1. Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions Ferryland, June 6, 2007

2. CCRC Mandate To be a catalyst for developing viable and sustainable communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, actively supporting regional cooperation through the provision of: information, research and analysis, training/education, facilitation and advisory services Photo by Gerald Peddle

3. Research Census of Newfoundland and Labrador Municipalities and survey of elected officials (June 2007) Articles and profiles on regional cooperation initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador Research on new approaches CRRF - Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions

4. Rural-Urban Interaction in NL: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) NLFM/CCRC Memorial University – Harris Centre and Department of Geography University of Kentucky – Rural Studies Provincial and federal agencies Participating communities and regions Funding: C/NL Labour Market Development Agreement

5. Project components 1)Identify and map (GIS) linkages between communities in “regions”, particularly urban and rural relationships 2)Assess governance mechanisms used to manage these relationships, identify gaps, investigate alternatives 3)Assess the contribution of community linkages to local and regional sustainability and create a “labour market attractiveness index” 4)Collaboration, communication, application

6. Project components MNL CCRC will provide outreach, communication of research & use it to inform activities to improve regional cooperation Harris Centre will assist in finding graduate students to carry out research projects CRRF will broker same project in other provinces; interest so far in Maritimes, Quebec and Alberta

7. What Are Functional Regions? Analysis of interactions represents a functional approach to regional planning Functional regions and interactions amongst communities ignore administrative boundaries A functional region is a complex structure of communities and linkages … where there may exist a dominant community (centre) through which a majority of interactions flow.

8. Methods of determining functional regions #1. Functional distance: how far are you willing to travel? For work? For products and services of various kinds? (e.g. milk vs. furniture vs. medical) #2. Concentrations of flows: labour flows (e.g. labour flow maps), patterns of trade/shopping travel, business transactions, volume of mail or flyer mailing areas, agricultural production, student migration, banking and financial flows, traffic/transportation, recreation, commodity flows Other: population levels, employment levels, crime rates, census areas, political districts, language

9. Work Flows example Important but not the whole picture

10. Pilot Areas Irish Loop (Urban adjacent rural) Twillingate-New World Island (Non- adjacent rural) Labrador Straits (Remote rural)

11. Role of Pilot Areas Input into project design, research directions and testing of research instruments Providing an area of focus for the development of pilot research products Input on initial research findings (“groundtruthing”) Suggestions for how findings can be presented to maximize dissemination and usefulness to communities, REDBs and other decision-makers

12. Thank You!! Questions? Comments? Opinions on key linkages/interactions/characteristics that define a functional region?