Contemporary Functions of Small and Medium-sized Towns in the Rural Economy

Introduction Modern Europe has rural roots, even today, as much as 90 per cent of Europe (EU25) consists of rural areas in which half of the population lives. The different challenges that rural areas face range from restructuring the agricultural sector, remoteness, poor service provision and depopulation to population influx and pressure on the natural environment, particularly in the rural areas close to urban centres. Taking into account the significant changes and challenges in rural areas and the economic and organizational advantages of towns, it can be expected that towns will become increasingly important for (inter)national policy makers, especially related to the decentralization of rural policies. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the contemporary function of towns in the rural economy: How important are small and medium-sized towns to local households and firms. And, how strong are town-hinterland interactions these days? Apart from showing a general picture of town-hinterland interactions, we will focus more specifically on local households and local firms. For a large part of the analyses in this thesis, data derived from the European Union research project ‘Marketowns’ has been used. In this project, the flow of goods, services and labour between firms and households in a sample of 30 small and medium-sized towns in five EU countries has been measured. The participating countries reflect the varied conditions of the both existing and the enlarged European Union, viz. France, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the UK.