Analyzing the Concept of Creativity in New Ruralism

Insights from the RURITAGE Project SIAs

Abstract

New ruralism presents a new spatial planning principle based on the future. It is oriented as a more advanced concept of ruralism in four practical features. These four features are ‘Conservation’, ‘Cultivation’, ‘Community’, and ‘Creativity’. The purpose of this study is to specify the relatively less studied concept of Creativity among the four characteristics of the New Ruralism concept through a qualitative content analysis. In this context, the EU’s RURITAGE Project, which was conducted to continuously revitalize rural areas based on Cultural and Natural Heritage sites, can provide a solid example to make a case study for ‘Creativity’ in rural areas. This study aims to explain the explicit features in a ‘Creativity’ concept from RURITAGE Project SIAs (Systemic Innovation Areas), a creative concept of the RURITAGE Project aimed at rural regeneration based on heritage, and to see how each of the six SIAs are applied to each other. These six SIAs area are Pilgrimage, Sustainable Local Food Production, Migration, Art and Festivals, Resilience, and Integrated Landscape Management. Based on the report published by the RURITAGE Project team, relevant literature sources such as reports, news articles, and blogs were collected on Role Models (Role Model projects) of RURITAGE SIAs. To explore the concept of Creativity in rural areas, 135 related texts were analysed through a qualitative contents analysis targeting 13 role models of SIAs in the RURITAGE project in the EU. The study found that 456 sub-concepts were derived. These 456 sub-concepts were classified into 19 conceptual nodes, which were organized into concepts corresponding to the New Ruralism 4Cs. In conclusion, this study defined how the six SIAs of the RURITAGE are composed, how they work interactively, and how to define the Creativity-related concepts in SIAs and 19 conceptual nodes. In the results, Creativity is described as an important factor in solving social problems. In New Ruralism, ‘Creativity’ can be defined as the ability to create new things that did not previously exist in rural areas as well as activities that lead to new solutions to challenges that current rural areas are experiencing.

Introduction

New Ruralism embodies a set of values and planning principles for rural areas, envisioning them as sustainable ‘settlement spaces’ grounded in nature and community, with a focus on the essence of rural life from the past in Korea (Lee, Lim et al., 2019). Lately, the term ‘New Ruralism’ has been gaining popularity in Korea. While it is occasionally used interchangeably with the similar term ‘Rurality’, it represents a more comprehensive concept, effectively encapsulating the planning direction to forward-thinking future rural areas (Son and Kim, 2019).

New Ruralism embraces the concept of solving the problems of urban areas while making use of the advantages of rural areas in terms of maintenance, restoration, and preservation in the planning of rural and peri-urban regions. As rural areas change due to various endogenous (immigration, newcomers, ‘back-to-the-land’, ex-urbanization, etc.) and exogenous factors (ideology, globalization, etc.), the concept of rurality based on the rural physical environment and economic, social, cultural, and ecological characteristics has also changed.

The concept of Traditional Ruralism in Korea emphasizes maintenance and restoration in presenting intrinsic values and planning principles. In contrast, New Ruralism emphasizes ruralism as a planning principle for future rural areas by considering both the physical environment and economic and social characteristics of rural areas. New Ruralism, which emphasizes the planning principle for future rural areas, is a concept that goes beyond urbanization. Rather than advocating a return to rural areas in the past, it should preserve the current values in rural areas. It should be a planning principle for new migrants as well as existing residents. Within these planning principles, technical issues such as environmental considerations and carbon reduction can adapt to climate change problems, and the use of new and renewable energy must be considered (Yi and Son, 2021).

There are four principles that we have discussed so far to achieve New Ruralism in rural planning features: ‘Conservation’, ‘Cultivation’, ‘Community’, and ‘Creativity’. The first feature is ‘Conservation’. There are many factors that can be considered in relation to the concept of ‘Conservation’, such as ecosystem services, including clean water and fresh air, cultural and natural landscaping, and more. The second feature is ‘Cultivation’. Agriculture and food production are the core functions of rural areas. The reason that cultivation is important in spatial planning in the context of landscape by cultivation, and agricultural-productive landscape. The third feature, ‘Community’ explores the spatial plan that rural settlement spaces, distinct from cities, should aim for, as well as spaces that enable communities to be revitalized, eco-friendly, and energy-saving. Low-carbon plans should also be considered. The fourth feature is ‘Creativity’, reflecting the need for more creative spaces for service delivery in rural areas to create a better environment for the people who live there (Yi and Son, 2022).

The 4Cs are still ambiguous and unclear. Among them, Creativity is a new concept compared to Conservation, Cultivation, and Community, which have been previously included in rural-related studies. More research on Creativity is therefore required. One purpose of this study is to make the concept of ‘Creativity’ of the New Ruralism 4Cs more explicit.

In this context, this study aims to study ‘Creativity’ from RURITAGE Project SIAs (Systemic Innovation Areas) and the main themes of rural regeneration projects based on heritage in EU. The EU’s RURITAGE Project was conducted to revitalize rural areas based on Cultural and Natural Heritage.

The research questions are: 1. “What are the contents that make up SIAs, the core concept of the RURITAGE Project?”; 2. “How do the different areas of RURITAGE SIAs get linked together?”; 3. “Are there any Creativity-related concepts in the example of the RURITAGE Project?”.

RURITAGE Project SIAs

‘RURITAGE’ is a compound word derived from ‘Rural’ and ‘Heritage’ and was the title of a rural revitalization project in the EU. The goal of the RURITAGE project is to create a sustainable rural community by conducting successful case analyses of rural areas, especially those that are significant in terms of cultural and natural heritage.

The RURITAGE Project aims to establish a new heritage-led rural regeneration approach that transforms the countryside into a place for sustainable development based on the enhancement of the unique cultural and heritage potential of agriculture and the rural natural environment. (An, Eom et al., 2021). The RURITAGE project team found five challenges while analysing 20 cases. The five challenges were population aging, immigrants, depopulation, unemployment, and poverty.

The RURITAGE Project recognized rural areas as a powerful laboratory for innovation based on cultural and natural heritage and presented a Systemic Innovation Model (SIM) for sustainable rural regeneration. Then six Systematic Innovation Areas (SIAs) were suggested: Pilgrimage, Sustainable Local Food Production, Migration, Arts & Festivals, Resilience, and Integrated Landscape Management. These six SIAs were identified as an alternative to traditional tourism-led strategies (Egusquiza, Zubiaga et al., 2021). As for the SIM, 13 role models were selected from the six SIAs, and strengths and implications were derived from each role model.

Methodology

A qualitative content analysis is based on a holistic understanding of the given data. It can be said to be a research method that reveals the patterns and themes of content through the coding process, which is a systematic classification method (Choi, Jung et al., 2016).

Based on the report published by the RURITAGE Project team, relevant text sources such as reports, news articles, and blogs were collected for 13 role models. This qualitative content analysis was conducted using NVivo.

After searching for each role model on Google, 10 highly relevant documents were extracted from the search results, focusing on literature containing detailed information about each role model. A total of 135 documents were collected as shown Table 1.

Table 1. Research data set (n=135)

SIAs	Role Models (RMs)	Type and number of sources
		Report		Article or Thesis		News	Blog	etc
Total			26		43	25	15	26
Pilgrimage	Via Mariae (Romania)		-		3	2	3	-
	French Santiago Way through Castilla & Leon (Spain)		1		5	-	2	3
Sustainable Local Food Production	Coffee production in World Heritage Landscape (Colombia)		-		4	-	2	4
	Agro-food production in Apulia (Italy)		1		3	4	-	2
Migration	Migrant integration in Lesvos Islands Global UNESCO Geopark (Greece)		4		1	6	-	1
	PIAM – Migrants hospitality in Asti Province (Italy)		1		3	3	-	-
Art and Festivals	Take Art: Touring professional arts in rural areas (England)		3		2	4	1	-
	Visegrád: The Town of the Living Middle Ages (Hungary)		3		4	-	-	3
Resilience	Human resilience in South Iceland Katla UNESCO Global Geopark (Iceland)		5		1	2	-	2
	Resilience in Crete Psiloritis UNESCO Global Geopark and NHMC (Greece)		-		5	2	2	1
Integrated Landscape Management	Austrått & Ørland landscape (Norway)		2		3	1	1	4
	Douro Cultural Landscape (Spain)		3		9	-	1	3
	Wild Atlantic Way (Ireland)		3		-	1	3	3

By source type, there were 26 reports, 43 articles or academic papers, 25 news articles, 15 blog texts, and 26 others. These others included web information, promotional materials, and presentation materials.

For the 13 role models, 10 documents per each role model were analysed using NVivo, a qualitative content analysis software. In this process, the coding was first selected with a temporary keyword and then revised into a refined expression that could represent the content through consultation with a co-researcher.

Each role model was classified into a top node that could represent each sub-keyword. The content that makes up each SIA was analysed through a content analysis of 135 documents for 13 role models, with two role models for each SIA (three role models for Integrated Landscape Management). The ways SIAs interact with each other was examined.

Results

Constituent contents of RURITAGE SIAs

In this study, a total of 135 sources were analysed. The main nodes for each area are summarized as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Content analysis result of RURITAGE SIAs

SIAs	Nodes	Keywords
Pilgrimage	Attraction (Tourism Resource)	- Route, Path, and Way - Landscape and Scenery	- Cultural & Natural Heritage
	Tourism Service	- Accommodation - Café, Restaurant	- Hospital and Health Centre - Police Station
	Motivation	- History, Legend, Myth	- Religious Reason
	Visitor	- Pilgrim	- Visitor for other Reason
Sustainable Local Food Production	Local Food Production	- Cultivation - Environmental Sustainability	- Land Use Plan - Agri-business, Food Cluster
	Rural Tourism (Agro-Tourism)	- Biodiversity - Cultural & Natural Landscape	- Geographic Feature - Cultural & Natural Heritage
	Community	- Job Opportunity	- Migration
Migration	Area Accepting Migration	- Asylum - Reception Facility	- Safeguarding
	Migrants	- Asylum Seekers	- Refugee
	Act for Migrants	- Charity Action - Community Inclusion - Healthcare Service	- Integration - Intercultural-dialogue
	Effect of Migration	- Contribution of Migration
Art and Festivals	Art and Festivals	- Artist and Arts Groups - Arts Community	- Festival Theme - New Rural Arts
	Community	- Place for Festival - Arts and Cultural Facilities	- Identity - Local Food
	Effect of Art and Festivals	- Enhance Quality of Life in Rural Area - Enhance the Economy	- Arts Industry - Job Creation
Resilience	Threat	- Climate Change - Disaster, Natural Hazard	- Pandemic - War
	Resilience	- Health - Energy Security - Food Security	- Raw Material Security - Water Security - Public Safety and Welfare
	Community	- Access to Services - Flexibility of Networks - Growth and Sustainability	- Social Relationship - Social and Technical Infrastructure
	Act for Resilience	- Actions and Meetings - Collaboration - Community Project - Monitoring of Hazards - Public Warning System	- Research to Increase Resilience - Risk Management - Resilience Training - Raising Awareness
	Object of Resilience	- Cultural & Natural Heritage - Cultural & Natural Landscape	- Supply Chain - Sustainable Local Food Production
Integrated Landscape Management	Object of Landscape	- Agricultural Productive Landscape - Breath-Taking Scenery	- Cultural Landscape - Enchanting Landscape - Cascading Waterfall
	Integrated Landscape Management	- Biodiversity Act - Integrated Solution - Intercommunal Regional Development Plan - Legal Instrument for Protection	- Local, National and International Levelling - Nature Protection Area - Landscape Protected Area - The Evaluation of Natural Systems

As a result, 61 keywords from Pilgrimage, 70 keywords from Sustainable Local Food Production, 71 keywords from Migration, 71 keywords from Art and Festivals, 83 keywords from Resilience, and 100 keywords from Integrated Landscape Management were extracted. These keywords were divided into hierarchies for each area, major nodes. Then the keywords were determined and organized as shown in Table 2.

There are four core nodes of Pilgrimage: Attraction (Tourism Resource), Tourism Service, Motivation, and Visitor. There are three core nodes of Sustainable Local Food Production: Local Food Production, Rural Tourism (Agro-Tourism), and Community. There are a total of four key nodes of migration: Area Accepting Migration, Migrants, Act for Migrants, and Effect of Migration. The core keywords of Area Accepting Migration are Asylum, Reception Facility, and Safeguarding. There are three core nodes of Art and Festivals: Art and Festivals, Community, and Effect of Art and Festivals. There are five core nodes of Resilience: Threat, Resilience, Community, Act for Resilience, and Object of Resilience. The two core nodes of Integrated Landscape Management are Object of Landscape and Integrated Landscape Management.

Relationship between each area and other areas in RURITAGE SIAs

RURITAGE SIAs have a direct influence relationship between innovation areas, and an indirect influence relationship that affects other areas by influencing the community as shown Figure 1.

Figure 1. RURITAGE SIAs Affect relationship between each area

Among SIAs, the areas that are directly affected by Pilgrimage are Sustainable Local Food Production and Integrated Landscape Management. In fact, since the RURITAGE Project is centered around cultural and natural heritage, they are not included in SIAs, but should always be set as a core concept. In addition, the purpose of the RURITAGE Project is heritage-led rural regeneration. Since the direct target of regeneration is the community, the community itself must also be kept in mind.

The main point of Pilgrimage is the route to gain access to places around Cultural and Natural Heritage sites. In this process, the most influential aspect is Integrated Landscape Management. Sustainable Local Food Production is also important because the productive landscape accounts for the largest share, along with the natural landscape. Although movement is the most important activity, intermediary tourism services are needed. Tourism services provided by the community are vital because tourists must eat, sleep, and prepare for health emergencies and safety when they are traveling through a region.

Resilience is the only concept that directly affects Sustainable Local Food Production. The core of Sustainable Local Food Production is ultimately agriculture, and the environmental conditions and community that make it possible. If agricultural production is the most core function, the processing and distribution of agricultural products is a secondary function, while tourists using the productive landscape is a tertiary function.

There is no particular area that has a direct impact on migration. However, migration has a crucial meaning to the community. Migration is a phenomenon that has occurred due to various reasons such as climate refugees, food scarcity, civil war, economic factors, politics, and religion, as well as refugees from the war in Ukraine. Depending on how to cope with it, migration can be a factor in populations migrating into rural areas where population decline and aging problems are serious. However, in the process, it is only possible with an inclusive attitude and awareness, such as human rights and forming relationships with existing residents.

The area that has a direct impact on Art and Festivals is Integrated Landscape Management. Art and Festivals can help improve the quality of life for residents as well as visitors. It is also a good way to emphasize regional identity and secure differentiation in the long term. Resilience is one of the most important concepts in sustainability. Resilience refers to overcoming natural and cultural hazards that threaten survival and returning to a state which can be livable.

Integrated Landscape Management becomes a very important factor for SIAs to work. A good landscape is a great attraction and provides natural experiences, ecosystem services, and healing that cannot be provided in urban areas. Integrated Landscape Management is important in creating an environment for Art and Festivals as well as Pilgrimage, and the productive landscape in Sustainable Local Food Production is also subject to Integrated Landscape Management. In this process, consideration of biodiversity is required. Since there are limitations in cost, manpower, and time to target all areas in Integrated Landscape Management, a plan to select a target site, evaluate its value, and manage it more efficiently and effectively should be a primary goal. This requires an integrated approach to conservation, management, and utilization.

Interaction of the RURITAGE SIAs

The relationship diagram of nodes derived through a qualitative content analysis of literature related to RURITAGE SIAs is organized as shown in Figure 2. The concepts of Pilgrimage, Sustainable Local Food Production, Migration, Art and Festivals, Resilience, and Integrated Landscape Management, which are areas of SIAs, are interacting in the revitalization of the rural area.

In Figure 2, how the six SIAs interact is summarized through SIAs and the core nodes of each area. To understand Figure 2, it is necessary to understand the purpose of the RURITAGE project and how SIAs work innovatively and creatively to achieve that purpose. The purpose of the RURITAGE project is rural regeneration based on cultural and natural heritage.

The RURITAGE project team departed from relevant studies in the field and through the initial study of the role models, as the six SIAs were identified as an alternative to traditional tourism-led strategies (Egusquiza, Zubiaga et al., 2021).

Interpreting Figure 2 based on this point of view, Pilgrimage is the best innovation area in the strategy of rural regeneration through tourism based on cultural and natural heritage. Pilgrimage is a highly competitive tourism resource, contributing to job creation and the revitalization of the local economy. Migration innovation areas are a specific challenge facing European countries (Egusquiza, Zubiaga et al., 2021), yet at the same time these can provide a solution to population decline and aging.

Figure 2. Interaction among the RURITAGE SIAs

The Sustainable Local Food Production area creates jobs and provides a productive landscape and local food for Pilgrimage. Migration can help solve the problem of an insufficient labour force. In addition to Pilgrimage, it is a destination for rural tourism, so Integrated Landscape Management is required, and biodiversity consideration is also required. Resilience to protect production from natural disasters, such as climate change, is necessary. The Art and Festivals area can be an example of grafting urban creativity in rural regeneration. Art and Festivals can make other forms of rural tourism, including Pilgrimage, more attractive and differentiated, and contribute to identity and cultural diversity.

In the rural space, each of the six innovation areas has its own characteristics and individual competitiveness, while the entire area works organically and positively. All areas and processes are examples of creativity to solve the problems facing rural areas.

Discussion

New Ruralism 4Cs including creativity are derived from RURITAGE SIAs

Referring to Table 2 and Figure 2, a summary is shown in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, essential factors were derived through literature analysis on 13 role models of RURITAGE SIAs, and specific components of the 4Cs were derived by analysing to which of the New Ruralism 4Cs each element corresponds. The 4Cs were derived by classifying essential factors based on nodes and keywords analysed through qualitative content analysis for each area of SIAs.

Figure 3. New Ruralism 4Cs are derived from RURITAGE SIAs

New Ruralism, which targets future rural areas and emphasizes planning principles for these areas, is a concept that goes beyond urbanization. It is not a return to the rural areas of the past. Rural areas should provide an eco-friendly and nature-friendly working environment that urban areas cannot provide. To create a space where people can enjoy more comfortable lives with new and innovative technologies, plans and practices that can maintain a proper density in a residential environment as well as a livable and sustainable environment are required.

Understanding the concept of creativity in rural areas

The relationship between the New Ruralism 4Cs: Conservation, Cultivation, Community, and Creativity derived from Figure 3 can be summarized in Figure 4. For achieving rural regeneration, it is necessary to find solutions regarding what to conserve and how to sustain cultivation. These solutions should eventually work through the community as shown in Figure 4. As the environment surrounding rural areas changes, and the roles expected of rural areas change, responding positively to these changes can be considered part of Creativity.

Traditional Ruralism is expanded to solve the problems facing rural areas, such as population decline and aging, while New Ruralism is expanding from the perspective of spatial planning principle for future rural spaces. Creativity is a newly introduced concept based on cities and urbanized regions and is much related to a capability to attract members of the ‘creative class’. In addition, the creative capacity concept is a new concept for rural discussions. This capability is also referred to in the literature as the creative capacity of a region. A regional creative capacity is the starting point of a region’s sustained competitive advantage. Its success route, therefore, explains its economic growth and development. It is explained by five concepts, creativity, innovation, knowledge, entrepreneurship, and networks (Gülümser, Baycan-Levent et al., 2010).

Creativity is an important factor in design thinking for problem solving . It refers to the process of creating new and valuable ideas in the fields of art, science, and technology, and solving social problems. When the meaning of Creativity is applied to rural areas, ‘creative space in rural areas’ can be said to be a space where new and valuable ideas are realized in solving problems in rural areas.

Figure 4. Understanding how the New Ruralism 4Cs work

Creativity is a series of methods performed by the community; it is the subject of actions. Creativity in a rural area can see two perspectives. One is a series of processes in which rural area adds functions other than food production in the existing space centred on cultivation functions, and the other is a series of processes to solve all problems occurring in rural areas.

Tourism, part of creativity in rural areas

RURITAGE project SIAs focused on social and economic issues such as population decline and aging, lack of jobs and the economically weak, rather than environmental and natural issues. Its purpose was to provide creative solutions to solve these problems (de Luca, López-Murcia et al., 2021). Tourism was considered one of the most important solutions to these problems.

Among the various problems that appear in rural areas, population decline, and aging are quite serious problems. Tourism can have a positive ripple effect on the local economy. It can also be expected to increase an area's population by creating jobs (Wikantiyoso, Cahyaningsih et al., 2021). Using tourism to revitalize rural areas may not be a new idea. Nevertheless, tourism can still provide a good means of creating jobs and revitalizing rural areas.

Although the RURITAGE Project does not include rural tourism in the main title in its efforts and processes to regenerate rural areas based on Cultural and Natural Heritage, the RURITAGE Project contains an expanded concept that encompasses a wider range of concepts, including rural tourism.

The development of rural tourism begins with understanding the regional characteristics of the cultural and natural environmental perspectives (Kim and Son, 2018). In this context, the six SIAs proposed in the revitalization plan for rural regeneration centered on RURITAGE (Pilgrimage, Sustainable Local Food Production, Migration, Art and Festivals, Resilience, and Integrated Landscape Management) can increase the utilization of tourism. Tourism considers tourist preferences, different activities, destinations, infrastructure, tour guides, accommodation, transportation, restaurants, and other stakeholders (Sandra and Freddy, 2021).

Each component that makes up RURITAGE SIAs includes attractions for rural tourism, infrastructure facilities for rural tourism, and services that enable rural tourism, and is part of the overall process of how this system operates.

Conclusions

The purpose of this study is to specify the concept of Creativity among the four characteristics of the New Ruralism concept through qualitative content analysis. EU’s RURITAGE Project, can be a good example of ‘Creativity’ in rural management and development. The research questions are: 1. “What are the contents that make up SIA, the core concept of the RURITAGE Project?”; 2. “How does each area of RURITAGE SIA interact?”; and 3. “How can Creativity be understood among the four characteristics of the New Ruralism concept through the example of the RURITAGE Project?” To answer these research questions, this study reviewed reports and papers related to the RURITAGE project, SIAs, and Role Models.

To explore the concept of Creativity in rural areas, the study was classified into 19 nodes. Essential factors were derived and organized into concepts corresponding to New Ruralism 4Cs. In each process, this study defined how the six RURITAGE SIAs are composed, how they work interactively, and what is the concept of Creativity in a rural area. In New ruralism, ‘Creativity’ can be defined as the ability to create new things that did not exist in rural areas and activities that lead to new solutions to rural problems. The six RURITAGE SIAs presented ways to solve rural problems for rural regeneration based on cultural and natural heritage, and could be seen as a case of Creativity in rural areas.

The rural problems that the RURITAGE project were trying to solve were population aging, depopulation, unemployment, and poverty. Tourism was considered to be one of the important solutions to solve these problems. New Ruralism, which aims for future rural areas and emphasizes spatial planning principles for future rural areas, is a concept that goes beyond urbanization, rather than advocating for a return to the rural areas of the past.

To create a space where people can enjoy a more comfortable life with new and innovative technologies, plans and practices that can maintain a suitable and sustainable density and environment are required rather than excessive growth targets. As shown in Figure 5, in many countries, including Korea, the rural areas of the past were places where food was provided through farming and populations that would flow into the urban areas were maintained. The rural areas in the future should also be spaces that respond to the changed environment, new problems, and new demands. Finally, the future rural areas should be resilient. Indeed, increasing resilience has become more and more diverse with the development of creative new technologies for rural areas.

Figure 5. Understanding concept of Creativity in New Ruralism

We continue to see threats to the coexistence, prosperity, and happiness of human beings, such as climate change, pandemics, wars, and global economic recession. Humanity has moved from rural areas to cities in the process of development, but cities cannot accommodate green infrastructure for ecosystem services or high-tech industries such as the aerospace industry. Rural areas used to be left over after being taken away for urban modernization, but now they can become spaces that coexist with cities, with positive potential and technological development. However, in order to do so, various forms of creativity are required across many areas.

The future rural space should have Resilience for rural as well as urban regions. Increasing resilience has become more and more diverse with the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data. In the end, the goal is the happy coexistence of mankind. However, Earth, its resources, and its animals and plants always need to be in balance and they all have limits. The problem is human greed. Creativity is needed to form a planet where more people can live happily together.

Creativity as an important factor in solving social problems. In New Ruralism, ‘Creativity’ can be defined as the ability to create new things that did not exist in rural areas and activities that lead to new solutions to challenges in current rural.

A limitation of this study is a lack of case studies. The follow-up study should be more specific and should be conducted within a case area with more specific 4Cs as spatial planning principles in a rural site. In future research, we will focus on specific cases where creativity in rural areas works in neighbouring Eastern Asian countries and domestic case studies in South Korea. We will continue to conduct research that can present specific cases of New Ruralism 4Cs, including Creativity, New Ruralism 4Cs can be used as spatial planning principles in rural areas.

Through this study, the problems facing humanity living in the present age on Earth transcend regions within countries and borders between countries. Some countries can solve such problems with sufficient technology and capital, but many countries cannot yet solve these issues on their own. We must think about the better future and better rural areas we can form with our creative minds. We must do our best for Co-Existence, Co-Prosperity, and Co-Happiness.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Yi, D., and Son, Y.; methodology, Yi, D., and Son, Y.; software, Yi, D., and Son, Y.; investigation, Yi, D.; resources, Yi, D.; data curation, Yi, D., and Son, Y.; writing—original draft preparation, Yi, D.; writing—review and editing, Yi, D., and Son, Y.; supervision, Son, Y., All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethics Declaration

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of the paper.

Acknowledgments

This work was carried out with the support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (Project title: Establishment of evaluation system for rural regenerative capacity for preservation of rural character, Project No. PJ017062)” Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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