Rururban Partnerships: Urban Accessibility and Its Influence on the Stabilization of the Population in Rural Territories (Extremadura, Spain)

Abstract

The process of population concentration in cities is a worldwide phenomenon—not yet finished—which has led to a widespread rural exodus and abandonment of rural areas. In Spain it occurred very abruptly from 1960, leaving numerous population centers abandoned in the northern half of the country. It is the so-called “empty Spain”. This problem has recently transcended from the local to the European level and has become part of all political agendas such as “the fight against the demographic challenge”, which the European Commission will finance in the next programming period 2021–2027. However, retaining the population in rural areas is a very complex problem that is difficult to solve. The aim of this article is to show that a polycentric system of towns, well distributed throughout the territory—as happens in Extremadura—has sufficient capacity to stabilize the population in the rural environment and is a viable and global alternative to the demographic challenge through the rururban partnerships and the integrated territorial investments. This article studies, as an empirical reality and demonstration effect, the autonomous community of Extremadura, an inland region bordering Portugal, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which has no abandoned nucleus and still maintains 50% of its population in rural areas, compared to a national average of less than 20%.

An Ex Ante Analysis of the Planned Transportation Network in the Region of Extremadura (Spain) by Using Physical Parameters

“…On the one hand, all the cities (except those of Cáceres and Trujillo) can be found in the sedimentary basins, which are historically the most productive especially because of their irrigation in the middle of the last century, on the right bank of the Tagus River basin and on the plains of the Guadiana River. This has been also quoted by Arenal-Clave [25,26], who indicate that "the organization and arrangement of the constituent elements of the urban system are totally related to the spatial organization of the agrarian productive base"; some other authors have also mentioned it [27]. On the other hand, most of the cities are located around two main historic routes: the current A-66 (a north-south freeway from Gijón to Seville whose origin is the Roman road Vía de la Plata) and the A-5 (the freeway which connects Madrid to Lisbon, whose modern origin can be found in the Charles III plan for the modernization of Spanish roads, 1761).…”

“…The lack of investments, a problem linked to the low population density, is accompanied by the absence of a regional model for the whole transportation system. In fact, Gurría and Nieto Masot [25] have written that the two essential factors to explain the location of the cities and their consequent development are the topography and the system of the elementary main roads. On the one hand, all the cities (except those of Cáceres and Trujillo) can be found in the sedimentary basins, which are historically the most productive especially because of their irrigation in the middle of the last century, on the right bank of the Tagus River basin and on the plains of the Guadiana River.…”

Measuring Rural Teachers’ Digital Competence to Communicate with the Educational Community

“…It should likewise be noted that both genders show a medium level in the resource platforms of Educational Centres. Perhaps this relates to political and social variables rather than to academic ones, given that, as has been shown in scientific literature, rural centres tend to have less infrastructure (Dahal, 2021;Molina-Pacheco & Mesa-Jiménez, 2018;Park, 2017;Roberts et al, 2017) and often face problems associated with little social and economic viability to invest in technologies (Cristobal-Fransi et al, 2020) or little governmental involvement (Gurría-Gascón & Nieto-Masot, 2020;Rana et al, 2020Rana et al, , 2018.…”

“…More specifically, rural areas represent 15%, intermediate rural-urban areas account for 52% and urban areas amount to 33% (Eurostat, 2020). Nevertheless, this educational context has been neglected and, at times, abandoned by educational policies (Gurría-Gascón & Nieto-Masot, 2020). Within the European context, rural regions constitute half of EU's territory (Dyba et al, 2020;Eurostat, 2015).…”

Sustainable Rural Development: Strategies, Good Practices and Opportunities

“…The second one [31] shows the success that a polycentric system of small towns well distributed throughout the territory can help to maintain the rural population in certain areas located in Extremadura through rural-urban partnerships and integrated territorial investments. A polycentric system can help in the design of new political strategies in the fight against the demographic challenge and in the recovery of the so-called "empty Spain".…”