Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications for the Economic Research Service A Workshop Summary (2016) / Chapter Skim
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3 Other Rural Area Classification Systems Used in the United States and Internationally
3 Other Rural Area Classification Systems Used in the United States and Internationally
Pages 27-42
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From page 27... ...
Paolo Veneri (OECD) described the OECD rural classification system and the adaptation of that system in the European Union, and provided an example of a classification used in Italy.
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From page 28... ...
For example, the Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC) have at least two dimensions, size and adjacency, calling for a subjective decision regarding their relative importance.
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From page 29... ...
by increasing rurality. As such, the aggregate index does not answer the question of what is rural versus urban, but is a relative measure that allows comparison of areas by their degree of rurality.
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From page 30... ...
LMAs were first considered in the early to mid-1980s with a collaborative project between the Rural Labor Market Section of ERS and Regional Research Project S-184, "Labor Markets and Labor Differentiation in Nonmetropolitan America." He noted that project had considerable leadership from Charles Tolbert, then at Florida State University, and Calvin Beale at ERS (Tolbert and Killian, 1987)
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From page 31... ...
In a follow-on Regional Research Project S-229, "The Changing Structure of Local Labor Markets in Nonmetropolitan Areas," many of the same researchers conducted research on LMAs and arranged for an updating with the 1990 decennial census data that was called the PUMS-L. The rationale for this effort was recognition of the inadequacy of individual counties as units to understand an area's economy, Jensen said.
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From page 32... ...
These kinds of questions remain important in view of changing rural landscapes, Jensen pointed out. Jensen stated a goal of their current project is to review, replicate, and evaluate the prior methods; to update the LMA delineations with more recent data; and ultimately to design a new set of functional LMAs that reflect current population settlement and commuting using the most appropriate recent data.
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From page 33... ...
He observed the persisting need to understand rural labor markets outside of metropolitan areas, and that using LMAs can help to appreciate this rural diversity. He said he hopes an analysis of the richer data available in the Census Bureau's RDC will allow for a better understanding of the links between rural and urban labor markets and will also support exploration of some of the limitations of the ACS.
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From page 34... ...
The current OECD classification of rural areas is applied to TL3 regions, but the building blocks used to build the classification are "local administrative units," such as counties, wards, or municipalities. A population density criterion identifies three categories of regions: predominantly urban, predominantly rural, and intermediate.
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From page 35... ...
First, there are purely statistical needs to update the current classification, based on 2001 census data, using the most recent population census data for all countries. Second, a revision could make use of currently available information, methods, and data, such as high-resolution grid cells and Geographic Information System elaborations, that might support a more precise and comparable urban-rural classification across OECD countries.
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From page 36... ...
This classification is driven by policy purposes: It supports a policy package to foster local development and improve opportunities by improving access to services. "Service Centers" are defined as municipalities that have inside their territories an exhaustive range of secondary schools, at least one highly specialized hospital, and a railway station, approximating the presence of minimum services for education, health care, and transport.
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From page 37... ...
He noted producing these classifications is a useful exercise as long as the context in which it is undertaken is recognized. Halfacree explained rural geographer Paul Cloke constructed an index of rurality for England and Wales based on census data (Cloke, 1977)
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From page 38... ...
for describing rural as an important rhetorical device of intractable popular significance. In terms of a social representation, Halfacree said the rural according to Moscovici's theory would have a relatively stable core, a figurative nucleus, and more transient associated elements.
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From page 39... ...
In closing, Halfacree stated that he would argue that the social construction and the social representation idea of the rural has proved very influential, certainly in British rural studies and beyond from the 1990s into the 2000s. As a result, he said he believes the concept of "the rural" as something socially constructed by groups and from experiences is important.
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From page 40... ...
He said that his meta-analyses suggest that rural is becoming urbanized. He asked Waldorf if her areas of increasing rurality are another way of saying these areas are losing population.
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From page 41... ...
commented on the discussion of power and social construction. He said the first OECD classification would never apply to a country based on Anglo-Saxon settler societies, like Canada, the United States, or Australia.
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