Reflexive Introduction to the Categorisation of the European Countryside

At the end of the 20th century, French rural geographers used a simple typology that encapsulates three categories of the countryside: Thirty years later, we should probably add new categories: “agricultural countryside”, “recreational countryside”, “residential countryside”, “greying countryside”, “countryside supplying energy”, “new peasantry countryside”, “Biosphere reserves” and pay attention to other perspectives such as natural and cultural heritage, water resources protection and ecological transition. The paper discusses these old and new types of countryside and underlines main challenges that countryside faces; it shows how sensitive the categorisation could be according to the level of analysis, the period of observation and the perspectives.