Native breeds are domestic animal populations that have adapted to their habitats. The genetic value of breeds has been known for a long time, and recently more attention has been paid to their cultural value. Due to both ecological and cultural significance, it is important that native breeds continue to be bred in their native environments. This is supported by various financial support schemes. Support schemes rarely cover the financial gap in output compared to commercial breeds. A solution to this has been sought in special products, such as cheese or wool, and other businesses, such as animal-assisted care and tourism. Less attention has been paid to the role of administration and good governance in the maintenance of native breeds. In this study, a questionnaire was sent to all registered keepers of native breeds in Finland. This survey clarified their reasons for keeping native breeds and their ideas for improving governance structures and practices. The results were discussed in stakeholder workshops, and in a Nordic context. The results show that genetic and cultural values are recognised in several documents and programmes, but farmers need to be engaged more in the design of support schemes and practices.

Increasing attention has been paid to the importance of balanced rural–urban interaction to sustainable regional development. Yet, our knowledge on the elements of network governance for such interaction is scarce. The aim of this paper is to study what kind of network governance arrangements currently exist, how they can be improved, and whether evolutionary governance paths can be identified. We analyse five existing and evolving cases of functioning rural–urban interaction in European Union (EU) member states, using a network governance framework as an analytical lens. We supplement the governance analysis with examining what kind of spatial understanding or combination of different spatial lenses the studied rural–urban governance arrangements rely on, as well as with the role of smart development in the studied cases. Our results emphasise the significance of division of power and collaborative decision-design in guaranteeing balanced and mutually beneficial interaction. Furthermore, we recommend changes in current policies in order to tap into the potential of rural–urban synergy.

Decision-makers, planners and administrators involved in different policy domains at different governance levels face the important challenge of fostering more balanced, sustainable and territorially integrated development. Well-designed, multi-level, multi-sector and multi-actor governance arrangements can play a key role in this process through orchestrating the interplay between different spheres, activities, actors and interests. In this paper, we examine the role of spatial planning in improving the relations between rural, peri-urban and urban areas. We analyse the strengths and limitations of spatial planning and explore the connections with territorial development. The methodology used for this analysis combines regional case studies in seven European locations—Ede, Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, Styria/Graz, Helsinki, Lisbon, Lucca and Mid Wales, with rapid appraisals, the analysis of published data, expert judgement and triangulation. We ask under which conditions spatial planning can induce more balanced, sustainable territorial relations, and look at the contribution planning can make to achieving sustainable development goals. The problem of ineffective (or toothless) plan implementation provides the entry point into the analysis and discussion. We illustrate why mutually beneficial relations between urban, peri-urban and rural communities (and territories) cannot simply be planned. Instead, these relationships need to be supported by strategies, policy instruments and governance arrangements that foster synergies between different actors and activities. The planning process itself needs to become more transparent and participatory. We conclude that the questions addressed in this article in an exploratory fashion merit further research especially as a more sustainable and territorially integrated development is becoming increasingly important in European policy making.

This article employs critical cultural and anthropological perspectives to investigate the ways in which Nordic mountain cattle are kinned and become positioned as kin. It does so by empirically foregrounding photographic material, elicited from the 3MC Traditional Transboundary Cattle Breeds’ photo competition, along with photo elicited interviews with 13 of the participating photographers. Nordic mountain cattle become “kinned” as “mothers,” “family members,” “friends,” “colleagues,” and “pets” through a range of kinship-making practices such as naming, gendering, and anthropomorphizing cattle with distinct human-like personalities. The article concludes by turning to the affective values and cultural logics that situate mountain cattle as forms of Nordic cultural heritage. In these entanglements, mountain cattle resurrect Nordic cultural heritage and temporality facilitating new Nordic naturecultures in which humans are simultaneously (re)connected to nature and cultivated as future (new) citizens.