Giulia Martino (p), Olivier Chartier , David Miller, Michael Kull

Brigida Marovelli

Rural proofing aims at ensuring that public policies recognize and address the unique needs of rural areas in general, and heterogeneity within rural areas. It aims to minimise unintended negative consequences and enhance positive impacts. While this approach has been implemented in various forms globally, the European Union has committed to integrating rural proofing as part of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (LTVRA).
Building on the EU's commitment to rural proofing, the GRANULAR project has developed a structured methodology to operationalize this approach.
Aligning with the LTVRA pillars, the methodology uses the GRANULAR Rural Compass to systematically assess the diverse rural challenges and opportunities. The GRANULAR framework consists of 27 elements grouped under the four LTVRA pillars (Stronger, Connected, Prosperous, and Resilient Rural Areas). It enables stakeholders to conduct bottom-up assessments of policies, considering economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Importantly, the methodology is designed to evaluate rural-urban disparities and to account for the diversity within rural areas themselves. Given the significant variations across EU rural territories, the tool is built to capture these nuanced differences, recognizing that rural areas face distinct policy challenges.
The presentation will outline the key steps implemented by the GRANULAR living and replication labs (e.g. Finland and the United Kingdom). Their experiences enable the highlighting of the its adaptability of the framework to different governance contexts and levels (local, national, EU).
Initial insights from the Finnish Lab demonstrate the GRANULAR framework’s adaptability to different governance contexts. The proofing exercise involved iterative steps in which the scientific partner laid the groundwork, local actors brought place-based insights, and national authorities validated the findings. This iterative process ensured that the policy choice and interpretations resonated at multiple governance levels, showcasing the methodology’s capacity to bridge local realities with national policy frameworks. The approach enriched the proofing process and demonstrated the methodology’s flexibility across governance levels, fostering learning and continuous improvement.
In the Rural Scotland (UK) lab the initiatives explored with the tool are being linked to local and Scottish level plans, with discussion about what can be done post-ante and how it can be deployed ex-ante.
The results of the rural proofing by the living and replication labs will be used to demonstrate how the GRANULAR methodology can support policymakers in assessing rural impacts and integrating rural perspectives into decision-making at all governance levels - thus promoting multi-level governance.

Debora Birgier (p), Carlos Tapia

Hal Voepel

This paper investigates rural socio-economic resilience through a gender lens by examining how labor market attachment differs by gender and urbanization level across Europe. Women in rural areas face unique challenges—including limited access to resources, fewer employment opportunities, and heavier burdens of unpaid care—that potentially undermine both their personal well-being and the broader resilience of rural communities. By leveraging data from the European Union Labor Force Survey (EU-LFS) spanning multiple time points, the study examines how the intersection of gender and geography shapes labor market outcomes in employment, part-time work prevalence, and employment constraints due to caregiving responsibilities. In addition, it examines how welfare typology in Europe shapes this gender and rural intersection. The findings highlight three key dimensions of gendered labor market inequalities in rural and urban areas. First, gender gaps in employment persist across Europe, with rural disadvantages varying significantly. In some regions, particularly Continental and Nordic countries, rural women have higher employment rates than urban women. In Southern and Eastern Europe, rural women face substantial employment barriers. Second, part-time employment patterns show stark differences. Rural women in Continental and Nordic countries are more likely to work part-time, reinforcing traditional gender roles. In Southern and Eastern Europe, structural constraints limit rural women’s employment. Third, caregiving responsibilities significantly influence women’s labor market participation, particularly in Continental Europe. The paper suggests that addressing these disparities requires gender-sensitive policies in rural development strategies. This includes investments in childcare, flexible work arrangements, and addressing cultural and structural aspects of gender inequality.

Henk Oostindie (p), Bettina Bock

David Miller

 
Unpacking Rural Differentiation Drivers, Tendencies and Outcomes, Towards A Rural Diversity Compass?


Abstract

Recently, Cattivelli (2023) characterized EU’s rural classification attempts by distinguishing two contrasting orientations. A first one concentrating on EU-level data comparability and replicability. And a second one based on multi-criteria analysis with the intention to take rural differentiation forces more explicitly and comprehensively into account. As argued, the second one is methodologically much more difficult to align with EU-level comparability and replicability aspirations due to various data-availability limitations, such as the lack of data time series and/or data-collection updates. In short, two orientations with their specific pros and cons in terms of explanatory power versus data-needs and comparability and replicability aspirations. In this paper, we will present a prototype Rural Diversity Compass with the principal aspiration to capture the contemporary multiplicity of meaningful rural differentiation drivers, tendencies and outcomes. After a brief introduction on multi-spatiality and multifunctionality as two of its key theoretical building blocks, this Rural Diversity Compass will be presented as an analytical tool that distinguishes four key rural functionalities and that further characterizes these functionalities with the help of 24 components; together these functionalities and components aim to underscore their increasingly place-specific interaction patterns, balances and disbalances and -therefore- rural policy challenges. In that way the prototype Compass intends to shed extra light on the nature and interdependencies of EU’s rural policy objectives as formulated in its Long Term Vision for Rural Areas. Empirically this will be illustrated by Dutch rural policy dynamics, including contrasting stakeholder views on the future of agriculture, food and nature and its accompanying rural functionality (re-) balancing concerns and controversy. The final section of this paper returns to Cattivelli’s distinction between two rural classification orientations. It concentrates on the question if the prototype Compass could be used in ways that recognize their specific pros and cons. As suggested, this may be done by moving towards multi-layered rural mapping. That is: (further) acknowledging the contemporary multiplicity of rural differentiation drivers, tendencies and outcomes whilst simultaneously recognizing their differentiating relevance in concrete rural settings, as -at least partly- reflected in the availability and absence of data. Thus, the Rural Diversity Compass may serve as guidance for multi-layered rural mapping that aspires to complement and deepen EU’s rural-urban continuum-based classification efforts by concentrating on rural functionality interaction patterns and associated rural needs-strengths profiles.

Nassim Chahid, Tristan Berchoux (p), Paolo Prosperi

Giulia Martino

This study addresses the critical need for sustainable food system transitions in rural areas of the EU by developing an analytical framework that assesses food system dynamics at the local level. Recognising the diversity of local food systems and the diverse contributions of farm size and supply chains, the study adopts a multidisciplinary and systemic approach. The framework integrates key elements at different scales, including agricultural production systems, food supply chains and consumption, food environments and spatial organization. Indicators are selected on the base of literature reviews and data availability at European and French levels, allowing for the identification of distinct types of food systems, from small-scale systems to agro-industrial and alternative/niche systems.
The framework highlights the importance of understanding the drivers of food system transitions and managing feedback loops and trade-offs to ensure effective and sustainable policy interventions. This comprehensive approach combines quantitative analysis, such as cluster analysis to develop food system typologies, with qualitative information from stakeholder interviews and expert validation using a Delphi approach.
The study aims to develop a clearer view of the diversity of local food systems in EU regions, enabling the development of decentralised and effective policy measures to improve access to food, promote healthier consumption patterns and enhance food security, particularly for vulnerable populations. By proposing a new analytical framework based on theoretical and empirical approaches, this research contributes to informed and evidence-based decision-making for sustainable food system transitions in European rural areas. The results will support EU policies and programmes to address rural challenges by identifying key policy levers adapted to specific types of food systems and transition pathways.

Tristan Berchoux (p), Yuval Damari

Jonathan Hopkins

This contribution introduces a modular, indicator-based framework specifically tailored to measure climate neutrality in rural regions. Its core objective is to provide local policymakers and stakeholders with a decision-support tool that can track progress, identify high-impact interventions, and align closely with the EU’s Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. Recognizing that rural communities often face unique conditions—such as dispersed populations, resource constraints, and distinct economic structures—the framework addresses six key domains: Energy, Transportation, Agri-food, Waste, Industry, and Buildings, each supplemented by cross-cutting values like environmental sustainability, affordability, and resilience.
Methodologically, the framework builds upon a comprehensive literature review of sustainability indices, policy documents, and technical studies. Through a structured selection process, a suite of quantifiable indicators was identified, ensuring that each met criteria for specificity, measurability, and relevance to rural contexts. To account for the varying availability of local data, the framework supports multiple spatial scales, applying a min–max normalization technique that allows for cross-comparisons while remaining adaptable to region-specific targets. Weighting schemes are similarly flexible; communities may adopt equal weighting, statistical approaches, or even internet search volume-based methods to reflect public interest.
Data sources are drawn from both open-access databases and policy repositories—particularly the European Environment Agency’s policy database and the Covenant of Mayors’ submissions—to capture diverse local measures on process and impact. By integrating indicators with a curated toolbox of 104 policy measures, the framework offers practical guidance on how local actions can be tracked in both their implementation and outcomes. In doing so, it not only empowers rural areas to tailor interventions to their specific priorities but also fosters broader comparability and consistency with EU-level climate neutrality goals.