A supermarket, ATM or restaurant. You won’t find them on every street corner in the countryside, but rural people actually have little problem with that. This is the view of economic geographer Felix Pot, who is currently receiving his PhD on the accessibility of rural facilities. But there is one condition: rural people must be able to use a car.
According to Pot, the image that residents of rural areas have difficulty with the lack of facilities in the countryside can partly be thrown in the trash. “It turns out that access to facilities is not so bad at all,” he says. “My research shows that about 12 percent of rural residents have difficulty achieving the desired activities, while this figure is about 8 percent for urban residents.”
For his research, he studied data from three municipalities in Drenthe. In Aa en Hunze, Borger-Odoorn and Emmen, rural residents appear to be slightly more satisfied than the national average. Nine percent indicated that they had difficulty with a lack of facilities. “Compared to municipalities in East Groningen, satisfaction is certainly higher here. But that probably has to do with the fact that the Drenthe municipalities are more prosperous.”
Among other things, Pot conducted research into the accessibility of supermarkets. There are fewer in rural areas than in urban areas. “But more facilities do not immediately lead to more satisfaction. One supermarket nearby is enough to meet your daily needs. A second one is useful for offers. But six or seven supermarkets nearby, that makes no difference to satisfaction. “
At the same time, the researcher also sees that residents of rural areas have lower expectations of facilities. “People who live there actively opt for a beautiful home with a large garden. At the same time, they don’t expect you to be able to buy a cucumber-avocado smoothie on every street corner.”
But with amenities a little further from home, a car is very important, says Pot. “If you don’t have one, you’re left out. Then you’re talking about people who don’t have enough money for a car or can’t always use it. That also applies to children. Parents can’t always take them everywhere That is why there are challenges in the rural area.”
The disappearance of supermarkets, bus lines and libraries in the countryside, rural residents do not seem to have many problems with it. Still, Pot thinks the number of facilities should not fall much further. “In time, distances become too great. If the last supermarket or ATM in the area disappears, satisfaction can quickly drop.