The relationship between public transport and the progressive development of rural areas

In a consequence of the economic transformation, transport companies compete for the most profitable lines of public transport whereas the wide countryside remains of a little interest. As a solution, integrated systems of public transport could play an important role in the development of rural areas, especially in post-communist countries. Such a system in the South Moravian Region connects 24 state, municipal and private transport companies in a unified mode. It includes unified tariff, operation management from one place, and creation of a skeleton of high capacity (train) lines with transfer traffic nodes, creation of nodes on the city fringe for the change from buses to electric vehicles and release of capabilities for tangential lines. The system competes mainly with the individual car transport by its increasing comfort and extension of services. The annual performances have increased from 118 to 829 million of passengers-kilometers in the regional transport and from 344 to 396 million passengers in the city during the period 2004–2015. The relation between accessibility and rural development, particularly depopulation trends, was investigated. It was found that the frequency of connections is sufficient throughout the territory, which is one of main reasons inhabitants should remain in the countryside. Moreover, this frequency contributes positively to rural tourism, prevents social exclusion and stimulates progressive rural development throughout the whole territory.     

Operating small tourism firms in rural destinations: A social representations approach to examining how small tourism firms cope with non-tourism induced changes

This study explores the representation that owners and managers of small tourism firms ascribe to their rural destination and how non-tourism induced changes interfere with this representation and motivate coping as guided by social representations theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-four owners and/or managers of at least one small accommodation property in Gloucester, New South Wales, Australia. The informants became involved in the area's accommodation sector primarily driven by the lifestyle goals embedded in their representation of Gloucester. The perception that mining-induced changes might transform Gloucester into a mining town as opposed to its current representation as a town with a mine has motivated many informants to cope. However, coping is impeded by feelings of powerlessness, perceived uncertainties, and distrust in both government and industry. The findings provide preliminary insight into why and how small tourism firm owners/managers cope when faced with change from the perspective of social representations.     

European farmers and participatory rural appraisal: A systematic literature review on experiences to optimize rural development

Farmers are those who daily supervise and manage rural areas, but still their collaborations with those institutions entitled to decide the transformation of these territories are not managed properly. The experiences of participatory processes with the involvement of farmers are analyzed in many agricultural studies. A systematic review has allowed us to analyse experiences related to 35 participation paths aimed at rural regions’ development. The analysis has been made on the basis of 14 variables describing the path followed and its purpose, the agricultural holding involved and the areas surveyed.The work has the objectives to identify some strengths and weaknesses in the involvement of farmers in decision-making and the strengths and weaknesses of the processes themselves. The review has shown that too often in participatory processes farmers are considered only as a source of information to be used by researchers rather than as active participants in the choices for the protection, management and transformation of the rural territory. An effective participatory rural appraisal requires greater empowerment of farmers. In general, compared to the methods and tools used, farmers are wary of paths that are too complex and prefer the use of low-tech tools. This result can be attributed to the farmers’ demand of direct contact with the researchers to build trust and also to the average age of European farmers, which is pretty high.In participation contexts, it is not possible to establish standardized methods and tools, because each process should be tailored for the community that expresses it. Nevertheless, the work has highlighted the need to establish some minimum principles to avoid considering unsuccessful some participation paths which, in reality, have been only scarcely participated. In the work, these principles have been presented through the development of key questions, to which those who design the path for an effective engagement of agricultural stakeholder must respond: representativeness, empowerment, empirical knowledge, relationships, group type, numerosity and involvement stage.     

A phenomenological explication of guanxi in rural tourism management: A case study of a village in China

Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology in tourism studies as well as Heidegger's concept of being-in-the-world, this paper reveals how tourism can and should be done in a Chinese rural village. This research contributes a contextual interpretation of guanxi in Chinese rural tourism development through an empirical study of a traditional agricultural village in China that has been transformed through tourism development. The paper argues that for the Chinese indigenous residents who are the primary actors engaged in tourism, guanxi is, neither a Confucian political ideal nor an instrumental tool, but the specific manner in which they dwell in their place. It demonstrates how the tourist destination, landscape and managerial regulation have been modified and adapted in a guanxi way. The paper suggests that an emic understanding of guanxi and the roles it plays in tourism participants' daily life is warranted and can provide a more holistic picture of tourism development in rural China.     

湖南省农村信贷现状及发展对策

根据对湖南省农村信贷现状的调查,进而对湖南农村信贷在发展中存在的问题进行了分析,并提出了完善湖南省农村信贷的发展对策.     

Multi-scale integrated analysis of rural Laos: Studying metabolic patterns of land uses across different levels and scales

This paper presents an application of the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach to the analysis of rural land uses. Using secondary data on farming systems in Laos, we illustrate how the concept of metabolic pattern can be used to establish links between the various indicators of performance of rural systems. To this purpose, we characterize the socioeconomic activities in rural Laos by a series of quantitative indicators defined across: (i) different hierarchical levels of organization described at different scales (i.e. households, rural villages, administrative regions and the whole country) and (ii) different dimensions of analysis, including economic, agronomic, social, biophysical, and ecological analysis. The MuSIASEM approach simultaneously employs two non-equivalent criteria for quantification. The observed rural system is described in terms of an integrated set of flow elements (money, food, energy, water, fertilizer and other materials), which are mapped against two distinct fund elements: (i) a multi-level matrix of human activity (flows being expressed in terms of intensity per hour) and (ii) a multi-level matrix of land uses (flows being expressed as density per hectare). Our case study shows that in this way it is possible to move across different hierarchical levels, scales and dimensions, to arrive at an integrated representation of the metabolic pattern of farming systems.     

Trade openness and household welfare within a country: A microeconomic analysis of Vietnamese households

The positive effects of trade liberalisation on several dimensions of poverty have initiated studies of the trade–poverty relationship. Trade liberalisation accompanies institutional reforms that help to reduce institutional barriers against the poor. This study examines the impacts of trade openness and institutional reforms on rural household welfare at the provincial level through the analysis of the determinants of welfare of rural households in Vietnam. The study employs a model of micro-determinants of growth and tests it on the data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys (VHLSSs) of 2006 and 2010. What makes the study different from some other studies of the same vein is that it attempts to directly capture the institutional effect on welfare. The study finds that, in the provinces with high institutional reforms and trade openness, the welfare of rural households improved. Institutional reforms in Vietnam appeared to be sluggish in the late 2000s. In particular, both access to land and lower informal charges were the important determinants of welfare improvement over time. These findings suggest that Vietnam should maintain its development by accelerating the process of institutional reforms, thereby helping poor households to improve standards of living.     

Rural tourism quality of services: fundamental contributive factors from tourists’ perceptions

Despite the importance of quality of services in the rural tourism sector, it is somewhat surprising that little study has been done to delve into the fundamental contributive factors that contribute to quality of services from the tourists’ perceptions. This is the first known study undertaken with a view to understand the fundamental contributive factors (i.e. climate change, carrying capacity, relaxation environment, and community support) from the environmental perspectives that link with quality of services in rural tourism destinations. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the tourists who visited four study sites from Borneo Heights, Sarawak, and 215 were returned and used for analysis. To assess the developed model, SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) is applied based on path modelling and then bootstrapping. Interestingly, the findings revealed that tourists are more concerned about the changing of climate and relaxation environment at the destination. They also agreed that community support plays a significant role in the development of quality of services in the rural tourism. This study further discussed on the implications of the findings, limitations, and directions for future research.     

Rural development and the role of game farming in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

The analysis of game farming is set in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Game farming reorders the use, meaning and value of land and animal species. However, what it means for rural development processes in the immediate region and beyond is not well accounted for. We perceive game farming as an assemblage that brings together new actors, new forms of land use and new discourses. We argue that although game farming has generated new opportunities and new forms of added value to the available resources (e.g. eco-tourism, trophy hunting, game-meat production), situated in the history and contemporary context of the Eastern Cape, it is a contested, and from a development point of view, problematic land-use practice. We argue that game farming constrains land and agrarian reforms: the distribution of land and income remains skewed; ‘poaching’ occurs and game farms do not, or only minimally, generate new and badly needed employment opportunities. The game farm has emerged as an exclusive, globally well-connected space. The nature of the relationships this space maintains with the surrounding communities is, however, such that the overall contribution to rural development in South Africa is questionable.     

Organizing anarchy: The food security–biodiversity–climate crisis and the genesis of rural land use planning in the developing world

Shortfalls in global food production, coupled with the growing visibility of climate change's disruptive effects, have underlined for many observers the importance of devoting rural lands to their ‘optimal’ use, where they can make maximal contributions to the global imperatives of feeding the human population and maintaining vital environmental services. In this context observers have endorsed rural land use planning as a way to insure that, at least in theory, lands get devoted to their best uses. In practice, land use planning in the developing world has resembled ‘organized anarchy’. Small landholders with insecure land tenure, overseas investors seeking large land deals, NGOs representing indigenous peoples, government officials, and staff from international environmental NGOs and multilateral organizations have come together in strategic action fields to struggle over and sometimes negotiate land use plans for contested landscapes. These plans represent a strategic, spatially explicit response to the climate change–biodiversity–food security crisis.