Rural-Urban Linkages in Regional Development.
Abstract
evelopment theory and
practice have focused on either “urban” or
“rural” issues with little consideration of the
interrelations between the two. By contrast,
several empirical studies show that the link-
ages between urban centres and the coun-
tryside, including movement of people, goods,
capital and other social transactions, play an
important role in processes of rural and ur-
ban change. Within the economic sphere,
many urban enterprises rely on demand from
rural consumers, and access to urban mar-
kets and services is often crucial for agricul-
tural producers. In addition, a large number
of households in both urban and rural areas
rely on the combination of agricultural and
non-agricultural income sources for their live-
lihoods. This paper reviews some of the re-
cent literature on rural-urban interactions,
with particular attention to the ways in which
they have been affected by recent and cur-
rent economic, social and cultural transfor-
mations. The paper is organized as follows:
the first three sections discuss definitions of
rural and urban areas and activities, review
conceptual frameworks and consider how
rural-urban interactions are conceptualized
within development planning. The last four
sections review empirical studies on differ-
ent flows connecting rural and urban areas
(flows of people, of goods and of wastes), and
on sectoral interactions (agriculture in the
cities, non-agricultural employment in the
countryside and rural-urban interlinkages in
peri-urban areas)