housing market, sometimes to the detriment of established populations.
• Increased demand has driven up house prices, making it difficult for original families to afford housing.
• Gentrification is occurring in rural areas, similar to inner cities.
• Increased mobility of people, goods, and information has eroded local communities.
• Government efforts to contain expansion into the countryside include creating green belts and allocating housing to urban areas or key villages.
• Lower levels of new housing development in smaller rural communities have led to higher house prices.
• Social and economic changes increased pressure on rural resources, prompting the government to re-evaluate policies.

Regulation

• Regulation has become important for sustainability and environmental conservation.

Changing Agriculture

• The countryside in the UK and other HICs has experienced major changes in agricultural production.
• Agricultural land comprises a large percentage of the land area in the UK, but agriculture employs a small percentage of the workforce.
• The size of farms has increased, leading to loss of hedgerows and ecological networks.
• Agricultural wages are below the national average.
• Farmers are diversifying within and outside agriculture, to increase income.
• Diversification may initially help, but oversupply can lead to further decline.

Counterurbanisation and Rural Depopulation

• The dominant process shaping settlement patterns, counterurbanisation, involves city residents moving to rural areas.
• Counterurbanisation has created a turnaround in population in many areas that had previously been depopulating.
• Impacts of counterurbanisation have been limited near cities due to green belt restrictions.
• Rural settlements just beyond green belts have grown significantly, resulting in altered character.
• Rural depopulation is now generally confined to the most isolated areas with dire economic conditions.
• A simple model exists explaining the depopulation process.

Rural Services

• Access to services like shops and healthcare is crucial for community sustainability.
• Rural services have declined, impacting the quality of life, especially for those without cars.
• Communities have experienced loss of local services.
• The government has been criticized for actions that may harm rural post offices.
• The government promoting new 'polyclinics' may put village GP surgeries at risk.
• Many people live in 'financial service deserts.'
• Reasons for rural service decline include market forces, changing rural population patterns and changing resident expectations.

Key Villages

• From the 1950s-1970s, key settlements were central to rural settlement policy.
• The concept ties into central place theory by focusing on a select settlement to satisfy services.
• Dispersed services decline rapidly in vulnerable areas with less income or demand.
• In vulnerable areas, focus would be placed on the best locations to maintain quality of life.
• Devon introduced such policy in 1964 to combat rural depopulation.
• It aimed to help the changing function on the countryside, decline in agricultural employment, and contraction of public transport.
• Selection criteria included existing services and employment, accessibility, location and public utilities.

Rural Transport Problem

• Increased car ownership has negatively impacted public transport, increasing the isolation of those without cars.
• A lack of public transportation puts pressure for low-income owners to buy cars, an expensive burden.
• Increases in the price of fuel have exacerbated the problem.
• There are concerns the remaining railway lines are under threat.
• Replacing rural rail lines with buses may only help a small portion of users. The train is essential for many.

Rural Housing Problem

• The rural population lack of affordable housing, leading to moving to market towns or urban centers.
• There is a higher degree of subsidization in urban housing, compared to rural.
• The government paper sought to improve situation, preventing such housing moving onto the open market being at high prices.
• The government would speed up disposal of ministry of defense housing.
• Rural households would be encouraged to take in lodgers.
• The issue of second comes has become contentious issues. Second homes development might accrue some advantages.

Contemporary Issues in LICs

• The primary factor impacting rural settlements in LICs, which has included rural-urban migration.
• Migration varied significantly across LIC rural communities that has been advantageous because of safety.
• Reducing rural population growth by limiting unemployment.
• Great migration has resulted in the rural depopulation with an aging population.
• It has further resulted in the closure of services due to populace decline.
• There is insufficient labor to maintain agriculture.

Rural Poverty Conditions

• Rural poverty accounts for the majority of poverty all over the world, reaching high percentages in LICs.
• Conditions of personal consumption and access to public services faced by the poorer. Efforts to get out of the poverty led to moving to cities.
• The international Monetary Fund highlighted factors of perpetuating poverty as following.
• First included political instability and strife including systemic discrimination and unfairenforcement to agricultural land.
• Lastly was a external shock that had lead to conditions in economy leading to corrupt politicians and rapid familal growth.

Rural Mongolia

• Rural society was very untouched by global interactions
• It characterized by traditional family structures, local customs, low densities, rural dependence, difficult conditions, traditional housing.
• There existed an relative inaccessibility with travel being done in horse and truck.
• Service and contact was limited, as well as material possessions.

The Isle of Purbeck

• The Isle of Purbeck exhibits clustered villages within a remote district.
• Corfe Castle is the largest of these clusters, and villages are set in a network of isolated houses and farms.
• The settlements are supported by a number of the towns and locations as a result.
• The local government attempted to establish housing, with some success.
• Tourism has a large part to play in the area, contributing to a shift in economic activity.
• Some services, such as hospitals or retail, have faced closure in recent decades.
• Deprivation in terms of housing and the housing is very limited. The income means less for basic necessities.
• Transport is also limited in the area, affecting the ability to travel and reach basic establishments.