Globalization: The Persisting Rural-Urban Question and the Response of Planning Education

Abstract

Globalization is resulting in an urbanizing and a ruralizing world, both with planning issues needing urgent attention. Furthermore, as city and country increasingly interact, a third phenomenon emerges—rurbanization. Globalization challenges us to address this phenomenon and both of its parents—urban and rural. Our urban bias renders us inadequate to the task. And yet with the interactions between planning and place as one of our core concerns, we should be uniquely positioned to respond. Reclaiming the rural dimension also enriches a powerful learning tool—comparing planning between contrasting places—that helps drive the development of our field. Rural areas need planners. But in turn, to achieve our full potential, we need the rural dimension.