Andrea De Montis, Simone Caschili and DanieleTrogu on "Accessibility, rurality and remoteness: an investigation on the Island of Sardinia, Italy"

1. Accessibility, rurality and remoteness:
an investigation on the Island of
Sardinia, Italy
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

2. Motivations
• Many definitions of rurality
• Connection between accessibility and
rurality
• Rurality is associated with remoteness
• Measures of rurality are powerful tools for
policy-making
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

3. Rurality measures
Rurality is approached in many studies.
It is defined in a variety of ways:
• Threshold census measures
• Continuous measures
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

4. Rural Local Units Remoteness Index (RLURI)
• Qualitative, discrete
• Population density,
number of inhabitants,
remoteness (isochrones)
• Combination between
the level of rurality and
remoteness
• Eight classes
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

5. Rural-Urban Index (RUI)
• Composite, continuous
• Socio-economics
• Factor analysis
• Range: 26.77 (rural)-
13,988 (urban)
• 8.75% urban
municipalities
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

6. Index of Relative Rurality (IRR)
• Composite, continuous
• Socio-economics,
remoteness
• Standardization,
Unweighted means
• Range: 0 (urban) to 1
(rural)
• 82% under 0.50
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

7. Rural Metropolitan Interface Lebel (RMIL)
• Qualitative, discrete
• IRR, proximity to
metropolitan area,
population
• Classes from A to H
• 353 up to 377
municipalities below to
class G (rural-remote
municipality)
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

8. Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)
• Composite, continuous
• Socio-economics,
environmental data
• Aggregation function
• Range: 0 to 1000
• 34,8% of municipalities
lie on 200-300 interval
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

9. Comments
Comparing the indices: ranking according to the quantitative indicators.
Cagliari, Sassari, and Quartu Sant’Elena, the most populated and richest
towns in Sardinia, are included in the top ten places.
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

10. Accessibility and Income vs Rurality
Correlation analysis between the indeces
RUI IRR IMD AHI
RUI
IRR -0,13915
IMD -0,18954 0,012595
AHI 0,322743 0,079383 -0,70108
Aexp 0,583301 0,342013 -0,30073 0,500994
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

11. Conclusion
• Sardinia would have been defined a rural
region
• Quantitative rural indices are uncorrelated
• Degree of rurality depends on the specific
index variables
• In general, the higher the rurality, the lower
the income and the lower the accessibility.
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

12. Outlook
• Public investments in rural areas
• Investigation on evolution of rurality
• New index to take into account factors and
feature of landscape and urban settings.
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it

13. ...thank you for your attention
...any questions??
A. De Montis demontis.andrea@gmail.com
S. Caschili s.caschili@ucl.ac.uk
D. Trogu daniele.trogu@unica.it