Data-driven policy impact evaluation: How access to microdata is transforming policy design

Abstract

clearly cities play a huge role in today’s society, which justifies the strong research and policy orientation towards them. However, in line with de Souza, when thinking about a sustainable future and the challenges we face with (non-)circularity and the energy transition, rural and peripheral areas should be at the nexus of our attention to find new ways of better linking what our planet and our society as a whole has to offer. This also involves consensus about new meanings and indicators of the kind of growth we want to pursue. If we keep considering gross domestic product (GDP) and population growth as our main indicators of success, almost by definition the rural will never be considered successful because when rural areas gain more population they will be classified as urban or intermediate (see also Isserman, Feser, &Warren, 2009). However, when we focus more on ecosystem services, health and well-being, the rural suddenly becomes a much more interesting example and indispensable partner for the urban.