Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural Areas
Project Status: Completed
Type of Project: Research Project
Principal Investigator: Dr Meg Huby, University of
York (Email)
Publications, Data and other Outputs
Website
Policy and Practice Notes
Objectives
This project will refine and extend a dataset on Social and Environmental
Rural Conditions (SECRA) that was developed in an earlier RELU scoping
study. The team will then use the SECRA data to examine patterns of
social and environmental inequalities in the distribution of social,
economic and environmental goods and services. We shall consider how
methods for measuring inequality differ in the natural and social sciences
and explore ways to resolve differences and find a common approach.
We shall also examine the effects of using different scales of spatial
unit on measures of inequality.
Having identified inequalities in socio-economic or environmental goods
and services we can then consider their implications for fairness and
equity. To do this we need to consider whether the inequalities can
be regarded as unfair or unjust. The best people to consult on these
matters are the people actually living in the areas where we have identified
inequality. At this stage, therefore, we shall involve local residents
in the research, using mapping techniques to explore their perceptions
of local inequality and injustice.
Working closely with our advisory partners from the Commission for
Rural Communities and the Environment Agency, we then need to consider
what the research findings mean for policies to achieve sustainable
rural development.