The Center for Rural Massachusetts

The Center for Rural Massachusetts was established at the University of Massachusetts in 1985 because a new set of problems had arisen in the rural part of the state, driven by rapid economic growth in urban areas, a widespread belief that uncontrolled growth posed a major threat to natural and built rural environments, major changes in the rural economy, and concerns about the welfare of rural residents.

In the first decade of its existance, the Center's efforts addressed these problems through a program of applied research focusing on ways that growth could be managed and controlled through actions of rural communities. In retrospect, these efforts were quite successful, and the measures proposed in Center publications have been studied and adopted not only in Massachusetts, but also elsewhere in the United States and the world. Some former employees of the Center now hold highly significant planning positions in urbanizing parts of America, and others are writing about ideas initiated here in Massachusetts.

Starting in the middle part of the 1990's, the Center changed in two ways. One was to provide assistance and support to two new programs directed at rural Massachusetts communities. One of these was the Massachusetts Rural Development Council., and the other the Massachusetts Citizen Planner Training Collaborative.

The second change was tighter integration with activities in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. The Director's Report for 1996 to 2001 provides details on these activities.

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