Ruralism: The Future of Villages and Small Towns in an Urbanizing World (Paperback)

In an urbanizing world, the city is considered the measure of all things. The attention of architects and planners has been almost entirely focused on the city for many years, while rural spaces are often unfairly associated with economic decline, stagnation and resignation. However, rural spaces are transforming almost as radically as cities, and have begun to play a decisive role in the sustainable development of our living environment. The formerly segregated countryside is now traversed by global and regional flows of people, goods, waste, energy and information, linking it to urban systems and enabling those systems to function in the first place. Ruralism is dedicated to the significance of rural spaces as a starting point for transformation. International experts explore the rural from architectural, cultural, gender-oriented, ecological and political perspectives, and ask how a new vision of the rural can be formulated.