Typology approach in the assessment of rural policies impact

This paper refers to the recent efforts of the JRC/IPTS on impact assessment of rural policies in the EU, particularly using rural typology and quantitative assessment tools for it based on the project of Common Feature of Diverse European Rural Areas: Review of Approaches to Rural Typology (March-September 2007). The paper is structured in three parts as follows. The first one starts with a short overview of rural definition. It will be as a preliminary exercise an overview of rural-urban delimitations and classifications of "rurality". The definitions/delimitations which have been operationally linked to rural development policies will be particularly paid attention. The second part of the paper concentrates on description and review of spatial and performance typologies aimed at providing full comparative descriptions of rural typologies. The third part concentrates on summarizing the results of the project and drawing recommendations for further research will concentrate on rural policy impact analysing