Three Gorgrs Dam

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When you and me think about a Rural area the first thing that comes to our minds would be Villages, Friendly, Safe, Boring, Farming etc, but in most cases this is not true anymore so therefore that's why I think it's is very hard to define a rural area. The definitions of "rural areas" vary, different groups use different criteria to define a rural area around the world.

There are four main ways of defining rural areas, which are: Settlement size Regional context An index of rurally Land use I'm going to use the four main ways of describing a rural area these are shown above.

Settlement size Settlement size basically means "˜population' it's believed that even the different governments cannot agree on what is really meant by "˜rural' population.

Different governments think different things to what is rural population, showing it is impossible to define a rural area by just looking at the area population.

UK's definition on rural is that an area is defined as a rural area if the settlement size of the area is less or equal to 10,000 meaning 20% of UK's population live in rural areas.

In Italy and Spain the same definition is used as in the UK and they say any population of more than 10,000 people in an area is known as an urban area.

In France the population threshold of an rural settlement is less then 2000 In Denmark and Sweden the threshold of an area is only 200 inhabitants.

The United Nations defines an area as a rural area if the settlement is less than 20,000.

Looking at the facts above it is lead to believe that different government have different policies. This means that we are going to be confused until there is only one rule that defines a rural area from an urban area used all over the world.

I understand that there are different populations in different countries but the point is that there should be only one way of defining a rural area from an urban area by looking at the settlement size.

Regional Context Defining "˜rural' by looking at the population is going to be a big problem. It can also be confused with the term used for urban and rural. The term used for rural area is "˜village' and the term used for urban is "˜town'.

The definition of Urban is "˜town' meaning that a lot of shops, good housing, built up area, offices, a lot of people etc. This is basically the definition of urban area.

The definition of Rural is "˜Village' meaning that the housing is not good, no buildings, no good jobs, no factories etc. This is basically the definition of rural area.

Defining weather a place is "˜town' or "˜village' is very difficult because some villages have some concepts that are used to define a town, e.g Hawes in north yorkshire, within the yorkshire dales national park, has a number of banks, a large general store, a cattle and retail market once a week, clothes and gift shops, including an outdoor wear shop, as well as several small hotels and pubs. Yet its population is 900.

The exmaple above means that an area with a population of 900 has all the concepts that are mainly in a town but is still called a village by looking at the population.

One of the reasons that this might be is because of the tourism coming into the area. So the village has to supply the needs for the people that are visiting the village. So the village has to supply the needs of the people from the town so they feel at home an come back again.

Index Of Rurality The previous definition shows that it is impossible to think that rural and urban are absolutes. So it is helpful to think of them as graduation between one and another.

According to five graduations of rural and urban produced in 1977 by P Cloke called Cloke index.

The levels go from 1-5 the higher the level the more developed the area is and the levels are labled below.

1) Extreme rural 2) Intermediate rural 3) Intermediate non-rural 4) Extreme non-rural 5) Urban areas Cloke index may have been true when it was created in 1977 but it is oviously not true now because there are a lot more areas that are urban now. In 1977 so therefore the Cloke index cannot be used to show which areas are urban and which areas are rural in 2001.

The Cloke index cannot be used today because the number of people moving from urban to rural have increased because some of the businesses have moved from urban to rural. Businesses know more people are moving into rural areas and the other reason is the land is cheaper so they can have a bigger shop for the same price they would have had in a urban area.

When you and me think about a Rural area the first thing that comes to our minds would be Villages, Friendly, Safe, Boring, Farming etc, but in most cases this is not true anymore so therefore that's why I think it's is very hard to define a rural area. The definitions of "rural areas" vary, different groups use different criteria to define a rural area around the world.

There are four main ways of defining rural areas, which are: Settlement size Regional context An index of rurally Land use I'm going to use the four main ways of describing a rural area these are shown above.

Settlement size Settlement size basically means "˜population' it's believed that even the different governments cannot agree on what is really meant by "˜rural' population.

Different governments think different things to what is rural population, showing it is impossible to define a rural area by just looking at the area population.

UK's definition on rural is that an area is defined as a rural area if the settlement size of the area is less or equal to 10,000 meaning 20% of UK's population live in rural areas.

In Italy and Spain the same definition is used as in the UK and they say any population of more than 10,000 people in an area is known as an urban area.

In France the population threshold of an rural settlement is less then 2000 In Denmark and Sweden the threshold of an area is only 200 inhabitants.

The United Nations defines an area as a rural area if the settlement is less than 20,000.

Looking at the facts above it is lead to believe that different government have different policies. This means that we are going to be confused until there is only one rule that defines a rural area from an urban area used all over the world.

I understand that there are different populations in different countries but the point is that there should be only one way of defining a rural area from an urban area by looking at the settlement size.

Regional Context Defining "˜rural' by looking at the population is going to be a big problem. It can also be confused with the term used for urban and rural. The term used for rural area is "˜village' and the term used for urban is "˜town'.

The definition of Urban is "˜town' meaning that a lot of shops, good housing, built up area, offices, a lot of people etc. This is basically the definition of urban area.

The definition of Rural is "˜Village' meaning that the housing is not good, no buildings, no good jobs, no factories etc. This is basically the definition of rural area.

Defining weather a place is "˜town' or "˜village' is very difficult because some villages have some concepts that are used to define a town, e.g Hawes in north yorkshire, within the yorkshire dales national park, has a number of banks, a large general store, a cattle and retail market once a week, clothes and gift shops, including an outdoor wear shop, as well as several small hotels and pubs. Yet its population is 900.

The exmaple above means that an area with a population of 900 has all the concepts that are mainly in a town but is still called a village by looking at the population.

One of the reasons that this might be is because of the tourism coming into the area. So the village has to supply the needs for the people that are visiting the village. So the village has to supply the needs of the people from the town so they feel at home an come back again.

Index Of Rurality The previous definition shows that it is impossible to think that rural and urban are absolutes. So it is helpful to think of them as graduation between one and another.

According to five graduations of rural and urban produced in 1977 by P Cloke called Cloke index.

The levels go from 1-5 the higher the level the more developed the area is and the levels are labled below.

1) Extreme rural 2) Intermediate rural 3) Intermediate non-rural 4) Extreme non-rural 5) Urban areas Cloke index may have been true when it was created in 1977 but it is oviously not true now because there are a lot more areas that are urban now. In 1977 so therefore the Cloke index cannot be used to show which areas are urban and which areas are rural in 2001.

The Cloke index cannot be used today because the number of people moving from urban to rural have increased because some of the businesses have moved from urban to rural. Businesses know more people are moving into rural areas and the other reason is the land is cheaper so they can have a bigger shop for the same price they would have had in a urban area.