Rural Development Institute
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- Past Projects
- Comparative Study of Temporary Foreign Worker Programs
- Community Collaboration Project (CCP) 2005-2008
- CRRF/NRRN Annual Conference 2008
- Determinants of Health of Rural Populations and Communities
- CRRF/RDI National Rural Think Tank 2005 – Immigration in Rural Canada: Research & Practice
- CRRF/RDI Annual Conference 2010
- Economic Impact Assessment of Leafy Spurge in MB
- Establishment of the Prairie Region Invasive Noxious Weed Survey and Mapping System
- Health Care Access of Northern Residents
- Increasing Awareness of Control Methods: A Leafy Spurge Demonstration Site
- Integrated Pest Management Strategies for Leafy Spurge
- Joint Co-operative Development Project
- Leafy Spurge Rangeland Control and Management
- Manitoba From the Air: A Geographical Interpretation
- Managing Invasive Species: Leafy Spurge Control
- Manitoba’s Community Collaboration Project 1999-2004
- NRRN Northern Dialogues Session
- On the Ground: Leafy Spurge Surveillance and Management and Towards Establishing an Invasive Plant Council for the Province of MB
- Pathway Prevention of Invasive Species: Increasing Education and Awareness Priority Area: Integrating Pest Management (IPM)
- Revitalization: Fate and Choice
- Rural Immigration: Exploring Demographics and Temporary Foreign Workers in Brandon and Area
- Demonstration and Investigation Into Livestock Systems Adoption
- Student-Lead Legacy Project
- Rural By Design
- Manitoba Food Processing 2012-13
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- RDI Intranet
Contact Us
Rural Development Institute
Brandon University
270-18th Street
Brandon, MB R7A 6A9
Ph: 204-571-8515
Fx: 204-725-0364
rdi@brandonu.ca
Rural By Design
In this initiative, Rural Development Institute (RDI) is building upon its applied research practice and policy implications to include design. At the heart of this initiative is enhancing rural economic development in Canada, beginning in Manitoba. Equally important in this initiative is design, the element of choice, in particular fostering and following local choices about desired futures. Design means direct involvement and ownership locally, while enabled by government (provincially, federally), by NGOs, and others, including corporations, foundations, and charities. Rural by design means on-going responses to challenges and opportunities which benefit people, culture, environment, and technology. Being future-oriented, this initiative accepts there are many paths by many entities that take rural areas from here to there. Key among this is honouring the past, being cognizant of the present, and having expectancy of the future. Design is about finding commonalities among the stakeholders in action, in planning, and in critical thinking – often all together. Rural and design are about spaces between here and there, today and tomorrow, local and provincial, poor and the rich, and using innovation to provoke new habits, new paths, new actions forward. This initiative also means prototyping realistic actions with measurable results over multiple years. Rural by design is going beyond surviving and learning to thrive, then passing it on to others.
First Initiative 2011-12
The first project of rural by design is an investigation into the role of future-oriented planning and materials used by rural economic development service providers in Manitoba. Specifically RDI is examining the use of scenario planning by a major service provider in rural areas, that being Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives – MAFRI. (A full description is available from RDI).
Rural by Design Factsheet
Rural By Design: Working meeting Report. (2012). Ashton, W., Cucksey, A., Swanson, D., &, Mehta, D.
For more information contact:
Dr. Bill Ashton, Director
Rural Development Institute, Brandon University
ashtonw@brandonu.ca