Methods for the assessment of rural social infrastructure needs

Abstract

This article reveals the importance of different methods for assessment of social infrastructure (SI) development needs in rural areas. Rural social infrastructure is a significant element of rural territories interpreted in different ways: as social and economic system, basic services for local community, social bridge for integrating different social groups into the society, important factor for satisfaction of rural people’s needs and acknowledgement of their human rights. Besides the mentioned importance of SI to rural areas and rural community, the lack of exploration of methods for analysis of the needs for developing rural social infrastructure has been noticed in the scientific literature. The research aim is therefore to analyse the methods for assessment of needs of rural social infrastructure. The research question has been set accordingly: how different methods for need analysis could be applied to social infrastructure planning and development? The research results show that need analysis is generally linked to various methods, but for the SI planning, development and implementation specifically, there are certain methods, the application of which depends on specifics of rural areas (as territory) and features of local community.