Urbanising the Countryside or Ruralising the City?

Some Topics for a Critical Reflection on the Influence of the Urban/Rural Divide in the Distribution of the Population across the Territory

Abstract

With the aim of offering some contributions to the critical debate on the relationship between Urban and Rural phenomena — a subject particularly relevant for Urban Planning and Land Use Law, given the consequences it brings, for example, to the activity of population distribution across the territory — this article gathers some rudimentary reflections on the matter, organised into two topics: it begins with a brief discussion of some implications that the persistence of the urban/rural divide has for the tasks involved in the distribution of the population, followed by another short incursion into the history of the words and concepts surrounding the Urban and the Rural. Seeking only to bring to light a few points for reflection on the subject at hand, no solutions or conclusions are put forward, for the reasons explained in the text. Nevertheless, as a guiding message for the reading of this article, we leave the following quotation: "The suppression of the opposition between town and country is not only possible, it has become a necessity…"

WILLIAM MORRIS, “Nouvelles de Nulle Part”, apud A. JACINTO RODRIGUES, “Urbanismo e Revolução”, Porto, Afrontamento, 1975, p. 61.