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Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions Newville, August 15, 2007. To be a catalyst for developing viable and sustainable communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, actively supporting regional cooperation through the provision of:
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Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional RegionsNewville, August 15, 2007
To be a catalyst for developing viable and sustainable communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, actively supporting regional cooperation through the provision of: information, research and analysis, training/education, facilitation and advisory services CCRC Mandate Photo by Gerald Peddle
Research • Census of Newfoundland and Labrador Municipalitiesand survey of elected officials (June 2007) • Articles and profiles on regional cooperation initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador • Research on new approaches CRRF - Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions
Rural-Urban Interaction in NL: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions • Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) • NLFM/CCRC • Memorial University – Harris Centre and Department of Geography • University of Kentucky – Rural Studies • Provincial and federal agencies • Participating communities and regions Funding: C/NL Labour Market Development Agreement
Project components • Identify and map (GIS) linkages between communities in “regions”, particularly urban and rural relationships • Assess governance mechanisms used to manage these relationships, identify gaps, investigate alternatives • Assess the contribution of community linkages to local and regional sustainability and create a “labour market attractiveness index” • Collaboration, communication, application Pilot Areas are critical in all 4, but more on that later…
Project components • MNL CCRC will provide outreach, communication of research & use it to inform activities to improve regional cooperation • Harris Centre will assist in finding graduate students to carry out research projects • CRRF will broker same project in other provinces; interest so far in Maritimes, Quebec and Alberta
What Are Functional Regions? • Analysis of interactions represents a functional approach to regional planning • Functional regions and interactions amongst communities ignore administrative boundaries • A functional region is a complex structure of communities and linkages… • where there may exist a dominant community (centre) through which a majority of interactions flow.
Methods of determining functional regions 1. Functional distance: how far are you willing to travel? For work? For products and services of various kinds? (e.g. milk vs. furniture vs. medical) 2. Concentrations of flows: labour flows (e.g. labour flow maps), patterns of trade/shopping travel, business transactions, volume of mail or flyer mailing areas, agricultural production, student migration, banking and financial flows, traffic/transportation, recreation, commodity flows Other: population levels, employment levels, crime rates, census areas, political districts, language
Pilot Areas • Irish Loop (Rural: Urban Adjacent) • Twillingate - New World Island (Rural: Non-adjacent) • Labrador Straits (Rural: Remote)
Role of Pilot Areas • What do we need from you? • Input into project design, research directions and testing of research instruments • Providing an area of focus for the development of pilot research products • Input on initial research findings(“groundtruthing”) • Suggestions for how findings can be presented to maximize dissemination and usefulness to communities, REDBs and other decision-makers • Participate in applying potential solutions identified by the research
Role of Pilot Areas • How do you want to be involved? • Regular meetings • E-mail • Website updates • Newsletter • Correspondence • Who should be involved? • Points of contact