This collection offers a comprehensive selection of journal articles and book chapters that provide readers with an historical overview of rural planning, collating the canonical writings on the subject in one essential reference work. Each volume begins with an editorial introduction by the editor explaining the context and choice of contents, with the set organised thematically, from the concept of the rural, to the policy and governance aspects, through to the considerations of environmental change.

Sections will consider the key concepts of rural development with a broad range of representative published sources included. Reflecting various approaches in the best scholarship, this will be of major assistance for students of planning and geography quickly locating the best information on the built environment in rural locations.