Review on “Why the Definition of Rurality is Contextual?”

Abstract

The objective of this review was to give account on the different definitions given by different scholars on rurality. The term rurality is very vague and single definition. Different scholars use different approach like population density, social characteristics, and distance from urban, availability of infrastructure. Such absence of uniformity in defining rurality makes difficult to make to give single definition. Peoples always try to differentiate between rural and urban in terms of the degree of Village (far from urban), but sometimes there is situation were no border between urban and rural, in this case it is very challenging to isolate from which part is rural or urban . On the other hand, sometimes the definition for rurality and urban may depend on perception of dweller. an area which accounts 5-10,00 human population is defined as rural. However, in china we may get more than this figure in a given rural area. Sometimes even though the population size is enough to classify a certain area in to urban but if there is no infrastructure then the town is definitely considered as rural. Other scholars defined rurality based on the type of activity especially agricultural work. argue that the definition of rurality based on Agricultural work may not represent the definition of ruraliy in developed countries , due to the fact that it allows less job opportunity, beside to this some peoples prefer to live in country side  to get fresh air, summer break, recreation with nature without involving in agricultural work.  Therefore, the definition of rurality is contextual since it depends on who define it, from what context and from which country point of view.

Key words: Rurality, Agriculture, Population size