Research on planning for rural places

This research explores some of the key challenges facing rural communities and landscapes in recent years. It considers how good spatial planning tailored to rural contexts can better meet the needs of rural people and places alongside the wider societal benefits that rural land is called on to deliver.

One project highlights the need for and barriers to affordable rural housing in England, another explores delivery of rural housing in England through Rural Exception Sites, and another investigates the impacts of commuting from rural homes to towns and cities in Ireland and the US.

We include a research project on rural planning for renewable energy, which won the RTPI Student Award for Research Excellence in 2024.

We also include an Interface issue on rural gentrification.

You might also be interested in our Rural Planning in the 2020s RTPI report and in the RTPI Library Series book Rural Planning Futures which was a finalist of the Patsy Healey Award for Academic Excellence 2025.