This printed item features only the Introduction and Part 1 of the article. Entire article is available via UI on-line subscription., Author argues that within the United States small-scale, alternative agriculture is a possible "middle ground" between nature and culture, wilderness and city, increasing the social and ecological connectivity of heterogeneous urban, suburban and rural patches within the landscape matrix.
America’s rural-urban divide seemingly has never been greater, a point reinforced by large geographic disparities in support for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. But it is also the case that big cities and rural communities are more tightly integrated than ever and are increasingly interdependent, both economically and socially. This new rural-urban interface is highlighted in this collection of articles, which are organized and developed around the general concept of changing symbolic and social boundaries. Rural-urban boundaries—how rural and urban people and places are defined and evaluated—reflect and reinforce institutional forces that maintain spatial inequality and existing social, economic, and political hierarchies. This volume makes clear that rural-urban boundaries are highly fluid and that this should be better reflected in research programs, in the topics that we choose to study, and in the way that public policy is implemented.
