Reblog:

May 2013 · Volume 95 · Number 4

Feature

Rural Sustainability

by Anna Read

This community pride sign hangs in front of the courthouse in Grundy County, Missouri.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) publishes a short document called “Rural America at a Glance.” Last published in December 2012, this brief report provides an overview of social, economic, and population trends in rural America. ERS examines the 2,053 non-metro counties in the United States, which are home to 51 million people. So what does this most recent snapshot tell us about our rural communities?

• Population growth is slowing. In the five-year period ending in 2011 (the latest year for which data is available), population growth in non-metro areas slowed and the population grew at a rate far slower than in metro areas. However, although half of non-metro counties lost population from 2010 to 2011, 350 gained population at a rate higher than the national growth rate.
• Unemployment rates are lower, but employment growth is occuring more slowly. Metro and non-metro counties began the recession with identical unemployment rates (4.8 percent). In the third quarter of 2012, non-metro counties had an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, while in metro counties it was 8.1 percent.
  In the first half of 2012, employment grew by 1.1 percent in metro counties and by 0.1 percent in non-metro counties. In eight states, non-metro counties saw net job losses.
• Poverty rates are higher. Rural poverty rates (17 percent) have been and remain higher than metro poverty rates (14.6 percent), although during the recession (2006–2011), rural poverty rates increased at a lower rate (1.8 percent) than metro poverty rates (2.8 percent).

What does this statistical picture actually tell us? The data show that rural communities are varied places facing a range of challenges. As in metro communities, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainability. Sustainable communities give weight to economic, environmental, and social equity concerns in the policy and programmatic decision-making processes.
Communities approach sustainability for a range of reasons. Some are interested in going “green,” others in the long-term benefits, and some see cost savings from sustainability initiatives.
So, then, what is a sustainable community, and what does it mean in a rural context? The Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), outlines six livability principles for sustainable communities—rural, suburban, or urban:

1. Provide more transportation choices.
2. Promote equitable, affordable housing.
3. Enhance economic competitiveness.
4. Support exiting communities.
5. Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment.
6. Value communities and neighborhoods.

These six principles not only guide the partnership’s work, they can also provide a framework for policies and programs that address all three pieces of sustainability: economy, environment, and social equity.
Because there are many approaches to sustainability in small towns and rural communities and sustainability can encompass a wide range of programs and policies, it is important for communities to assess current community conditions, including assets and challenges.
It is also important to engage community members in defining what sustainability means for your community—when deciding on an approach or combination of approaches—whether that be working to revitalize a main street, creating transportation options for senior residents, preserving farmland from development, managing new growth and infrastructure demands, or stemming population loss.

Residents often indicate that rural or small town character is something they value about their communities. Photos above and below were taken in communities located in central and northeast Missouri, respectively.

Considerations for Rural Sustainability

Here are factors rural communities should consider, in addition to the livability principles outlined earlier, when approaching and evaluating sustainability:

• Opportunities and challenges. What are the specific opportunities and challenges facing your community? Some small towns are losing population, while others are seeing growth. Some rural communities have economies dependent on farming, ranching, or resources extraction, while others depend on tourism and experience large seasonal population shifts.
  Rural communities may have aging populations, which carry their own special needs. And while a rural locale might make accessing jobs and services difficult, this setting might also be a highly valued quality. These are all potential opportunities and challenges that are important to identify and evaluate when looking at strategies or policies related to sustainability.
• Economic, environmental, and cultural assets. Small towns and rural communities often have significant local assets, including natural amenities, historic and cultural resources, and local industries that can be leveraged into sustainable, long-term economic growth. Every community’s set of assets is unique and may play a central role in defining that community’s quality of life and sense of place.
• Community engagement. Engaging the community in defining its vision and goals for the future is key to identifying and implementing workable strategies and policies for sustainability in rural communities.
• Opportunities for regional collaboration. Working regionally can create linkages and stretch resources. Innovative programs can emerge from shared vision and resources.
• Connectivity. Today, we are more connected than ever—at more locations and on more devices. Some 18 million people, however, live in rural communities that are unserved or underserved by broadband. This creates challenges for businesses, especially those in the education and in health care sectors, among others.

Resources on Rural Sustainability

ICMA has developed the following resources for rural communities, which are focused on aspects of rural sustainability:

• Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities. This report focuses on three goals for building sustainable rural communities and presents strategies and policy tools to help achieve these goals. Available at icma.org/ruralsmartgrowth.
• Asset-Based Economic Development and Building Sustainable Rural Communities. This set of three briefing papers examines asset-based economic development as a strategy for building sustainable rural communities. They focus on case studies of communities that have leveraged local assets into successful economic development, whether those are local industries, natural amenities, or historic or cultural resources. Available at icma.org/sustainability.

EPA also has several reports and resources focused on sustainability in rural communities:

• Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Rural Planning, Zoning, and Development Codes. This report focuses on actions that communities can take to revise land- use polices and zoning codes that create barriers to implementing smart growth and sustainable land-use practices. Available at http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/essential_fixes-rural-zoning-develop.htm.
• Supporting Sustainable Rural Communities. This report, produced by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities in collaboration with USDA, focuses on agency spending, policy, and programs, and the role they can play in helping reinforce initiatives already under way and further the goal of building “economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable rural communities.” The report features case studies of sustainability initiatives in rural communities. Available at www.epa.gov/dced/pdf/2011_11_supporting-sustainable-rural-communities.pdf.
• Federal Resources for Sustainable Rural Communities. This report highlights federal funding resources available for rural sustainability from USDA, EPA, HUD, and DOT. Available at http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/federal_resources_rural.pdf.

Other significant reports and resources are available, and this list is by no means meant to be exhaustive. Here are two additional subject-specific resources:

• Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America: How Smaller Cities and Rural Places Are Using Transit and Mobility Investments to Strengthen Their Economies and Communities. This report, published by Reconnecting America, focuses on public transportation in small towns and rural communities and the types of transit systems that may work in lower-density communities with longer distances and smaller populations. The report features case studies of successful rural transit systems. Available at http://reconnectingamerica.org/resource-center.
• Regional Approaches to Sustainable Development: Linking Economic, Transportation, and Environmental Infrastructure in Rural and Small Metropolitan America. This report by the National Association of Development Organizations focuses on the role that regional development organizations can play in fostering sustainability within a region by linking economic, transportation, and environmental infrastructure. Available at http://www.nado.org/regional-approaches-to-sustainable-development.

Endnotes

¹ Kusmin, Lorin. “Rural America at a Glance, 2012.” USDA Economic Research Service, December 2012. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eb-economic-brief/eb21.aspx.
² The six livability principles are quoted from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities website at www.sustainablecommunities.gov.
³ Federal Communications Commission. “Connect America Fund.” http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/connecting-america.