Rural and urban spaces tend to be researched, addressed, and funded as separate economic, social, and political challenges despite the fact that rural sociologists have described the so-called rural-urban divide as not a divide at all, but rather an interdependent space of interaction. However, limited scholarship within the United States examines how and why rural and urban communities are connected and its implications for community development researchers and practitioners. The interdependent rural-urban ties that bind rural and urban communities continue to be mostly invisible. In order to strengthen the ties that bind rural, suburban, and urban communities, we need to first identify and make them visible. Empirical evidence that demonstrates the interdependencies of rural and urban spaces is crucial for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to better navigate interdependent rural and urban community development. However, the primary body of literature relative to rural-urban interdependence and linkages exists within international settings. In the United States, limited scholarship exists that explores how rural and urban places and communities impact or influence the other, despite the fact that “today's societal and global problems often have a large rural dimension (e.g., labor mobility, energy development, climate change, food production, waste disposal) that imposes new challenges that affect all Americans, regardless of where they happen to live” (Lichter & Ziliak, 2017). This project systematically reviews literature in the community development field that examines rural–urban interdependence, providing a structured and transparent overview of existing scholarship and mapping what is known about rural–urban relationships in the United States. This scoping review informs a research agenda by examining how the rural–urban interface is conceptualized within the field and identifying priorities for future research on rural–urban linkages. Preliminary findings reveal limited scholarship focusing on rural-urban interdependence within the community development field in the United States. Studies examining rural-urban interdependence primarily focused on linkages related to financial and cultural capital.
