The Geography Of Urban Rural Interaction In Developing Countries

Originally published in 1989, The Geography of Urban-Rural Interaction in Developing Countries addresses the nature and importance of the interaction between ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ areas within Third World national territories, providing much-needed comparative, cross-cultural, and cross-national material. The book discusses the various theories of urban-rural interaction, and summarises the topic in the form of the movement of people, goods, money, capital, new technology, energy, information and ideas. Case studies are drawn from different areas of the Third World – including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean and illustrate in detail the nature of urban-rural interaction.

Sustaining the rural and urban populations of the developing world has been identified as a key global challenge for the twenty-first century. Rural-Urban Interaction in the Developing World is an introduction to the relationships between rural and urban places in the developing world and shows that not all their aspects are as obvious as migration from country to city. There is now a growing realization that rural-urban relations are far more complex. Using a wealth of student-friendly features including boxed case studies, discussion questions and annotated guides to further reading, this innovative book places rural-urban interactions within a broader context, thus promoting a clearer understanding of the opportunities, as well as the challenges, that rural-urban interactions represent.

Provides an introduction to the relationships between rural and urban places in the developing world showing that not all their aspects are as obvious as migration from country to city.

This book deals with a series of case studies and comparative analyses on the structure and role of small and intermediate urban centres in different regional settings in developing countries. The uniqueness of this study is that it makes comparisons between such diverse and wide-flung areas as Central Mali and Swaziland in Sub Saharan Africa, Northern Costa Rica and Northern Mexico in Latin America and Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The Department of Human Geography of Developing Countries of Utrecht University in the Netherlands has done more than a decade of systematic research into this topic. The purpose of this book is to shed more light on the role of small towns in regional development under various socio-spatial and political-economical conditions, and thereby contribute to the elucidation of often contradictory findings in literature. Important focal points are the production and employment structures of the towns, the development level of their rural hinterland economies, the rural-urban and interurban patterns of interaction, and the role of government policy.

The process of rural-urban transformation presents both opportunities and challenges for development. If managed effectively, it can result in growth that benefits everyone; if managed poorly, it can lead to stark welfare disparities and entire regions cut off from the advantages of agglomeration economies. The importance of rural-urban transition has been confirmed by two consecutive World Development Reports: WDR 2008 Agriculture for Development; and WDR 2009 Reshaping Economic Geography. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, this book picks up where the WDRs left off, investigating the influence of country conditions and policies on the pace, pattern, and consequences of rural-urban transition and suggesting strategies to ensure that its benefits results in shared improvements in well-being. The book uncovers vast inequalities, whether between two regions of one country, between rural and urban areas, or within cities themselves. The authors find little evidence to suggest that these inequalities will automatically diminish as countries develop: empirical and qualitative analysis suggests that spatial divides are mainly a function of country conditions, policies and institutions. By implication, policymakers must take active steps to ensure that rural-urban transition results in shared growth. Spatially unbiased provision of health and education services is crucial to ensuring that the benefits of transition are shared by all. But connective infrastructure and targeted interventions also emerge as important considerations, even in countries with severely constrained fiscal and administrative capacity. The authors suggest steps for navigating the tricky political economy of land reforms. And they alert readers to potential spillover effects that mean that policies designed for one space can have unintended consequences on another.Policymakers and development experts, as well as anyone concerned with the impact of rural-urban transition on growth and equity, will find this book a thought-provoking and informative read.

This book critically examines different forms of urban-rural links for sustainable development in different countries. As intertwined processes of globalization, digitalization, environmental challenges and the search for sustainable development continue, rural and urban areas around the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This book contributes to understanding the role of this growing interconnectedness from an economic geographical perspective. It does so by theoretically and empirically addressing the various existing linkages, such as food networks, value chains, and regional governance at local, regional, national and international levels. In doing so, contributions extend and contrast existing approaches dealing with urban and rural areas separately by considering the interplay between these two as well as their consequences for sustainability transition pathways. This edited volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of concepts and themes in order to shift the research and policy agenda away from simple dichotomy to different notions of rural-urban linkages. Offering multidisciplinary insights into rural-urban linkages, the book will be of interest to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers in the fields of economic geography, regional planning, food studies and economics.