Poverty in the City and in the Countryside (POCICO)

Persons :

• Prof. dr.  VANDERMOTTEN Christian - Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
  Coordinator of the project
  Financed belgian partner
  Duration: 1/12/2009-31/5/2012
  
• Dhr.  LOOPMANS Maarten - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  Financed belgian partner
  Duration: 1/12/2009-31/5/2012
  

Description :

The statistical approach to poverty raises conceptual and measurement problems. First of all, who should be considered as poor? Those who do not have enough money to live decently (monetary poverty)? Those who are deprived of goods of basic necessity (subsistence poverty)? Or those who have difficulties reaching the minimum level of well-being they themselves consider as normal (subjective poverty)? These three approaches to poverty actually do not match exactly the same people.

Moreover, the forms of poverty are quite different across space. Urban poverty is often concentrated in some neighbourhoods and as a consequence easier to measure. On the other hand, rural poverty is spatially more scattered and the rural poor encounter specific difficulties, reflected in the notion of hidden rural poverty. Obviously, accommodation is often less expensive in rural areas but accessibility to services and jobs is also more difficult and more costly (lack of public transports, necessary car ownership,…).

There are very few data specific to rural areas in Belgium and those which exist are normally based on the decennial census which will not be continued in the future. This project has hence as main objective to deliver poverty indicators which take into consideration the rural or urban nature of the territory.

The study will follow two main steps. First, the research team will focus its attention on an in-depth understanding of rural poverty, on its diversity and on its specificities compared to urban poverty. This step will be based mainly on the analysis of the EU-SILC inquiry and on the last decennial census of 2001.
Second, the research team will make use of the previous background understanding of rural poverty to build adequate poverty indicators (at the statistical sector scale) which take into account the rural / urban nature of the territory. These indicators will be developed with the help of statistics gathered by the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS). Hence, it will be possible to update them regularly and to follow the spatial evolution of poverty in Belgium.

Documentation :

• Project "Poverty in the City and in the Countryside"
  
• Kick-off seminar with the steering committee - power point presentations by the invited foreign experts:
  
  - Frans Thissen (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam) presented his recent work on rural poverty. Click here to see his presentation
  
  - Prof. Mark Shucksmith (Newcastle University) exposed the way rural and urban poverty are conceived and measured in the UK. Click here to access his presentation
  

La pauvreté rurale et urbaine : rapport final = Stedelijke en plattelandsarmoede : eindrapport  Marissal, Pierre - May, Xavier - Mesa Lombillo, Dayana  Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2013 (SP2547)
[To download] 

Stedelijke en plattelandsarmoede : synthese  Marissal, Pierre - May, Xavier - Mesa Lombillo, Dayana  Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2013 (SP2551)
[To download] 

La pauvreté rurale et urbaine : synthèse  Marissal, Pierre - May, Xavier - Mesa Lombillo, Dayana  Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2013 (SP2552)
[To download] 

Rural and urban poverty : synthesis  Marissal, Pierre - May, Xavier - Mesa Lombillo, Dayana  Brussels : Federal Science Policy, 2013 (SP2553)
[To download]