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Despite popular imaginations, the consumption and provision of rural products and services has increased and the demands on these are mainly coming from urban areas. The landscape that formerly was a production landscape has become viewed as a landscape for consumption and recreation in situ. New mobility patterns created as a consequence of changes in society at large create geographical differentiation involving other processes than previously. Therefore, despite major efforts being made to create attractive tourist destinations, the level of success has not always been possible to foresee. Until now, the consequences of the current restructuring processes have been more negative in rural areas and have therefore been considered rural problems in terms of unemployment, lack of entrepreneurship and immobility of rural people. Rural areas are thus being depicted as ‘vulnerable’, rural people as lacking ‘resilience’ and rural labour markets are said to be unable to ‘cope’ with global change as they lack fundamental structures of adaptability such as entrepreneurship. However, sustainable rural development and research cannot only consider what is regarded as isolated rural problems, but must acknowledge that those ‘problems’ (and opportunities!) are crated in relation to urban areas, through temporary mobility such as commuting and tourism, and migration. If the level of demand for rural resources, products, services and natural amenities, will remain the question is; Who will supply rural resources demanded by largely urban populations if no one lives or works in rural areas? The research presented here offers a theoretical approach on the above concerns for rural research and sustainable rural development with a special focus on the implications of a post-productivism paradigm in rural land use.