1. EDORA: European Development Opportunities for Rural Areas National Conference Territorial European Research in Support of Public Policies Formulation Bucharest, 25th November 2010 Romanian Academy Petri Kahila Nordregio, Stockholm petri.kahila@nordregio.se Andrew Copus Centre for Remote and Rural Studies andrew.copus@uhi.ac.uk

2. The EDORA Project Objectives …to describe the main processes of change which are resulting in the increasing differentiation of rural areas. …to identify development opportunities and constraints for different kinds of rural areas… …to consider how such knowledge can be translated into guiding principles to support the development of appropriate cohesion policy.

3. “Stylised Fallacies” as a Starting Point General rural policy debate adopt persistent presumptions of ‘rural England’ Debate also conducted with implicit generalisations  We characterise these unjustified generalisations as ‘stylised fallacies’ (Hodge 2004) Some stylised fallacies –Rural = Agrarian –Rural labour markets dominated by poor human capital, low activity rates, unemployment… –Rural areas are not good environments for entrepreneurship and innovation… –The impacts of globalisation are predominantly negative in rural areas… Key question: Are these assumptions behind rural policy?

4. The EDORA Project

5. Meta-Narratives Meta-Narratives: –Help us to understand the way in which different facets of rural change interact. –Help us to systematically describe change in individual rural areas. –Should take account of both current changes and look ahead to likely future developments. But they are not: –Discrete regional development paths. –Associated in a one-to-one way with different kinds of rural areas.

6. Why produce a Typology? To review explanatory potential of the Dijkstra-Poelman version of the OECD typology. Explore potential to elaborate it; add (structure and performance) aspects to U-R dimension. Elaborated typology should then serve as a framework for analysis of recent trends, consideration of future perspectives, and policy implications. To correct/replace “Stylised Fallacies” (Hodge 2004) about rural areas as background to rural/regional policy debate. To provide a means of “benchmarking” for regional and national policymakers.

7. The EDORA Cube Not solely a typology but more of a three-dimensional framework for analysis, rather than a one-dimensional classification. The three dimensions are: Urban-Rural (remote/accessible) Economic structure (diversification). Accumulation – Depletion (performance).

10. Some Generalisations which emerge from the EDORA Typologies Agrarian regions are mainly concentrated in an arc stretching around the eastern and southern edges of the EU27. The rest of the European space is a patchwork of Consumption Countryside, Diversified (Secondary) and Diversified (Private Services). Agrarian regions and Diversified (Secondary) regions tend to be relatively low performers, (Depleting). The Consumption Countryside regions and the Diversified (Private Services) group are both high performers, and likely to continue to “accumulate” in the future.

11. Two levels in Policy Design and Targeting… + Macro-level Policy Design and Targeting = Macro Level + Local/regional auditing of Intangible Assets Micro-level endogenous place-based approaches. = Micro Level

12. “Development Opportunities”… (… in the sense of activities which have growth potential…) …In different kinds of rural area… Agrarian – Para- or Peri-Productivism, diversification…. Consumption Countryside – economic activity based upon environmental public goods (amenities) tourism, recreation… Diversified (Strong Secondary) – structural shift towards higher value, information based activities, and market services… Diversified (Strong Market Services) – “New Rural Economy” – similar opportunity set to that of urban and peri-urban economies. Attractive for residential development –QoL…. All of these opportunities have different characteristics, in terms of labour market impacts, future prospects etc. Analysis of specific opportunities will inevitably be partial and ephemeral. Each region has a unique combination of resources and opportunities… Globalisation and “Connexity” means that increasingly the opportunities are ubiquitous, and development is determined by “the supply side”; i.e. regional resources, assets or “territorial capital”.

13. Concluding: the evidence points towards neo-endogenous, “place-based” policy approaches…. To be successful… Pay special attention to coherence with other policy…(esp. CAP Pillar 2). Local auditing should also support policy monitoring and evaluation. Top-down guidance needs to balance clarity and specificity with flexibility. Needs to be facilitated by multi-level governance capacity – this may be a valid object for support in some contexts.

14. …Thank you for your attention… Final Seminar Rural Policy for the Globalised Post-Recession European Countryside 3rd December 2010 0930-1300 Norway House, Rue Archimède 17, Brussels Further Information: www.nordregio.se/edora