Bridging between the regional degree and the community approaches to rurality—A suggestion for a definition of rurality for everyday use

The territorial approach to rural development highlights the role of local actors, networks, culture, nature and landscape amenities. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition of rurality is, however, not capable of dealing with local and community definitions of rurality, which vary from study to study. In everyday life, physical planners, rural policymakers and local rural actors need a consistent definition of rurality. The reason is that structural reforms have led to larger administrative units that have less experience-based knowledge about the individual rural communities within a municipality than do local authorities. In this article, we propose a consistent definition of rurality that is easy for physical planners, rural policy makers and local rural actors to understand and apply in everyday use. In addition, our definition will be able to deal with both the regional and the community approach to rurality. This definition is based on an interdisciplinary literature review that starts with land cover and geographical mapping. The definition is then applied to the case of Denmark.

► We suggest a definition of rurality for physical planners and local rural actors. ► We suggest the smallest possible territorial unit that is well-defined spatially. ► Our definition of rurality includes a land-cover perspective. ► Our definition of rurality is easy to apply and communicate in everyday use. ► Our definition is more precise about the locality than the OECD definition.