6 Urban-Rural Interrelations—A Challenge for Sustainable Land …
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resources, especially ecosystems and biodiversity. In sum, polycentric and balanced
territorial development should contribute to achieving sustainability (United Nations
General Assembly 2016).
In continuation and advancement of the Habitat process, the UN published
“Urban-Rural Linkages: Guiding Principles and Framework for Action to Advance
Integrated Territorial Development” (UN Habitat 2019) in 2019. This document
broadens and deepens the view on urban-rural interrelations. The ten guiding principles, based on human rights, are integrated governance, balanced partnership, participative, environmentally sensitive, data-driven and evidence-based. Interventions
should be locally grounded, functional and spatial system-based, and financially
inclusive; they should not harm, and provide social protection. The last point refers
to the need to “strengthen urban-rural linkages to overcome conflicts […] and reduce
inequalities” (p. 11).
These three resolutions prove the timeliness and societal relevance of addressing
rural-urban interlinkages, and show which big challenges linked with this issue must
be tackled in future.
A better understanding of the interconnections in urban-rural spaces as socioecological systems, and hence feasible analytical and conceptual approaches with
an adequate complexity, are needed to strengthen urban-rural linkages, and to create
options to influence the management of natural resources such as land (management)
towards sustainability at different spatial scales and policy levels.
6.3 Simple Models Versus Complex Models: Two Opposite
Approaches
Several scientists endeavoured to design models for explaining spatial phenomena
and interdependencies, starting with von Thünen, Launhardt and Lösch in Europe
in the late nineteenth century (Schöler 2005). Scientists from various disciplines
contributed models to this development process. Since the 1970s at the latest, scientists have been searching for more sophisticated models to further their understanding
of the manifold interactions and interdependencies between rural and urban areas.
There are now several models with different starting points and varying levels of
complexity (Repp et al. 2012; Akkoyunlu 2015; Kasper and Giseke 2017). In the
following, we compare the model by Stead (2002) with the very complex model
of telecoupling (Liu et al. 2013) in order to present two concise examples from a
multitude of models and to illustrate the extreme bandwidth of complexity.
105
resources, especially ecosystems and biodiversity. In sum, polycentric and balanced
territorial development should contribute to achieving sustainability (United Nations
General Assembly 2016).
In continuation and advancement of the Habitat process, the UN published
“Urban-Rural Linkages: Guiding Principles and Framework for Action to Advance
Integrated Territorial Development” (UN Habitat 2019) in 2019. This document
broadens and deepens the view on urban-rural interrelations. The ten guiding principles, based on human rights, are integrated governance, balanced partnership, participative, environmentally sensitive, data-driven and evidence-based. Interventions
should be locally grounded, functional and spatial system-based, and financially
inclusive; they should not harm, and provide social protection. The last point refers
to the need to “strengthen urban-rural linkages to overcome conflicts […] and reduce
inequalities” (p. 11).
These three resolutions prove the timeliness and societal relevance of addressing
rural-urban interlinkages, and show which big challenges linked with this issue must
be tackled in future.
A better understanding of the interconnections in urban-rural spaces as socioecological systems, and hence feasible analytical and conceptual approaches with
an adequate complexity, are needed to strengthen urban-rural linkages, and to create
options to influence the management of natural resources such as land (management)
towards sustainability at different spatial scales and policy levels.
6.3 Simple Models Versus Complex Models: Two Opposite
Approaches
Several scientists endeavoured to design models for explaining spatial phenomena
and interdependencies, starting with von Thünen, Launhardt and Lösch in Europe
in the late nineteenth century (Schöler 2005). Scientists from various disciplines
contributed models to this development process. Since the 1970s at the latest, scientists have been searching for more sophisticated models to further their understanding
of the manifold interactions and interdependencies between rural and urban areas.
There are now several models with different starting points and varying levels of
complexity (Repp et al. 2012; Akkoyunlu 2015; Kasper and Giseke 2017). In the
following, we compare the model by Stead (2002) with the very complex model
of telecoupling (Liu et al. 2013) in order to present two concise examples from a
multitude of models and to illustrate the extreme bandwidth of complexity.