Smart Villages: Where Can They Happen?

Łukasz Komorowski and Monika Stanny
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Łukasz Komorowski: Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, 72 Nowy Świat St., 00-330 Warsaw, Poland
Monika Stanny: Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, 72 Nowy Świat St., 00-330 Warsaw, Poland

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: The European Union is actively promoting the idea of “smart villages”. The increased uptake of new technology and in particular, the use of the internet, is seen as a vital part of strategies to combat rural decline. It is evident that those areas most poorly connected to the internet are those confronted by the greatest decline. The analysis in this paper is based on Poland, which at the time of EU accession had many deeply disadvantaged rural areas. Using fine-grained socio-economic data, an association can be found between weak internet access and rural decline in Poland. The preliminary conclusions about the utility of the smart village concept as a revitalisation tool for rural Poland point to theoretical and methodological dilemmas. Barriers to the concept’s implementation are also observed, although there is a chance they may be overcome with the continued spread of information and communication technologies in rural areas.

Keywords: smart villages; EU instruments; rural decline; rural areas; information and communication technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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