Eloy Gomez Pellon

The different degrees of interaction between the urban and rural worlds in the last century have been the cause of very diverse forms of ruralities. Economic changes resulting from deindustrialisation and globalisation have introduced great complexity in rural areas. These changes are clearly seen in the great diversity in the social subjects that have gradually appeared in rural areas. Contrasting with the old segmentation that separated the rural and urban worlds, the European Union has given priority to the conception of territory. The different parts forming a territory are in this way articulated to originate a new spatial organisation in which the urban and rural worlds become a shared scenario. In this setting, highly diverse bidirectional exchanges result in the daily, weekly and seasonal movements of people, goods, services and transportation with surprising intensity. This book presents case studies from the regions of Cantabria and Castilla y León in Spain, Occitanie in France and Beira and Pinhal in Portugal. Finally, a cross-border study encompasses rural areas on both sides of the Spanish-Portuguese border.