Rural-Urban Interaction in Rural-Urban Interaction in Newfoundland and Newfoundland and

Labrador: Understanding Labrador: Understanding and Managing Functional and Managing Functional

RegionsRegions

Ferryland, June 6, 2007Ferryland, June 6, 2007

CCRC Mandate 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

Photo by Gerald Peddle

Research

• Census of Newfoundland and Labrador Municipalities and 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 components1) Identify and map (GIS) linkages between

communities in “regions”, particularly urban and rural relationships

2) Assess governance mechanisms used to manage these relationships, identify gaps, investigate alternatives

3) Assess the contribution of community linkages to local and regional sustainability and create a “labour market attractiveness index”

4) Collaboration, communication, application

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

Work Flows example

Important but not the whole

picture

Pilot Areas

• Irish Loop (Urban adjacent rural)

• Twillingate-New World Island (Non-adjacent rural)

• Labrador Straits (Remote rural)

Role of Pilot Areas

• 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

Thank You!!

Questions? Comments?

Opinions on key linkages/interactions/characteristics

that define a functional region?