Planetary rural thinking in digital geographies

Introduction

Geographical research on urban-rural relations has historically primarily concentrated on urban areas as the more important spatiality of the two. However, more and more scholars have recently recognized the potential inherent in rural spaces, and have started reevaluating urban-rural relations from the rural perspective (Gillen et al., 2022; He and Zhang, 2022). Compared with these studies, Wang et al. (2025) likewise underscore the significance of rural areas in urban-rural relations, but it does not confine itself to a human-centric view of planetary thinking. Instead, it advocates for focusing on the influence of non-human actors in rural spaces and demonstrates that rural areas play a pivotal role in understanding global crises through three lenses: as spaces of crisis, conflict, and hope.

In this commentary, I identify the potential and need for cross-pollination between Wang et al.'s (2025) notion of planetary rural geographies and digital geographies, identifying each as having the potential to inform and nuance the other. I show how engaging with digital geographies draws attention to how digital technologies and practices are allowing rural areas to exert influence on a global scale. I also apply planetary rural thinking to re-examine urban-rural relations under digital mediation, suggesting that planetary ruralism offers an effective framework for reducing urban-centric bias across geography's subdisciplines. Simultaneously, digital geographies offer alternative perspectives to advance toward Wang et al.'s (2025) call for more pluriversal planetary rural geographies.

Digital mediation and planetary rural geographies

Digital technologies are continuously mediating more-than-human encounters, with profound implications for our understanding and governance of ecologies and their current precarious dynamics (Searle et al., 2024). This means that our encounters and interactions with digital technologies are influencing our experiences and practices in rural spaces. For instance, the substantial demand for energy and minerals in the technology industry is closely intertwined with a range of environmental issues, such as the expansion of the mining sector, the depletion of forest cover, massive water consumption, and significant greenhouse gas emissions (Crawford, 2021; Siddik et al., 2021). Digital devices like sensors and drones, which are integrated into modern agricultural management, are driving significant changes in the daily practices of rural spaces. These precise and automated farming technologies are expected to reduce environmental pollution compared to traditional agricultural methods (Rotz et al., 2019). The digital mediation of rural areas is exerting an ecological impact on a global scale, as these mediations – and the rural spaces that are themselves mediated – are sources of ecological crisis and remain in a state of field conflicts over natural resources.

Despite the extensive discourse on digital mediation within the realm of ecology and environmental crises, consideration of urban-rural relations in digital geographies is comparatively stagnant. Such topics are only briefly mentioned in digital rural studies, either by focusing on the digital divide between urban and rural areas (Salemink et al., 2017) or by illustrating how digital mediation can engender a novel model of urbanization (Zhang et al., 2022). Indeed, digital mediation approaches often originate and are predominantly applied in urban contexts (Cowie et al., 2020), and this appears to be the norm. While some scholars have suggested adopting the concept of hybrid rurality, which interprets digital mediation in rural areas as a blend of rural characteristics and the modernity of digital technologies (Lin et al., 2016), it is evident that these studies more or less perpetuate the assumption of planetary urbanization, wherein rural areas are viewed as underdeveloped urban spaces (Brenner and Schmid, 2015).

Therefore, I argue that digital geographers should consider incorporating a central tenet of Wang et al.'s (2025) concept of planetary ruralism, which views the equipment and technologies utilized in rural industries such as intensive agriculture, renewable energy, and resource extraction as essential components in the constant re-assembling of rural places. This perspective contrasts with the conventional view that sees these arrangements as urban encroachments into rural areas. Embracing this perspective can enable research in digital geographies to re-evaluate the relationship between digital technologies and rural spaces, particularly in terms of the transformation of urban-rural relations under conditions of digital mediation. In this context, I make an attempt to apply this framework to conduct a concise review of emerging digital rural phenomena. The aim is to consider how this argument of reconfiguration of rurality at the planetary scale can bring digital geographies closer to engaging in the study of urban-rural relations. I do so by pointing to several instances in which planetary rural relations are evidenced in the context of digitally mediated rural geographies.

The first instance involves the integration of digital technologies into rural industries, resulting in the movement of both material resources and human capital from urban areas to rural locales. For instance, the adoption of automated agriculture in rural areas has created a demand for highly skilled labor, individuals who previously resided outside these regions (Rotz et al., 2019). Villages that are developing e-commerce industries experience a high daily turnover of goods and attract entrepreneurs who relocate to establish their businesses within these places (Wang et al., 2021). The second instance centers on the extension of daily activities in rural spaces across regional boundaries through digital mediation. For example, farmers living in rural areas can now showcase some enclosed farm spaces and share their agricultural experiences with a global audience on social media (Riley and Robertson, 2022). Additionally, villagers can use social media platforms to expand their social networks, build up some new connections, and access information that can lead to job opportunities outside of their rural communities (Faxon, 2022).

In essence, digital technologies mediate the relationship between rural spaces and the external world in both directions: from urban to rural and from rural to urban. The first instance above illustrates how resources from external areas are drawn into and flow into rural areas, while the second instance involves the dissemination of rural practices and representations to external audiences. It is worth noting that these two phenomena demonstrate not only how digital mediation enables rural areas to have a global impact, but also point to the emergence of new ways of living in rural areas that are brought about by the digital mediation of practices and economies in these spaces. These new ways of living, mediated by digital technologies, align with the concept of a ‘space of hope’ within Wang et al.'s (2025) framework of planetary ruralism, as they are ‘found in practices’ and somehow represent a positive transition to the future.

Digital technologies and mediations are profoundly transforming rural areas on a planetary scale, and Wang et al.'s (2025) three optics of crisis, conflicts, and hope offer valuable entry points for unpacking these transformations. As such, I argue that digital geographies have much to glean insights from planetary ruralism to mitigate against its city-centrism by inviting a reevaluation of digital spatialities from rural perspectives.

Toward pluriversal digital planetary rural geographies

In the same way that digital geographies can gain insights from planetary ruralism, I also argue that planetary ruralism can draw much from digital geographies – and that indeed this represents an opportunity for making the framework more pluriversal. Digital technologies are actively mediating the process of planetary ruralism in various ways and significantly contributing to the blurring of urban-rural boundaries. However, planetary ruralism as theorized by Wang et al. (2025) primarily unfolds from an ecological perspective and does not consider digital technologies as a crucial factor. In this context, I aim to present two potential research directions that illustrate the need for incorporating digital perspectives within planetary rural geographies scholarship.

The first direction pertains to one of the key themes in digital geographies, which explores the transformation of socio-spatial relations mediated by digital technologies (Ash et al., 2018). For instance, the rise of e-commerce platforms enhances the development of cross-regional commercial networks in rural areas (Wang et al., 2022). These networks operate through the interaction between virtual information flows and material flows in real space. The integration of these networks at the scale of the planetary requires further study. Second, the spatialities of digital technologies are still inconclusive. Some scholars argue that they are more-than-human (Ash, 2013), while others propose that they are posthuman (Rose, 2017). These agencies transcend Wang et al.'s (2025) current categorization of planetary ruralism based on human or non-human actors. Integrating digital technologies with planetary ruralism has the potential to give rise to new ontological perspectives about relationality and spatiality within Wang et al.'s (2025) framework.