Local development and new rurality

Since 1980 local development arises as an alternative to address regional inequalities and promote structural change processes. The participation of stakeholders and the establishment of cooperation networks are the key aspects to identify the problem, the territorial potentialities and to make decisions that promote local projects to generate changes aimed at equity and sustainability, without neglecting economic viability. Based on these ideas, the overal objective of this work is to establish the interrelationships between local development proposals and the New Rurality. The research results highlight that in both cases the territory is considered as a social-historical construction; moreover, the economic dimension, the social, environmental, cultural, educational and technological development aspects transcend the economic ones and they are placed in a more human view.