Rural-urban Interdependence
In turn, rural America to be healthy and sustainable, needs vibrant, well-functioning cities and suburbs to thrive and flourish.
Yet, the prevailing national narrative pits urban versus rural for investments and public resources, while official statistical definitions often create hard lines between urban and rural, and metropolitan and non-metropolitan.
For most families and businesses, there are no clear distinctions between urban and rural places. Flows of people, capital, goods, and information continually blur political and geographic boundaries. People commute to work, make family visits, or take trips and vacations. Businesses source materials and labor across regions largely ignoring rural-urban boundaries, and sell their goods and materials to customers irrespective of their locations.
Rural economies supply food, energy, workers, and ecosystem services while urban economies provide markets, capital, jobs, and specialized services, reinforcing a productive and deepening interdependence. Both rural and urban communities offer to each other a wealth of recreation and cultural opportunities.