The Remote Part
I’ve just seen, and been peripherally involved in, an interesting Twitter conversation.
It’s around the idea of remoteness and what that means. Not so much a strict ‘dictionary definition’ rather, how do we define it in terms of community, people and place?
As a resident of the West Highlands of Scotland, and indeed a former dweller on a tiny Hebridean island, I fancy I know something of remoteness. I follow a number of accounts belonging to other far-flung types and assorted ‘expats’, giving a flavour of everyday life both past and present, as well as a picture of the language(s), people and culture.
What caught my eye today was this:
My measure for “remoteness” of a settlement is proximity to the nearest post office and shop (e.g. village shop). If your settlement or area actually has a post office and shop it isn’t remote [twitter.com/molach95]
My village has both. It also has a primary school, a secondary school, two hotels and a doctor’s surgery. But I’d still say it’s remote. For example, it takes a (roughly) two and a half hour drive and a ferry crossing to get to the nearest city. Forty minutes and a ferry will get you to the nearest town. Sure, there’s a road around instead of the ferry — we are on a peninsula after all — but that will add another hour of twisty, single-track-road driving to your journey.
I don’t think I’d fully agree (an island can suffer from remoteness from central services even with a post office and shop!) but that’s an interesting metric [twitter.com/EyjarSkeggi]
This was one response to the original post, giving insight into a different perspective — that of the island communities — whilst acknowledging the concept of somehow ‘measuring’ remoteness. The ‘metric’ issue is particularly interesting; here in Scotland we have the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), a governmental tool which:
is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas (called data zones). If an area is identified as ‘deprived’, this can relate to people having a low income but it can also mean fewer resources or opportunities. SIMD looks at the extent to which an area is deprived across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing. [gov.scot]
Having studied this, for my day job, and considered the issue of access to services and the impact of (poor) public transport infrastructure as a contributor to so called “rural and remote deprivation” it’s clear the notion of remoteness means different things to different people. This in turn raises another issue — do those measuring remoteness (e.g. SIMD indices) have the same criteria as those experiencing it? And of course, do those experiencing it place similar value/weight on what’s being quantified as those doing the measuring? Are the two groups’ priorities aligned?
I think remoteness as a concept is something that is forced on places when you strip them of schools and health care. Remoteness is a question of perspective even if we’re keen on treating places as remote if they’re not urban. [twitter.com/guektiengieline]
To which we might reasonably add cultural opportunities, social opportunities, the notion that one might want to try out a new sport or cuisine or perhaps volunteer with a particular group or organisation; to say nothing of remoteness from employment opportunities — virtual and home-working are all well and good and have, many would argue, completely shifted the landscape for remote and rural communities…but if you’re a landscape gardener or a social care assistant, those things need to be done in person.
I am intrigued by the notion of what others — particularly those with no experience of living ‘remotely’ (whatever we might mean by that) — think, especially where the idea of aligning priorities (the measured vs the measurers) arises.
There’s much more to write and say about this, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, but for now the last word to Johan on Twitter:
Remoteness is a concept that can and will be interpreted differently depending on where you’re at, and who you’re talking to. [twitter.com/guektiengieline]
