摘要：The present study relies on the outcomes of a complex rural research programme based on the cooperation between the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian National Rural Network. A specific part of the research has been designated to study the state of Hungarian rural areas within the European context, to analyse processes of divergence of Hungarian rural areas and to define potential types of rural areas with their specific needs. In this paper, a new typology of Hungarian rural regions is presented together with the outcomes of relating case studies. The territorial basis for the delimitation and typology of rural areas was composed on LAU 2 level, "járás" (i.e. districts, new units of public administration established in 2013), supported by current statistic data and GIS methods. The identification of the characteristics of our eight newly defined region types and the verification of the preconceptions regarding these types were assisted by fact-finding case studies. The case studies relied mostly on local data, documents, field surveys, focus group discussions and technical workshops. All research activities and methods were focusing to one principal question: how are rural areas in an East-Central European country reshaping and fragmenting today?
关键词：rural restructuring; spatial differentiation; classification of rural micro-regions; rural development
