Assessing Parameters of Sustainable Rural Development: A Quintuple Economy-Society-Environment-Governance-Innovation Nexus

With the rapid advancement of technology and innovation in all aspects of human life, the traditional rural economy and society are facing significant challenges to their sustainability. In addition to new threats, such as rural communities falling behind urban areas in implementing technical and technological solutions for rural economy, the already-known economic, social, and environmental aspects of development are also changing as society is pursuing the knowledge-based development path. Increasing the complexity of factors of instability requires new approaches to assess the ability of rural areas to stay resilient and to flexibly respond to threats. This study attempts to create a comprehensive indicator of rural sustainability by combining parameters of growth and development across five dimensions of the quintuple helix framework: economy, society, environment, governance, and innovation. By following a four-step process, the authors conducted a survey of 104 experts from ten territories in Southern Russia, ranked 25 sustainability parameters, and calculated normalized, absolute, and relative coefficients, as well as integral indexes of sustainable development. It is found that more urbanized territories with a well-developed agro-industrial complex tend to gain higher scores for the Economy and the Innovation dimensions, while at the same time they underperform in environmental and social parameters of sustainability. Predominantly rural territories succeeded in the Society and the Environment dimensions, while lagging behind in the level of innovative development and economic performance. An integrated sustainability assessment based on the quintuple helix approach allows local governments to develop a knowledge-based strategy for rural development that takes into account local characteristics and priorities.