Rural is Not the Lack of McDonald’s- Kendall Eilo

The argument of what exactly the definition of rural is has been a prolonged debate over the years. According to the Census Bureau a rural area is: “all territory outside of the Census Bureau-defined urbanized areas and urban clusters.” This definition is solely based off of population and lacks a multitude of qualifiers. The dictionary definition of rural is no more specific with the definition of: “-of or pertaining to characteristics of the country, country life or country people.” In more rustic environments, rural has a much different meaning not solely based on a low population density or lack of urbanization. A rural community is a small group of people living together in a highly secluded or inaccessible area that must generate the majority of its own resources, have a lack of amenities, and the people of the community decisively choose the rural lifestyle.

A small group of people would be less than 1,000 individuals and these people would work together to make a rural community. Being in such a secluded area would encourage the community to generate its own resources and form a bond that is similar to the bond of a family. The inaccessibility of the area is one of the main features that make the small group of people a community rather than strangers and contributes to the clarification of a rural community. The area should be at least three hours away by car from the nearest urban area to ensure that it is isolated and not as accessible as a small town.

A low population density is related to how much land there is per person in the area. This is an important qualifier when defining rural because much of population is related to how urbanized an area is and if an area is heavily urbanized it will demolish the ability of subsistence living. A large population can also lead to future urbanization of an area due to more demand for business to better the overall standard of living. This standard of living that is often sought after by urban areas and is contradictory of the subsistence lifestyle that creates an area that is no longer rural. High population can also affect a rural area because there should be a large amount of land that is devoted to agriculture, and with a high population this is near impossible to preserve.

Generating the majority of one’s own resources is a crucial aspect when identifying the definition of rural and is strongly related to subsistence living. The definition of subsistence living is: “as living off of what one oneself can grow and make by taking only what one needs from the land.” (Survival, 1) An example of a community that participates in a subsistence lifestyle would be many of the rural villages in Alaska; these communities live off the land and wilderness while using all their resources to their maximum potential. In much of rural Alaska the open land available for agriculture is one of the main ways the community can retain their subsistence lifestyle. Though agriculture is important during the agricultural seasons, hunting is also a huge notion that allows many Alaskans to survive in such harsh conditions during the winters. The resources the natives can receive from hunting are more than food and when executed correctly the hunted animals can supply the community with shelter, clothing and other supplies.

These authentic rural areas, such as in Alaska, frequently lack even the most basic amenities that urban areas have, such as running water and electricity. These amenities, though helpful, create a more urbanized community because the amenities alter the choice of lifestyle. The ideals of a rural community are strongly related to the ability to survive and if basic amenities, such as electricity, were available it would dislodge the idea behind subsistence living and allow the community to have more urban ideals, thus creating an urban area.

Another example of a rural lifestyle other than rural Alaska would be the rural farm life. This country life is the choice to abstain from using the usual tools that urban areas have but rather living off one’s own farm, pumping well water, or chopping wood for the furnace to replenish the community. These agricultural areas around the world have both a low population and the large amounts of land dedicated to farming, these qualifiers make these communities rural. The subsistence lifestyle that farming communities take part in does differ from the rural Alaska communities but at the same time pose the same ideals of surviving off the land and maximizing resources.

Many people would argue that a small town is a rural area since it is not an urbanized place but the lack of urbanization is not the sole characteristic of a rural area. Rural is an area that lacks basic resources thus forcing the community to have (what much of the population would refer to as) poor standard of living. These rural communities are in an area where it is necessary to utilize the land as they do in order to survive; this is often due to lack of amenities such as, electricity and running water. A small town differs from a rural area because of these reasons, even though small towns have small populations and aren’t urbanized they don’t fit the qualifier of the community living off the land and generating it’s own resources.

Many people base the definition of rural off of their personal experiences. Since over 75% of the population of America currently lives in a metropolitan area much of this population has yet to personally visit an authentic rural area. This makes it so many individuals have yet to experience the drastic difference between suburban, small town and rural areas. These authentic rural areas that do follow the subsistence lifestyle, have a low population density and a large amount of agricultural land tend to be in very secluded areas that are difficult to travel to; this makes it even more of an obstacle to allow the population to better examine what rural is and how to define it.

A rural community is a small group of people that live in a secluded area because more accessible areas have a large tendency to be urbanized and have a higher population density. The community must work together to generate its own resources because this leads to a more subsistence lifestyle. The lack of amenities is crucial to a rural community since it affects the lifestyle choices the community makes and helps to avoid urbanization. The people of the community choose to live the subsistence lifestyle, which allows the community to work together to generate its resources and survive confidently in an isolated area. These qualifiers of a rural community create a more specific definition than what most the population would debate rural means and can better target an accurate definition of rural.

Work Cited

"Subsistence Living." Survival Preparedness. Web. 17 Oct. 2011.

homestead.com/subsistence-living.html>.

Image Citations

· http://www.geocases2.co.uk/census_figure9.htm

· http://meltingtheice.wordpress.com/tag/community/

· http://www.rockyfordchamber.net/chamberinfo.htm

· http://www.alaskool.org/native_ed/images/other_sources/paul_ongtooguk/noatak.htm