UNIVERSITY OF AGRONOMIC SCIENCES AND VETERINARY

MEDICINE OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT, ECONOMIC ENGINEERING IN
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
DISTANCE AND PART-TIME LEARNING DEPARTMENT

THE ESSENCE OF RURALITY

THE IMPORTANCE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of the Master of Sciences
by
Alexandra Ciriblan
Master Management and Rural Development

- January 2020 -

B-DUL MĂRĂŞTI 59, SECTOR 1, 011464 – BUCUREŞTI

TEL/FAX: 021-318.98.65; 021-318.16.74
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I. Supply the missing words in the following text (some of them can be used twice):
conceived constructed consumption co-production
experienced expression feel hear
history interaction located locus
man material production products
reproduce resources result rural
see society taste urban

‘Pure’ nature is nature unaffected by man, history or society. In the countryside we feel, taste, see
and hear man’s presence. The rural cannot be conceived of, experienced or constructed without
the presence of man. The rural, then, is the locus where the co-production of man and nature is
located.
Consequently, rurality as such is both the result and expression of this co-production. Co-
production refers to the interaction between man and living nature, that is the process of
production in which ‘nature’ is converted into goods and services for human consumption.
The second boundary, that between the rural and the urban can now be defined as the next logical
step. The urban is the locus where the co-production of man and nature stops. Cities may well
derive resources such as cotton, iron ore, coal and uranium from nature. But they derive these
products in the first place as dead material and, secondly, they do not reproduce the nature
concerned.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is commonly understood by ‘rurality’?
Rurality can be understood as the ongoing co-production of man and nature as well as the
enrichment of this process and the substance for further co-production.
2. Define the term ‘co-production’.
Co-production represents the interaction between man and living nature, more specifically the
process of production in which nature is converted into goods and services meant for human
consumption.
3. What is the meaning of ‘the urban’, compared with ‘the rural’?
The urban can be defined as the next logical step from the rural, since that is the locus where the
co-production of man and nature stops. While the rural uses and reproduces living nature by
maintaining eco-systems, the urban and its associated industries uses dead material without
reproducing them, and therefore co-production isn’t an essential part.

B-DUL MĂRĂŞTI 59, SECTOR 1, 011464 – BUCUREŞTI

TEL/FAX: 021-318.98.65; 021-318.16.74
E-mail: usamvbdid@gmail.ro; Web-site: www.usamvb-did.ro
4. What are the main ‘ingredients’ of rurality?
The main components of rurality are the set of social relations interwoven with the fabric of society
at large, albeit with their own uniqueness, as those relations must be maintained.
5. Is rurality the same thing as agriculture?
Although rurality can refer to agriculture, the former goes far beyond the latter, since rurality is
equally reproduced through the repopulation of the countryside, through agro-tourism, through
hunting and fishing and through the consumption of region-specific agricultural produce,

III. Read the article written by Prof. John W. Keller on the importance of rural development
in the 21st century and sum up the main ideas.

The following presentation attempts to explain the role of the rural areas and country towns when it
comes to local area persistence or dissolution. The main point the author tries to explain is the fact
that where rural settlements exist, inhabitants within must focus on the immediate place and make
the word "local" have a strong meaning for the community sustenance to be successful.
Although agricultural activities are commonly considered the mainstay of rural areas, one should
consider that more often than not this does not apply, as it can be seen in North American rural
counties, where only 20% depend significantly on farming.
Other than the natural increase, the prime engine of metropolitan growth is rural to urban
migration. The most common factor contributing to rural-to-urban migration is rural unemployment
resulting in part from rural areas having higher fertility levels than urban areas.
Forced by various factors such as heavy national debt, the beginning of 1980 marked the
emergence of a new paradigm that moved from an urban-centric focus to one that understands the
importance of rural vitality, as it is tightly coupled with the metropolitan sphere.
Many rural areas have proven to be persistent because of their diversity while both inner city and
suburban area have decline in the face of metropolitan spread.
Tourism based economies have proven to favour rural growth as several first world countries have
shown. However rural economies built around recreation also show a lack of sustainability, caused
by seasonal demand, dependence on high migration rates, demand for cheap labour, dependence on
wealth and seasonal weather. Those issues can be solved by creating more opportunities than extent
visiting season, such as conventions and multiple use recreational activities.
Remoteness is a rural trait the can prove both an asset and a liability – although a small structure
and vertical hierarchy are valuable to preserver ethic and social identity, as well as local
development, depriving the rural area of inter-community cooperation is a huge inhibitor of
development.

B-DUL MĂRĂŞTI 59, SECTOR 1, 011464 – BUCUREŞTI

TEL/FAX: 021-318.98.65; 021-318.16.74
E-mail: usamvbdid@gmail.ro; Web-site: www.usamvb-did.ro
One main factor when it comes to the inability of maintaining community identity and commitment
is the lack of basic resources – both material and human. Throughout the 20 th century there has
been a great effort to redirect resources to rural areas, as the number of programs targeting the rural
far outnumbers the ones aimed at the urban.
Rural revitalization is currently a matter of considerable profile. A prominent feature of this activity
is the capacity of individual communities to bring about a better future for themselves depending
on how well they are equipped in terms of leadership and team related skills. Revitalizing “rural”
must include the participation of small communities in search of positive change, whereby local
people are encouraged to think more about their future.
As people tend to migrate from rural to urban, from mountains to plains, from undeveloped to
developed, the remote rural areas tend to disintegrate. Thus, counter-urbanisation, also known as
population reversal has become one of the hallmarks of a sustainable, living rural area.
Although wireless telecommunication has yet to impact the rural on a large scale, as early as 1997
the internet manages to reform market relationships between rural and metropolitan locations and
override factors such as remoteness and labour pool.
To conclude, it is clear that for the countryside to survive, committing to a classic way of life will
not suffice, when facing constant economic and social change and therefore must adapt and
innovate to provide adequate levels of income.

B-DUL MĂRĂŞTI 59, SECTOR 1, 011464 – BUCUREŞTI

TEL/FAX: 021-318.98.65; 021-318.16.74
E-mail: usamvbdid@gmail.ro; Web-site: www.usamvb-did.ro