Przegląd Geograficzny (2024) vol. 96, iss. 1
Searching for non-capitalist paradigms of rural development: the case of tourism in the rural areas of Łódź Voivodeship
Przegląd Geograficzny (2024) vol. 96, iss. 1, pp. 7-28 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.1
Abstract
It is today possible to observe a dynamic increase in the availability of accommodation services in Poland’s rural areas. This reflects the presence of services typical for rural areas – i.e. farms engaged in agritourism; as well as such further entities as hotels, leisure and recreation centres, conference centres, and facilities providing spa and wellness services (Napierała, 2019). The diversity is such that owners and managers of the different accommodation facilities present in rural areas may have different understanding of the development being experienced, as well as the contribution their facilities are making to it. And acceptance of varied ontological perspectives on development, especially as adopted by local communities (Rastegar et al., 2023), was thus the starting point for discussion in the work detailed by this article.
Full effectiveness of rural development based around the tourism function is greatly dependent on whether the areas involved become true travel destinations, as opposed to just places visited en route (Wilson et al., 2001). Development in rural areas dependent on the tourism function thus relates closely to an increase in accommodation services (Gierańczyk & Gierańczyk, 2013; Leśniewska-Napierała & Napierała, 2017; Przezbórska-Skobiej, 2015). Indeed, development in this regard is the primary point of reference in the discussion on the development of rural areas as based around the tourism function. Nevertheless, the possibility of different ontological perspectives being distinguished encourages a look being taken at human and social factors as triggers of rural areas’ development, regardless of the developmental paradigm adopted.
In the first place, rejection of neoliberal ontology (which equates the notion of ‘development’ with the ‘growth’ paradigm) opens the situation up to other ontologies. Their adoption may allow for development not denoting negative consequences of an ecological, social, cultural or economic nature. But, while theoretical studies on development are quite popular, there remains a lack of empirical work on how development is understood by social groups who do not accept the neoliberal growth paradigm (Fois, 2017).
This article thus aims to present work done on the different ontological perspectives adopted or represented by owners and managers of the various types of accommodation facility present in rural areas; in an understanding that the various ontologies open up rural areas with a tourist function to different developmental paradigms. Specifically, the research detailed here has sought to answer two main questions, i.e. 1) What developmental paradigms are identified in rural areas? and 2) What is the importance of human and social factors for the development of rural areas within the framework of different developmental ontologies? Structured individual in-depth interviews constituted the core method used in the research detailed here, with these being run in 2019, with 14 owners and managers of accommodation facilities in Poland’s Łódź Voivodeship.
Concepts such as Alternative Tourism, Community-Based Tourism, Community Benefit Tourism Initiatives, Pro-Poor Tourism, or Justice Tourism all stimulate discussion about new paradigms of rural development (including rural tourism development), with empowerment, participation and transfer of benefits regarded as in a position to replace growth (Ghasemi & Hamzah, 2014; Idziak, 2011; Jones, 2005; Napierała et al., 2022b; Rastegar et al., 2023; Szwichtenberg, 1993). It is worth emphasising that the abovementioned concepts of tourism that break with the neoliberal growth paradigm do require appropriate injections of both human and social capital (Park et al., 2012).
In Poland’s case, the ontologies present in rural communities can be seen as alternatives to the neoliberal ontology. A search for development alternatives thus needs to take place in rural areas, which our work finds to be places in which an indigenous rural population meets up with people migrating from urban territories. These people reject the neoliberal ontology, to the extent that their opposition to neoliberal values might actually be the reason for them to migrate. Ashley and Maxwell (2001) regard this specific incoming population as consisting of ‘agents of change’ (‘change agents’). What is more, Bański (2017) assumes an increase in this type of migration as underpinning his positive scenario for rural development in Poland.
Our research confirmed the existence, activity and importance of people migrating from urban to rural areas in Poland. This group catalyses the development of the tourism function by mediating in the relations pertaining between the indigenous people of rural areas and tourists (Bański, 2017; Matczak, 2015). It is also worth noting (all the more so given the particular emphasis among the interviewed owners and managers of accommodation facilities) that the motivations of tourists choosing the countryside as a destination for recreation do not differ greatly from those among people actually settling in rural areas. Basically, the countryside is becoming or has become an asylum from the neoliberal world, creating an opportunity to escape from an everyday lifestyle that is characterized by excessive pace, consumption and redundant stimuli.
As the enormous diversity of rural areas is a fact (Ashley & Maxwell, 2001), it is further necessary to accept the existence of various ontological perspectives and differentiated developmental paradigms. A choice of a preferred developmental paradigm should be a matter for a local community to decide (Ghasemi & Hamzah, 2014; Rastegar et al., 2023). Equally, it is evolution in regional, national and European rural-policy conditions that ushers in change in the paradigm for rural developmental. However, a pessimistic prospect of large, highly-commercial farms assuming ever-great importance is considered sufficient to limit the abovementioned change (Bański, 2017).
Slee et al. (1997) suggested that researchers are obliged to look for solutions that allow for best-possible adjustment of tourism to the environmental, social and economic conditions present in and characteristic for given rural areas. The main aim should be to address the antagonistic urban-rural system described by Harvey (2009), in which cities rooted in the neoliberal paradigm are the dominant and even exclusive beneficiary of the urban-rural relationship. If rural tourism is currently considered a response to the tourist needs of the post-industrial world (Cánoves et al., 2004), then perhaps the various forms of tourism in rural areas might represent a response to the tourist needs of the post-capitalist world.
Keywords: rural areas, development, human capital, social capital, accommodation services, Łódź voivodeship, Poland
[tomasz.napierala@geo.uni.lodz.pl], Uniwersytet Łódzki, Wydział Nauk Geograficznych; CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation
[katarzyna.lesniewska@geo.uni.lodz.pl], Uniwersytet Łódzki, Wydział Nauk Geograficznych; CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation
Citation
APA: Napierała, T., & Leśniewska-Napierała, K. (2024). W poszukiwaniu niekapitalistycznych paradygmatów rozwoju wsi: przykład turystyki na obszarach wiejskich województwa łódzkiego. Przegląd Geograficzny, 96(1), 7-28. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.1
MLA: Napierała, Tomasz and Leśniewska-Napierała, Katarzyna. "W poszukiwaniu niekapitalistycznych paradygmatów rozwoju wsi: przykład turystyki na obszarach wiejskich województwa łódzkiego". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, 2024, pp. 7-28. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.1
Chicago: Napierała, Tomasz and Leśniewska-Napierała, Katarzyna. "W poszukiwaniu niekapitalistycznych paradygmatów rozwoju wsi: przykład turystyki na obszarach wiejskich województwa łódzkiego". Przegląd Geograficzny 96, no. 1 (2024): 7-28. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.1
Harvard: Napierała, T., & Leśniewska-Napierała, K. 2024. "W poszukiwaniu niekapitalistycznych paradygmatów rozwoju wsi: przykład turystyki na obszarach wiejskich województwa łódzkiego". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 7-28. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.1