"rural"?

[H]

In planning terms how do you define “rural”??

 

[JNA]

According to a portion of a lobe of
"The Throbing Brian of Cyburbia"
it is the unincorporated
"Town Next Door"

my bad humor -
you posted a potential serious question in the FAC

 

[SGB]

From the U.S. Census Bureau:

The Census Bureau's classification of "rural" consists of all territory, population, and housing units located outside of urbanized areas and urban clusters. The rural component contains both place and nonplace territory. Geographic entities, such as census tracts, counties, metropolitan areas, and the territory outside metropolitan areas, often are "split" between urban and rural territory, and the population and housing units they contain often are partly classified as urban and partly classified as rural.

You'll find urban areas and urban clusters defined here.

 

[biscuit]

Define it? Heck, I can barely say it properly. Apparently everyone around here seems to think that I’m saying “Rule” Silly Yankees. ;-)

Anyway, because most of my work has involved federal funding on level I have always used the US Census definition which is loosely a place with a population of less than 2,500. This definition does not hold true however in the New England states, New York and Wisconsin.
Here’s a link to the government’s full definition.

http://www.census.gov/population/censusdata/urdef.txt

 

[SkeLeton]

In Chile it's any settlement up to 2,000 inhabitants.
It's also a place where urban comodities, like sewerage, are not found. Though there are places that fall into the Rurban category, rural by population and with urban comodities.

 

[jestes]

It all depends on which federal agency you are seeking funding from. Because our county is part of an MSA certain agencies consider us urban. However, others consider us rural.

I think that one of the primary factors that should be considered is population density. Our total county population is just over 72,000 but nearly 50,000 of that is inside our two municipalities. That leaves around 22,000 people occupying almost 400 square miles or roughly 55 people per square mile. Hardly what I would call urban.

 

[Planderella]

you posted a potential serious question in the FAC

Mod Note: Serious questions do not belong in the FAC. Thread moved to a more appropriate forum.

 

[H]

Thanks ya’ll this gives me some direction.

I am trying to understand someone’s argument that their area (section) is rural. The square mile parcelated section is mostly ag use (nursery) with some single-family homes with large lawns, but the section it is surrounded on 4 sides by suburban (1/4 acre lot) development.

It was probably rural when they moved there 30 yrs ago, but now it is almost "intown". Low-density, sí, but rural, no no no. Anyway...

And I will pay more attention in the future to make sure posts go in the right category. whoops :-S

 

[Lee Nellis]

We planners are such bureaucrats, always using some agency definition of terms. But there are "cities," like say Wichita, KS, where there is precious little urbanity compared to small towns like, say, Aspen.

I have always favored a definition that is not based on density or even on use per se, but on how inhabitants make their livings. If a large number of inhabitants make their livings in agriculture, mining, or the timber industry, that place is going to be rural in character, even if it gets pretty large.

This eliminates many, if not most, places where folks say they are "rural," and would, in my mind, be therapeutic, since people tend to justify all sorts of nonsense by saying they are rural. One could then use the far more accurate "exurban" for low density places where most people commute to work in an urban place.

The questions about this approach are 1) whether a resort community can be rural? and 2) whether a retirment community can be rural? Tourism and retirement are both urban and rural activities, but since the money usually comes from an urban area, I am not sure these types of communities are rural in a meaningful sense.

I am very interested in what others think.

 

[Cardinal]

I think the definition is well summed up in the sentiments of my neighbours when they say, "moo."

 

[Seabishop]

People like to call their suburban towns "rural" when they don't want some new development nearby.

 

[passdoubt]

I'd say any place where the majority of the population earn their living from farming or otherwise "living off the land" is rural.

 

[otterpop]

If you can smell cow s**t or a coyote ate your cat, it's a rural area.

 

[SGB]

1) If your town adopts a "right to farm" law while it's losing population, it's rural.

2) If your chief elected official has a Farm Bureau bumper sticker on the John Deere he drives to the board meetings, it's rural.

 

[nerudite]

If you can smell cow s**t or a coyote ate your cat, it's a rural area.

Coyotes eat cats all the time in L.A. Maybe you should rethink this definition.

 

[ludes98]

Coyotes eat cats all the time in L.A. Maybe you should rethink this definition.

Same thing here in Phoenix area. Lots of dairying here so you can smell cowsh!t too.

 

[jestes]

I remember a discussion during a planning class some years ago (Population Geography) where a student commented that you know you are in a rural area when passing motorist wave to you.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

When the town has no signal lights.

 

[Rumpy Tunanator]

The Census has defined it as a certian population segment, but in true terms of rural, its agricultural, super low density, with a long drive to the nearest McDonald's (tm) and spraWal-Mart (tm)

-Rural is: Characteristics of a "rural" community without the urban ammenities (population still applies).

 

[giff57]

When the town has no signal lights.

We have two sets......we must be urban ;-)