Rural Mining and the Ethics of Material Deconstruction: A Circularity-Based Assessment Framework for Abandoned Rural Built Stock with Cross-Case Insights from Serbia, Slovenia and Greece

Saja Kosanović

doi:10.3390/land15081452

Rural Mining and the Ethics of Material Deconstruction: A Circularity-Based Assessment Framework for Abandoned Rural Built Stock with Cross-Case Insights from Serbia, Slovenia and Greece

2026-08-13

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Saja Kosanović

A

Alenka Fikfak

E

Evgenia Tousi

Z

Zoe Kanetaki *

DOI：10.3390/land15081452

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This paper introduces the concept of rural mining, defined as the systematic recovery and reuse of construction materials from abandoned rural building stock within a circular economy framework. Although rural depopulation and its consequences have been extensively studied, the material dimension of abandonment, the substantial quantities of construction materials embedded in deserted rural settlements, has received comparatively little systematic analytical attention. Three interconnected contributions respond to this gap. First, the paper operationalizes the concept of rural mining, consolidating a term that remains terminologically rare and theoretically underdeveloped. Second, it develops the Rural Mining Potential Assessment Framework (RMPAF), an original ten-criterion analytical tool spanning the material, infrastructural, legal, economic, institutional, cultural, and technological dimensions of rural mining potential. Third, it articulates an ethical foundation establishing the non-negotiable boundaries of rural mining practice. The RMPAF is applied through a comparative assessment of three European national contexts, Serbia, Slovenia, and Greece, revealing that rural mining potential is neither uniform nor straightforwardly derivable from the scale of depopulation alone. Across all three contexts, ownership fragmentation, the absence of legal recognition, and the lack of dedicated policy instruments emerge as shared structural barriers. Development of operational protocols for culturally mediated rural mining and legal recognition of the concept are identified as priority directions for future action.

Keywords:

rural mining

building material recovery

abandoned rural settlements

circular economy

building deconstruction

reclaimed materials

traditional architecture

rural depopulation

rural building stock

rural heritage

Rural Mining and the Ethics of Material Deconstruction: A Circularity-Based Assessment Framework for Abandoned Rural Built Stock with Cross-Case Insights from Serbia, Slovenia and Greece

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