## Comparing Rural Attractiveness across the Regions of Europe

Comparing the rural attractiveness of different regions in Europe can provide various insights: Evidently, it helps to get an impression on where a region stands compared to the rest of Europe. Additionally, by looking at regions that fare especially well in terms of rural attractiveness, it is possible to find out about best practices that may help other regions to improve their rural attractiveness, too. Also, finding regions that are similar in their rural attractiveness characteristics can help to establish cooperation between these similar regions so they can learn from each other and possibly work together on strategies to advance in terms of rural attractiveness.

In PoliRural, we have developed several tools that support the comparison of different European regions regarding their rural attractiveness:

Our Rural Attractiveness Map application shows the current values of the Index of Rural Attractiveness (RAI) for all regions in Europe. The Map application allows you to change the settings of the RAI (Which aspects are to be included in the Index? What is the relative importance of the 6 sub-indices to you?). Thus, the map can be adapted to your own preferences and needs. Additionally, the Map application can also show groups of similar regions (so-called clusters).

The visualizations below allow a comparison of a different kind: They show the RAI only for the PoliRural pilot regions. In compensation, they do not only show current and past values of the Index but also provide a projection into the future. That means they show how rural attractiveness could develop if business-as-usual continues and no new policy measures are implemented.

The so-called “dots visualization” shows on one sight the development of the RAI between 2015 and 2040. Thereby, each dot stands for a time period of 3 months (or 0.25 years). The values of the RAI are indicated by the colour of the dots: green hues mean a high RAI value, red hues indicate low RAI values.

Please remember that the RAI values are not absolute but only show how the different assessed regions perform relative to each other. Additionally, the way the RAI is made up here is rather imperfect as we have included only a few sub-sub-indices and not all of the 6 RAI sub-indicators are represented here. This is owed to the experimental stage of the Rural Attractiveness Explorer. Therefore, if a region displays low RAI values here, this means that it is less attractive only compared to the other PoliRural pilot regions and only regarding the aspects that have been considered here (consult the graphic here to see which aspects these are). If compared to other regions and considering different aspects of rural attractiveness, the same region could present very different RAI values.

Map visualization for all regions

“Dots” visualization for the project regions and its evolution over time

In the so-called “disc visualization”, each disc represents one region. On the time slider, you can either have the visualization run from 2015 to 2040 on its own or you can select specific time steps (one time step = 3 months/0.25 years). Also here, the colour of the disc represents the RAI value at each time step. The direction of the arrow (up, straight, down) shows how the value of rural attractiveness has changed compared to the previous time step.

‘Disc’ visualization for the project regions and its evolution over time

The “data race visualization” runs from 2015 to 2040 (with the possibility to stop and continue the race at any time), and the bars representing the different pilot regions change their length and order depending on their “performance” at each time step.

‘Data race’ visualization for the project regions and its evolution over time