Deprivation,resources and planning: Some implications for applied rural geography

Recent concern over social deprivation in rural areas of the U.K. has provided a new focus for applied rural geographers. However, the concept of deprivation may be broadened to include many other aspects of the rural environment, and therefore it offers a framework for more integrated approaches to planning in the countryside. A more dynamic strategy of rural research, involving greater cooperation between academic geographers and practising planners, and focussing upon problems of rural deprivation, is advocated in this paper.