18/02/20141 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Conceptualising Urban-Rural Linkages for Sustainable Development Bob Evans Sustainable Cities Research Institute, Northumbria University, UK

18/02/20142 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute When we think rural we tend to imagine this...

18/02/20143 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Instead of this

18/02/20144 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute And when we think urban we might imagine this....

18/02/20145 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Instead of this......

18/02/20146 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Or even this

18/02/20147 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute We all have well established preconceptions about our cities, towns and countryside but: In both social and economic terms, European urban and rural areas are inextricably intertwined and interdependent Moreover, they have much more in common than we tend to assume......

18/02/20148 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Increasingly, there is little difference between urban and rural lifestyles in contemporary Europe... FerdinandTönnies – Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (Community and Society) Truly rural is rapidly vanishing from Europe Urbs in rure and Rures in Urbs

18/02/20149 ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Urban growth and urbanisation

18/02/ ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute So, increasingly There are limited social differences between urban and rural localities Urban and rural areas are economically interdependent Urbanisation will slow and then reverse across Europe Urban growth, suburbanisation and sprawl will continue in the absence of containment policies or market pressure

18/02/ ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Sustainable Development and urban rural linkages Sustainable city is an oxymoron The city can only be understood in the context of its territorial situation Sustainable development demands a focus upon locality Sustainability means holistic, integrated and horizontal approaches to problems

18/02/ ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute So..... The construct of an urban – rural dichotomy, and the notion of linkage between the two is not a helpful way of addressing the challenge of sustainable development. But.... How do we address this challenge?

18/02/ ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute What all this implies is.... Urban containment and densification Integrated territorial policy approaches Political compacts based upon territory Government structures and governance processes to deliver the above

18/02/ ©Sustainable Cities Research Institute Bob Evans Sustainable Cities Research Institute, School of the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK