Author:

Keywords:

Urban, Rural, entrepreneurship

Abstract:

This article develops a rural-urban classification of the Belgium territory that is used to define the economic profile of rural areas in Belgium, as compared to other territories. Who is the rural entrepreneur, is the central question in this respect. Is this the traditional farmer, or has the rural firm also evolved together with the overall economic transition? The article shows that rural entrepreneurship exists, leading to an economy in rural areas that is far from being ignorable. The rural entrepreneur is engaged in a variety of activities much broader that agriculture resulting in an economic portfolio that mainly consist of activities in other sectors. Finally rural entrepreneurs are dynamic, but the importance of ‘ambitious’ start-ups remains rather low indicating that many start-ups have to be considered as a type of ‘out of necessity entrepreneurship’. In defining societal views on urban-rural relationships and the role of and strategies for rural territories socio-cultural capital plays a crucial role. Therefore developing views and defining roles have to start from the socio-cultural and economic content of these territories. In this respect it should be a mistake to reduce the socio-cultural and economic content to the agrarian activities that are unmistakably important but certainly not the only expression of the rural entrepreneur