| dc.description.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) | en |
