Rural-Urban Linkages for Sustainable Development (The Dynamics of Economic Space)

This book critically examines different forms of urban-rural links for sustainable development in different countries.

As intertwined processes of globalization, digitalization, environmental challenges and the search for sustainable development continue, rural and urban areas around the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This book contributes to understanding the role of this growing interconnectedness from an economic geographical perspective. It does so by theoretically and empirically addressing the various existing linkages, such as food networks, value chains, and regional governance at local, regional, national and international levels. In doing so, contributions extend and contrast existing approaches dealing with urban and rural areas separately by considering the interplay between these two as well as their consequences for sustainability transition pathways. This edited volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of concepts and themes in order to shift the research and policy agenda away from simple dichotomy to different notions of rural-urban linkages.

Offering multidisciplinary insights into rural-urban linkages, the book will be of interest to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers in the fields of economic geography, regional planning, food studies and economics.

Armin Kratzer works at the Department of Geography of the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on protected areas, civil society initiatives and innovations for sustainability transitions in rural and urban areas.

Jutta Kister is a human geographer, working at the University of Innsbruck. She is investigating in economic geography topics with emphasis on sustainable provision and consumption of food and agricultural resources. She published on alternative-value-chains and fair trade networks and governance in sustainability transitions.