Digital rurality: A three-fold model and research agenda

Rural spaces are increasingly shaped by the pervasive influence of digital technologies, which are integral to their constitution, experience, and practices. This article distills how the forces of digitality inflect contemporary conceptualizations of rurality by iterating Halfacree's (2006, 2007) model of rural space to account for the emergence of what we term digital rurality . We advance a threefold heuristic of digital rurality as comprised of digital rural localities , formal representations of the digital rural , and everyday lives of the digital rural . Mobilizing this framework, we identify that digital rural spatialities are produced via the transformation of socio-spatial relations within rural localities; the representation of rural spaces by dominant actors staking claims about digital technologies; and everyday engagements with rural spaces mediated via digital technologies. We argue that an emergent digital ruralities research agenda must examine the power relations shaping digital ruralities, and geographic differences in how digital ruralities manifest between the Global North and South. • Rural studies have yet to account for the role of digitality in shaping rurality. • Digital technologies are not only drivers of change but constitutive of rurality itself. • Digital rurality designates rural relations shaped by forces of digital mediation. • Digital rurality is produced through localities, representations, and practices. • Future digital rural research must engage with questions of power and spatiality.