45th Congress of the European Regional Science Association
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During the last three decades rural areas in Greece have experienced serious transformation. The traditional urban-rural dichotomy has given its place to more complex spatial patterns.Some rural areas grow while others decline as a result of their integration in the international markets as well as the presence of other economic activities, such as tourism and the service sector in general. Uneven rural development has attracted the interest of the European Union and OECD which have developed a series of typologies of rural areas in an effort to formulate appropriate policies for rural development. For several decades agriculture was considered the key sector for rural development, however the emphasis is recently given to integrated programs for rural areas. This policy change became evident in Greece during the third Community Support Framework. In this paper rural development is described with a set of demographic, economic and infrastructure indices. Regional disparities are explained in terms of agricultural characteristics, the proximity to major urban centers and the effects of policy implementation. As a result a typology of rural areas is presented which can be used for the formation of appropriate rural development policies.
(EN)
