The Westhoek, a complex rural region

The Westhoek is the westernmost part of Belgium. It is often considered the ultimate example of rurality in Flanders. But what does it mean to be rural in the 21st century? To be sure, rural areas in North-Western Europe have gone through considerable upheaval in the 20th century.  The structural dimensions of rural change have been widely documented over the past decades. But too often, analyses remained rather narrowly focused on changes in the agricultural sector.  20th century rural change in North-Western Europe is commonly described as a transition from a productivist order focused on the maximisation of agricultural output towards a post-productivist order where agriculture integrates alternative values such as leisure and nature conservation. Others have focused on urban expansion and described how suburban sprawl is annihilating the rural open landscape. Such analyses often simplify and reduce rural life to one or a few of its dimensions. In reality, the countryside is a multifaceted, complex and most of all dynamic system. Over the past century, agricultural, natural, residential, touristic, industrial and demographic developments have been intensely interwoven. This integrated system has given rise to a 21st century rurality that is all but subsumed under a 'planetary urbanization' but constitutes a spatial category of its own. A category that is here to stay, and to further evolve in the coming century. A category that is best understood on its own terms, and merits its own theories and analyses.