Rural-Urban linkages and social cohesion: a position paper Cities Research Centre Rural-Urban linkages and social cohesion: a position paper Ian Smith and Paul Courtney

Rural-urban linkages What were we asked to do? Writing the position paper What are we trying to achieve today?

Structure of the day Setting out a conceptual framework Morning: What are the cohesion outcomes of rural-urban linkages? Afternoon: What are the means of promoting rural-urban linkages? What can the Commission do? Key respondents and rounding up

Remember The paper is the start of a conversation and not the end The conversation will continue after today

A conceptual framework for Rural-Urban linkages and social cohesion Cities Research Centre A conceptual framework for Rural-Urban linkages and social cohesion Paul Courtney

Presentation Structure Defining the nature of urban-rural linkages Defining social cohesion Social cohesion and social/territorial capital Measuring social cohesion A conceptual framework Operationalising social cohesion Discussion points

Defining rural-urban linkages Lack of clarity and complexity underestimated Two-way flows which are functional and structural Movements of people goods, capital, Social transactions and administrative / service provision / Governance Flows of technology, lifestyles Interdependencies and increasingly complex inter-relations Geographic (territorial) and socio-economic (relational) space

Defining social cohesion Academic (Sociology and Psychology): Social and economic relevance Solidarity and division of labour (Durkheim) Communities, groups and memberships. Shared values; reducing disparities; common enterprise; facing shared challenges Nature and extent of socio-economic divisions in society Group membership: how members can shape the conditions of their environment

Defining social cohesion Policy perspective – social and economic: Achieving Integration – income differentials; labour market access; housing conditions; social networks; community interaction; whilst: Recognising differences and interdependences Focus on social networks and community interaction leads debate to Social capital (Networks, norms, trust, reciprocity)

Social Cohesion & Social Capital Implicit and explicit relationship well documented, and contested Tool to achieve or sub-set of cohesion? Societal or group level? Social Capital – individual and group levels (i.e. networks); Social Cohesion – General condition of society (networks may be exclusionary, thus high social capital but low levels of cohesion) Need to tackle social exclusion and cohesion in tandem

Social cohesion and territorial capital – economic goals Business networks, customs, solidarity, mutual assistance, agglomeration economies and natural/cultural endowments Process by which social capital mobilised through R-U linkages integral to an area’s territorial capital with economic goals of enhancing efficiency and productivity

Measuring social cohesion Means-end and Pluralistic approaches Council of Europe’s multi-dimensional approach: Equity in enjoyment of rights; dignity & recognition; occupational and family development; participation and commitment Half of indicators focussed broadly on social capital Chan et al’s two-by-two framework: Horizontal – cohesion within civil society Vertical – State-citizen cohesion

A Conceptual framework Shared identity Social capital Rural-urban linkage/ inter-dependency: movement of people, goods, capital; social transactions; and administrative and service provision Thematic governance arrangements/ delivery vehicle Intervention/ co-ordinated actions That reinforces/ provides capacity to support… That shape… That reinforce/ support… Reduce social/ economic inequalities Shared identity of place Territorial capital Reduce spatial inequalities Spatial governance arrangements/ delivery vehicle

Operationalising social cohesion and rural-urban linkages Labour market linkages Rural-urban migration Rural-urban partnership working

Labour market linkages Division of labour supports dependence, supports social cohesion, thus labour market patterns and commuting important Research shows varying patterns of employment decentralisation and journey to work times Combining residential and employment land use will help support services, stocks of human and social capital Related to wider patterns of rural-urban migration

Rural-urban Migration Patterns of rural-urban flows of human and social capital and implications for civil society differentiated and difficult to predict In-migration of urban professionals can create tensions but can add to civic vibrancy Out-migration from rural areas can lead to spiral of decline, although return migration can bring urban knowledge, skills and networks As a form of linkage, impacts of commuting are variable according to sector and distance

Rural-urban partnership working Limited evidence indicates that a number of opportunities and barriers exist But that good practice can be sought To be examined in the context of the vignettes

Discussion points Can we foster social cohesion through rural-urban linkages? Are rural-urban linkages special? Should we attempt to measure social/territorial cohesion derived from rural-urban linkages and if so how? Is there merit in considering social cohesion separately from the territorial agenda?

Rural-Urban linkages: do they foster cohesion? Cities Research Centre Rural-Urban linkages: do they foster cohesion? Ian Smith

Discussion points Can we foster social cohesion through rural-urban linkages? Are rural-urban linkages special? Should we attempt to measure social/territorial cohesion derived from rural-urban linkages and if so how? Is there merit in considering social cohesion separately from the territorial agenda?

Vignettes – illustration How will we illustrate the issues? Seven vignettes in paper: Inter-municipal partnership in Umeå, Sweden. NGO-driven work with disadvantaged urban youth Combined Universities in Cornwall Tackling out-migration by young people in the Pays Berry Saint Amandois Counteracting digital exclusion through broadband in Kuyavia-Pomerania Joining up public transport in the Prague metropolitan area Realignment of family protection and child-welfare service in Pécs ‘micro-region’ (Hungary).

Case vignettes Inter-municipal partnership in Umeå Implementing a Broadband Network in Kuyavia-Pomerania Social farming: Netherlands Imayla (NGO-led) social cohesion & youth – SW England Prague Integrated Transit System Realignment of family protection and child-welfare services, Pécs Combined Universities in Cornwall Tackling issues for young people: Pays Berry Saint-Amandois Source of base map: Wikipedia reproduced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

What was being done? Infrastructure building Improving public services Training and employment Tackling social problems

Creating social cohesion through experience Imayla creates learning environments for disadvantaged young people Young people from disadvantaged urban areas taken to experience rural environments (cohesion within group) Also social farming – later Are rural-urban linkages special?

Cohesion through improving public services Improving family support services in Pécs (Hungary) Re-organisation of service at city-region level Improved access, specialist service and quality control Are rural-urban linkages special?

Propositions Proposition 1: cohesion outcomes of rural-urban linkages need to benefit both rural and urban communities Proposition 2: cohesion can be the unintended or secondary outcome of linkages Proposition 3: territorial and social cohesion are generally linked but they do not have to be Proposition 4: linkages are good for dealing with service deficits, migration issues, shared experiences

Rural-Urban linkages: do they foster cohesion? Cities Research Centre Rural-Urban linkages: do they foster cohesion? Some thoughts from our case vignettes

Rural-Urban linkages: how do you create them? Cities Research Centre Rural-Urban linkages: how do you create them? Ian Smith

Making rural-urban linkages Outline some key ideas What have we learnt from EU initiatives Vignette illustrations What you think

Rural-Urban Partnerships Benefits/opportunities Reduced polarisation Ability to address regional issues Intelligence of local concerns at strategic level Inclusion of multiple stakeholders Increased global competitiveness Increased capacity to provide fiscal relief for revitalisation Challenges/constraints Political and cultural differences Difficulties in cross-collaboration and building trust Lack of regional policy frameworks and ambiguous structures Operational complexity of process Lack of resources Competition between local authorities

Partnerships: EU initiative experience Partnerships are important for problem identification and project delivery Partnership programmes need to be integrated and area-based Transfer of lessons at EU level important Partnerships need to be encouraged to be innovative

Case vignettes Inter-municipal partnership in Umeå Implementing a Broadband Network in Kuyavia-Pomerania Social farming: Netherlands Imayla (NGO-led) social cohesion & youth – SW England Prague Integrated Transit System Realignment of family protection and child-welfare services, Pécs Combined Universities in Cornwall Tackling issues for young people: Pays Berry Saint-Amandois Source of base map: Wikipedia reproduced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Institutional structures in vignettes Voluntary local government associations (with and without incentives) Regional partnerships Non-governmental partnerships Partnerships for identifying priorities and partnerships for delivering projects

Voluntary associations of municipalities Giving small ‘rural’ authorities a voice: the city-region of Umeå Umeå – city region of 143,000 residents Voluntary association brings together 6 municipalities to pool some resources – this partnership identifies priorities Project partnerships take forward projects calling on EU co-finance Transferability? Probably good if have strong local government

Non-governmental public partnership Providing HE for Cornwall – Combined Universities in Cornwall 500,000 population of which 92% ‘rural’ and small towns Partnership of 6 universities (independent public sector) comes together around accessing EU co-finance Provides HE courses Transferability? Depends on capacity of non-governmental sector

Propositions Proposition 1: partnership is crucial in the delivery of rural-urban linkages – both in terms of issue identification and project delivery Proposition 2: partnerships will probably mostly depend on local government but is not the only form of partnership Proposition 3: EU co-finance/support has been important in facilitating rural-urban linkage Proposition 4: lessons on partnership can be transferred across Europe

Rural-Urban linkages: how do you create them? Cities Research Centre Rural-Urban linkages: how do you create them? Some thoughts from our case vignettes