Understanding the factors that make a location more rural or urban is an important task for planners and policymakers. Traditional individual characteristics of rurality sometimes hide the more complex social as well as physical dynamics of a locality. This paper builds on early work which applied factor analysis to construct a single index of rurality. An approach is developed with a combined metric encompassing multiple measures. These are capable individually of defining rurality but together they deliver greater insight on more complex patterns and help to redefine the simple notion of rurality. The paper then utilises a novel graphical method, the constellation graph, providing a diagnostic and visual framework to aid planners when assessing the spatial dimensions of a locality.
AgarwalSRahmanSErringtonE (2009) “Measuring the determinants of relative economic performance of rural areas”. Journal of Rural Studies25: 309–321.
2.
AllenP (2008) “Comparing classifications: rural and urban with area”. Regional Trends40: 21–30.
3.
ArgentN (2008) “Perceived density, social interaction and morale in New South Wales rural communities”. Journal of Rural Studies24: 245–261.
4.
AudiracI (1999) “Unsettled views about the fringe: rural-urban or urban-rural frontiers''. In: FurusethO JLappingM B (eds) Contested Countryside: The Rural Urban Fringe in North America, Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, pp. 7–32.
5.
BannisterD (1980) Transport Mobility and Deprivation in Inter-Urban Areas, Farnborough: Saxon House.
6.
BarbieriCMahoneyE (2009) “Why is diversification an attractive farm adjustment strategy? Insights from Texas farmers and ranchers”. Journal of Rural Studies25: 58–66.
7.
BestR (1981) Land use and living space, London: Methuen.
8.
BoschmaRErikssonHLindgrenU (2014) “Labour market externalities and regional growth in Sweden: the importance of labour mobility between skill-related industries”. Regional Studies48(10): 1669–1690.
9.
BunkerRHoustonP (2003) “Prospects for the rural-urban fringe in Australia: observations from a brief history of landscapes around Sydney and Adelaide”. Australian Geographical Studies41: 303–323.
10.
ChampionAWatkinsC (1991) People in the Countryside: Studies of Social Change in Rural Britain, London: Paul Chapman.
11.
ClevlandC (1995) “Measure of Rurality”. The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin689: 5–8.
12.
ClokeP (1977) “An index of rurality for England and Wales”. Regional Studies11: 31–46.
13.
ClokePJohnstonR (2005) “Deconstructing human geography’s binaries”. In: ClokePJohnstonR (eds) Spaces of Geographical Thought: Deconstructing Human Geography’s Binaries, London: Sage, pp. 1–41.
14.
ClokePEdwardsG (1986) “Rurality in England and Wales 191: A replication of the 1971 index”. Regional Studies20: 289–306.
15.
CoombesMRaybouldS (2001) “Public policy and population distribution: developing appropriate indicators of settlement patterns”. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy19: 23–248.
16.
CurlANelsonDAnableJ (2015) “Same question, different answer: A comparison of GIS-based journey time accessibility with self-reported measures from the National Travel Survey in England”. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems49: 86–97.
17.
DuenckmannF (2010) “The village in mind: applying Q-methodology to re-constructing constructions of rurality”. Journal of Rural Studies26: 284–295.
18.
EdmondsonBFontanezW (1995) “Where are the boonies?”. American Demographics17: 60–72.
19.
GallantNBianconiMAnderssonJ (2006) Planning on the edge: England's rural-urban fringe and the spatial-planning agenda”. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design33: 457–476.
20.
GallantNRobinsonS (2011) “Local perspectives on rural housing affordability and implications for the localism agenda in England”. Journal of Rural Studies27: 297–307.
21.
HairJJrBlackWBabinBAndersonR (2010) Multivariate Data Analysis, London: Prentice Hall.
22.
HalfacreeK (1993) “Locality and social representation: space, discourse and alternative definitions of the rural”. Journal of Rural Studies9: 23–37.
23.
HarringtonVO’DonoghueD (1998) “Rurality in England and Wales 1991: A replication and extension of the 1981 Rurality Index”. Sociologia Ruralis38: 178–203.
24.
HasseDTotzerT (2012) “Urban-rural linkages-analysing, modelling, and understanding drivers, pressures, and impacts of land use changes along the rural-to-urban gradient”. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design39: 194–197.
25.
HoggartK (1988) “Not a definition of rural”. Area20: 35–40.
26.
HoggartK (1990) “Lets do away with rural”. Journal of Rural Studies6: 245–257.
27.
HubyMOwenACinderbyS (2007) “Reconciling socio-economic and environmental data in a GIS context: An example from rural England”. Applied Geography27: 1–13.
28.
HugoGChampionALattesA (2003) “Towards a new conceptualization of settlements for demography”. Population and Development Review29: 277–297.
29.
HugoGSmailesPMacgregorCFentonMBrunckhorstD (2001) Defining Social Catchments in Non-Metropolitan Australia, Australia: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
30.
IssermanA (2005) “In the national interest: defining rural correctly for research and policy”. International Regional Science Review28: 465–499.
31.
JauhiainenJ (2009) “Will the retiring baby boomers return to the rural periphery?”. Journal of Rural Studies25: 25–34.
32.
KaiserH F (1960) “The application of electronic computers to factor analysis”. Educational and Psychological Measurement20: 141–151.
33.
MitzutaM (1994) “A review of graphical methods in Japan–from histogram to dynamic display”. In: DidayELechevallierYSchadorMBertrandPBurtschyB (eds) New Approaches in Classification and Data Analysis, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 36–44.
34.
MuiluTRusaneuJ (2004) “Changes in population and industries in the rural areas of Finland: From analysis of administrative regions to GIS based approach”. In: BanskiJ (ed.) Changing Functions of Rural Areas in the Baltic Sea Region, Warsaw: Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics and Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, pp. 109–117.
35.
PacioneM (1984) Rural Geography, London: Harper and Row.
36.
PatemanT (2011) “Rural and urban areas: comparing lives using rural/urban classifications”. Regional Trends43: 11–82.
37.
ScottAGilbertAGelanA (2007) The Urban-Rural Divide: Myth or Reality, Aberdeen: The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute.
38.
SekiyaTWatanabeASaitoM (1991) “The use of modified constellation graph method for computer-aided classification of congenital heart diseases”. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering38: 814–820.
39.
SmithB. J.ParvinD. W.Jr (1973) “Defining and Measuring Rurality”. Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics5: 109–113.
40.
WakimotoKTaguriM (1978) “Constellation graphical method for representing multidimensional data”. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics30: 97–104.
