ABSTRACT: The talk discusses the role of the countryside in wider city-regional systems. It recognises the opportunities they can offer for a healthy life, but also the need of long-term investments in more sustainable models of rural development. Some take aways from the Chinese experience, and the so-called 'digital countryside', are reported – Giulio Verdini is Reader at the School of Architecture and Cities of the University of Westminster and Director of the BA Designing Cities: Planning and Architecture