New rural territories: Regulating the differentiated rural spaces

Taking the differentiating countryside as a major feature of rural spatial change, this paper explores some of the key development spheres which are influencing the process of differentiation with reference to the British case. Combinations of local and non-local networks, supply chains and regulatory systems incorporate different rural spaces. Four particular development spheres: mass food markets, quality food markets, agriculturally related changes and rural restructuring implicate, in their different combinations, the different rural spaces. This analytical framework raises some important concerns for the governance of differentiating rural space in its regional context. In particular, it suggests that notions of integration and holism of rural spaces will be difficult to achieve; and that governance and regulation becomes highly variable according to the relative significance of local/non-local networks. In conclusion, the implications of the analysis are examined in relation to the growing rural development policy discourse. This suggests the need for more regionally and spatially orientated policy which is more customized to the internal and external conditions different regional-rural spaces experience.