Rural-urban relations in societal discussions in Finland from 1860’s to the present

The objective of this study is to increase the understanding of the changing relation between the countryside and the city. The aim of the study is to analyse the discussions on rural-urban relations in Finland from the 1960’s to the present. The emphasis will be on the contexts in which discussions have taken place, and the contents of the discussions. The study discusses also the continuities and changes included in the rural-urban relations.



As research data, the researchers of this project have an access to the large reserve of digitized newspapers and periodicals in the National Library of Finland, based on their agreements with the appropriate stakeholders. The researchers have at their disposal two newspapers from the first published issues up to the present, Länsi-Savo (Western-Savo) and Maaseudun Tulevaisuus (Future Countryside).



Because of the large scale of the material and the digital format, quantitative method of data-mining is combined with qualitative content analysis. With data-mining, themes, regularities, deviations, events, places and processes are recognized effectively from the massive data, and links can be established between them. A closer look will be taken at those periods of time when reporting on issues including rural-urban relation has increased in the newspapers. Content analysis will be used for a more detailed descriptions and analysis of the events that have led to the increased activity in the newspapers.



The project is a research pilot in the Aviisi-project of the National Library of Finland. The aim of Aviisi is to open up the copyrighted newspapers from the 20th and 21st centuries to more comprehensive use.