THE NEW RURALITY AS AN ANALYTICAL CATEGORY: LIMITS, POTENTIALITIES, AND CONTEMPORARY DEBATES

Abstract

The research critically examines new rurality as an analytical category, identifying its explanatory scope, conceptual limitations, and the contemporary controversies surrounding its use in policy and educational practice. New rurality is presented as an analytical category intended to capture the socio‑spatial, economic, and cultural transformations that reconfigure contemporary rural areas. The study also emphasizes that new rurality requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate market variables, public policies, mobilities, and socio‑environmental practices. The work distinguishes between structural processes (deagrarianization, periurbanization, productive diversification) and contextual variations, warning of the risk of homogenizing heterogeneous trajectories if the category is not operationally delimited. From the perspectives of ecological economics and public policy, it proposes incorporating the socio‑ecological dimension and multiscale frameworks to assess synergies and tensions between productive innovation and sustainability. In education, the study argues for the need for contextualized curricula, place‑based teacher training, flexible modalities, and digital inclusion to improve relevance and equity. Methodologically, the research calls for interdisciplinary approaches, mixed methods, longitudinal studies, and ethical, participatory protocols that ensure validity and enable the translation of evidence into policies adaptable to local scales. The document concludes that new rurality must be employed critically and rigorously to inform inclusive and sustainable policies that are sensitive to heterogeneity and power asymmetries in rural territories.