Rethinking the future of rural territories. Five perspectives of approach

Abstract

In recent years, the debate on rural territories has gained visibility in the media, in the political arena, and at different levels of administration. From the Urban Planning Research Group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, we have been contributing to this debate with research that addresses issues related to the morphological analysis of settlements and territories in rural contexts. Throughout these investigations, we have focused on the analysis of problems linked to the imbalance in the distribution of population and activities in the territory and in rural depopulation, with the aim of evaluating the relevance and potential of so many areas, as well as the possibilities of reversing situations and processes of a certain complexity. This article shows some of the perspectives from which we have been reflecting on these territories. These works have in common their trans-scalar approach, the use of new technologies for analysis, the link between research applied to teaching, the implementation of research by design, and the collaboration between university departments and different administrations.