Territorial Impact Analysis of Rural Policies: Approaches, Methods and Results from a Multidisciplinary Point of View (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Territorial impact assessments and other approaches to policy evaluation have received increasing amounts of interest, with the aim of understanding the extent to which policies are focused on specific territorial needs and the impacts that they have on sustainable development. They have also been used to evaluate whether polices are able reduce territorial disparities between areas with different degrees of development, i.e., remote rural areas versus peri-urban and urban areas. The OECD has been promoting the evaluation of territorial policies since the late 1990s. The European Commission and European Parliament offices have recently promoted the adoption of formal policy evaluations, including rural proofing processes and territorial impact assessments, to procure further evidence on the outcomes of policy implementation, particularly in rural areas.

This Special Issue is particularly focused on the following issues:

• Methods and tools of territorial assessment within the broader range of policies regarding rural areas;
• Methods of impact evaluation in policy analysis to compare outcomes in different territorial settings;
• Evidence on the reduction in social, economic, and territorial disparities between rural and urban areas and within rural contexts;
• Social and sustainable innovation in rural areas and its socio-economic and environmental implications;
• Innovative uses of indicators of social inclusion, environmental sustainability (including biodiversity, landscape conservation, etc.), agricultural competitiveness, and diversification of rural economies;
• Experiences of rural proofing;
• Territorial disparities between rural and urban areas, analyses of policy schemes impacting them, as well as urban–rural relations;
• Policies/policy instruments that appear to be better targeted to the poorest rural areas’ needs or hard-to-reach rural stakeholders.

Research papers providing empirical evidence on these phenomena and comparing different case studies and territorial contexts are highly encouraged. Reviews of the literature on territorial impacts are also strongly welcomed. The final aim of this Special Issue is to provide a broad overview of the variety of solutions and experiences on rural policies worldwide.

Dr. Francesco Mantino
Guest Editor

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• rural development and regional policies for rural areas
• rural proofing
• socio-economic and climate–environmental indicators of rural development
• sustainable innovation in rural areas
• institutional innovations in rural policies
• impact assessment of rural policies
• distribution of policy support among rural areas
• econometric models for impact evaluation of policy schemes for rural areas
• community-led local development partnerships

• Territorial Impact Analysis of Rural Policies: Approaches, Methods and Results from a Multidisciplinary Point of View in Land (11 articles)