The problems of providing essential services in a constrained economic climate, and of conserving the rural environment whilst protecting rural people, are of immediate importance. This book, first published in 1979, was the first major piece of published research on the topic of rural settlement planning. It examines in detail the history and theory behind key settlement policies, and their practical application within the British rural planning system. Using Warwickshire and Devon as two very different case studies, Paul Cloke measures the outcome of settlement planning and discusses the wider implications of the 'concentration-dispersal' debate. This reissue will provide essential background for students of rural and social geography, and rural sociology and economics.

Paul Cloke

Preface; Rurality and Rural Change 2. Conceptual Evolution of Key Settlements 3. Evolution of Key Settlements in the Planning Framework 4. Key Settlements in a Pressured Rural Area: a Case-Study of Warwickshire 5. Key Settlements in a Remoter Rural Area: a Case-study of Devon 6. An assessment of Key Settlement Performance 7. Key Settlements and the Future; Bibliography; Index