Governing rural futures: Structuring diverse perspectives on future problems and pathways to understand Dutch policy challenges

European rural futures are an increasingly important topic of debate due to the conflicting but interrelated transitions that need to take place. The Netherlands presents an interesting case since policymaking has been focusing on solving short-term crises around nitrogen deposition and the negative impacts of fertilizers and manure, with much societal polarization about the direction that rural transformation should take. Policymakers recently coined the term ‘future-proof’ in debates on rural transformations; however, much conceptual plurality exists on what is meant by the term. In this literature review, we analyze perspectives on governing rural futures based on two elements: 1) what is seen as the future problem that needs to be addressed, and 2) the pathways to pursue in the present. We distinguish four perspectives: a) a legal-economic perspective; b) a spatial perspective; c) a socio-cultural perspective, and d) a socio-political perspective. We then test these four perspectives as a reflexive framework to the case of the Netherlands. Thereby, we illustrate that a legal-economic perspective dominates and a spatial perspective is present to some extent. The socio-cultural perspective receives little attention and the socio-political perspective is a blind spot in decision-making. We hypothesize that the anticipatory governance of rural areas needs to reflect on all four perspectives in order to reach policy targets in a sustainable and socially just manner. The framework can be used for further conceptualizing and empirical research on rural futures in other contexts.