TI 503 Conceptualising the Rural – Policy, Strategy and Governance

Module Coordinators: Dr John McDonagh; Dr Maura Farrell and Dr Marie Mahon
Timetable: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 1:00 - 4:00  
Venue: Geography Seminar Room (113, Arts/Science)

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Please click below for various module details:

• Module rationale
• Key learning outcomes
• Assessment
• Readings
• Full module outline

Module rationale

This overarching module aims to introduce students to the fundamental concepts, themes and challenges that face contemporary rural areas. There is a growing recognition that rural areas are a key factor in addressing the challenge of sustainability particularly in terms of their potential contribution (positive and negative) to issues of food security, energy security and climate change. The delicate balance of threats and opportunities presented by globalization is particularly significant for rural regions – which constitute 91% of the EU land area, house over 50% of its population, generate 45% of Gross Value Added and provide 53% of employment (CEC, 2006). Traditional industries such as agriculture and forestry are vulnerable to global competition and deregulation. Rural communities are exposed to the effects of transnational migration and increasingly internationalized property markets and established practices of environmental management, are challenged by the intervention of global actors and concerns. At the same time, globalization has re-ordered notions of ’core’ and ’periphery’ which have historically marginalized rural regions (CEC, 1999), and opened up new markets for rural enterprises and attracted new investors to rural areas. In this context it is critical to the future development of rural regions that they are in a position to adopt appropriate responses both to the challenges and opportunities that are forthcoming.  A core objective of this course is to enable students to develop a critical understanding of the rural in order to more fully appreciate the breadth and depth of the challenges facing this arena and through which knowledge accumulation, they will become to more engaged with the nuances, conflict and contestation surrounding the place of the rural in society. 

Key learning outcomes

Students will become familiar with a wide range of themes concerning the rural including:

• Conceptualising rural and Rurality
• Changing definitions and approaches to the rural
• Directions of rural policy
• From rural politics to the politics of the rural
• Governance of the rural
• Blurring the rural-urban divide

Assessment (30 ECTS)

This is a 10 ECTS module and will be assessed through a variety of continuous assessments, details of which will be provided by the module coordinator at the beginning of the module.   

Some key readings

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