Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges

Walter Leimgruber's research interests include boundaries and transborder relations, regional development and inequality issues. He graduated and obtained his PhD from the University of Basle, Switzerland, where he worked from 1975 to 1980. From 1982 till his retirement in 2009 he taught human geography at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He has authored and edited/co-edited 7 books. He was President of the Association of Swiss Geographers (ASG) 1987 to 1989 and Chair of the Swiss National Committee IGU 1989 to 1992. 2001 to 2004 he directed the Centre d'Etudes, de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Afrique à Fribourg (CERDAF) He chaired the IGU Commission on Evolving Issues on Geographical Marginality in the Early 21st Century World from 2000 to 2004 and has been its secretary since..

Part I Introduction: Rural space between marginality and centrality. Approaches to marginality issues in rural areas.- Part II People: Impact of rural restructuring on the time-space behavioural patterns in a marginal area.- Spatial differentiation of social capital: A case study of peripheral and rural microregions in Czechia.- Rural Labour Markets and Peripherization Processes in Poland.- The role of identity in community activities of marginal rural areas.- Deconstructing financial inclusion and exclusion in the development discourse: case studies of microfinance operations in rural Bangladesh.- Part III Transformation processes: Agrarian and urban transitions in Lam Dong province, Vietnam: adaptation or marginalisation for ethnic minorities?.- The influence of globalization to overcome marginality in the Uco Valley of Mendoza, Argentina.- Advances in marginality studies in southern Mendoza, Argentine.- Demographic and economic change in small towns in New Zealand and the responses to marginalization.- Part IV Primary activities: An alternative agriculture space in an indigenous community: Kalala, Taiwan.- Restructuring of Japanese forestry and the current condition for the sustainability of more advanced forestry regions.- Urban agriculture in Zambia.- Part V Towards a multifunctional rural space: The role of traditional handicrafts in the development of rural areas: the case of Ribnica, Slovenia.- Windfarms in Champagne-Ardenne Region. An assessment of the acceptability and local governance issue.- Protected areas and the integration process of mountainous areas in mainland Southeast Asia: the case of Luang Nam Tha, Lao PDR.- Part VI Conclusion: Perspectives of rural space.