News

• The “RURALITIC” project, funded by the “Horizon Europe” program, will analyze the social and territorial transformations of rural areas between 2025 and 2028.

• The initiative seeks to generate new data, indicators and tools to better understand the diversity of European rural areas

• The project will develop future scenarios to guide innovative and resilient policies in rural areas

European rural areas are undergoing profound social, economic, and territorial transformations that pose new challenges for public policy. In this context, the “ RURALITIC ” project has emerged, an initiative funded by the “ Horizon Europe ” program that aims to update the understanding of rurality and improve the design of public policies directed at these territories.

The project, which runs from 2025 to 2028, aims to strengthen knowledge about the current dynamics of rural Europe and promote more inclusive and innovative rural development policies. To achieve this, it will combine different approaches from the social sciences with new analytical tools capable of capturing the complexity and diversity of these territories.

Although the project is in its initial phase, it has already begun working with an international network of 16 European partners and is developing new analytical tools, such as comparative databases and models to study the territorial dynamics of rural areas.

Transformation

European rural areas have undergone significant changes in recent years. Factors such as the green and digital transitions and the bioeconomy, along with the accelerated socio-demographic transformation following the COVID-19 pandemic, have intensified the complexity of these territories.

Given this reality, the “RURALITIC” project proposes the need to review current conceptual frameworks and adapt public policies to the new dynamics of rural areas. Its approach is based on a central idea: to better understand the relationship between social groups and geographical spaces in order to design more effective responses tailored to each territory.

Methodologies

The project relies on a combination of methodologies from the social sciences to analyze the evolution of European rural areas, among which the following stand out:

• The use of statistical and econometric tools - methods that use numbers and statistics to measure the impact of the economy on real life - to study socioeconomic dynamics.

• Ethnographic methods and historical analysis to understand social transformations.

• Cartography and territorial analysis techniques to interpret the relationship between space and society.

• Forecasting models and prospective analysis to anticipate future scenarios.

This interdisciplinary approach will generate new scientific evidence on the evolution of rural areas and will contribute to improving the design of public policies based on rigorous data and analysis.

New tools

Key developments of the project include the creation of new tools and analytical frameworks to better understand the complexity of European rural areas. Among the planned initiatives are:

• A new socio-economic typology of rural areas that incorporates factors such as gender, employment, well-being, and lifestyles.

• Innovative surveys to analyze social perceptions, community ties, and demographic flows.

• Comparative databases based on case studies conducted in different countries.

• Econometric models capable of analyzing residential decisions and territorial dynamics.

Expected results

The “RURALITIC” project will also generate a wide range of results aimed at improving knowledge and planning of European rural policies:

• A map of the European rural social landscape.

• A new database with key indicators on rural areas.

• Statistical studies in different European rural territories.

• A database with hundreds of rural development projects.

• Future scenarios to analyze possible evolutionary trajectories of rural areas.

Through these results, “RURALITIC” aims to contribute to the development of more inclusive and sustainable rural territories, providing policymakers, researchers and local actors with new tools to understand and manage the changes taking place in rural Europe.