urban and rural

Geographers, spatial economists and political philosphers have opposed urban (the city) and rural (the country) for centuries. Karl Marx, Ferdinand Tonnies, Max Weber, Georg Simmel have all contributed to the rural-urban debate, often associated with the center / perihpery contrast.

In the current world network economy, where 'spaces of flows' have replaced 'spaces of places' (Castells), the urban/rural opposition is outdated. Cities are processes, evaluated by their relations with others, in a space of flows. These incoming and outgoing flows (physcial and virtual) make up the city. The country however remains a place, where local production feeds its inhabitants who remain in their designated territories.

We've created a world where urban is a different referential than rural.