A recent publication by PAGE members Sabrina Arcuri, Gianluca Brunori and Silvia Rolandi has been released. The authors make a critical literature and policy review on the role of digitalisation in rural areas and take stock of a set of exemplary cases from two H2020 projects now completed – SHERPA and DESIRA.

Written by Sabrina Arcuri.

The paper is included in a Special Issue on the ‘Digital and just transition’ of the Italian Review of Agriculture Economics – REA, edited by Marco Fama, Alessandra Corrado, and Maura Benegiamo.

The paper by Sabrina Arcuri, Gianluca Brunori and Silvia Rolandi is structured as a critical literature review, and therefore starts from acknowledging and appraising both scientific literature in the field and the EU policy lansdcape in relation to digitalisation in rural areas.

Noteworthy, the authors build upon, and further expand, previous work carried out under the framework of DESIRA and SHERPA H2020 projects, in which the authors were actively involved, respectively as coordinators and partners.

The paper’s aim is to provide and discuss a simple conceptual framework, to accompany any reflection about, and processes of, rural digitalisation. Three main intervention areas, and relative sub-themes, emerge from the review and are comprised in the framework: 

• the rural digital divide, encompassing the interactions among connectivity, digital capital and users’ motivation; 
• the attractiveness of rural areas, meant as a combination of the quality of the rural environment, social relations, work and services;  
• opportunities for strengthening local governance.  

For each of these broad themes, the role of digital tools is explored and supported by case study examples providing valuable insights and real-life applications in rural settings. 

The open access publication is available here.