Author(s):
Carvalho-Ribeiro, Sónia 
; Madeira, Luís ; Pinto-Correia, Teresa
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/10232
Origin: Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora
Subject(s): Multifunctionality; Spatially explicit indicators; Transitions; Rural dynamics; Rural policy; Portugal
Description
In recent decades, rural Europe has experienced major transitions, impelled by multiple drivers at varying scales, leading
to increasingly differentiated modes of rural occupance. There is a need to monitor the multiple forces driving these
transitions, so as to ensure that rural support and development policies are well targeted. In this paper, we develop a
methodology which recognizes and regionalizes the three dimensions underlying rural multifunctionality, namely production,
consumption and protection as initially conceptualized by Holmes (2006, 2012). In our approach, these three
dimensions are linked to socio-economic dynamics, which vary across space and may act as a stimulus or a constraint
on the multifunctional transition. For the municipalities in Alentejo, southern Portugal, we construct an appropriate set
of indicators for conveying the four (production, protection, consumption and socio-economic) dimensions studied.
Results show that with a robust set of spatial indicators the different dimensions by Holmes were gauged across the case
study area. Further, results also highlight the advantages of crosschecking the production, protection and consumption
dimensions with a fourth socio-economic dimension in order to comprehsively explore the possible ways in wich policy
targetting can be made. This method can be a valuable tool to inform policy targetting and decision-making, including
those of potential investors. Future research pathways are delineated in order to refine the employed indicator set and to
include other possible dimensions and analytical techniques into this innovative methodological framework.
