The Earthscan Reader in Rural-Urban Linkages

Cecilia Tacoli

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781317762676
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping
• Index: Politics & International Relations

With accelerating urbanization and growing inter-dependence of rural and urban dwellers on the markets and resources they each offer, rural urban linkages have become a very important focus in recent years for research and policy relating to local and national economic development, poverty reduction and governance. The emergence of new livelihoods based on diversified income sources and mobility reflects profound social, cultural and economic transformations, and new forms of resource allocation and use.

This volume collects the key contributions in the field, covering the conceptual background, the key issues and the current debates, locating different approaches in their wider intellectual and historical contexts. It also includes important recent empirical work from all the relevant geographical regions that that will be the basis for future thinking. Fifteen papers are clearly organized around the principal themes and accompanied by a valuable editorial introduction clearly setting out the issues, the arguments and the evidence. Suggestions for further reading and additional information sources are also included.

Published with IIED.

Part 1

Introduction

Editor’s Introduction

Cecilia Tacoli

Why an interest in rural–urban linkages?

For the majority of policies that address directly (or more often indirectly) poverty reduction and economic growth, people and their activities are classed as either ‘rural’ or ‘urban’. The administrative specialization and segregation between the ‘rural/agricultural/natural resources’ sector and the ‘urban/manufacturing and services/infrastructure’ sector does not seem to allow policy makers and officials to fully recognize the significance of the linkages between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ locations, people and activities. These linkages are important not only for their contribution to livelihoods and local economies, but also as engines of economic, social and cultural transformation.

But there is at the same time an increased interest, especially among government officials, policy makers at the local level and international agencies staff, in better understanding the opportunities and the constraints that rural–urban linkages offer. This is due primarily to recent changes in thinking about ‘development’ and in broader policy priorities. For example, at the micro-level, there have been profound transformations in the understanding of how people make a living, and of the non-income dimensions of poverty. From this perspective, rural–urban linkages are a useful lens for understanding the complexities of people’s livelihoods and their strategies, which often include some form of mobility and the diversification of income sources and occupations.

At the macro-level, the emphasis on market-based economic growth that has prevailed since the 1980s has led to the realization that, for rural producers, urban-based markets are important as they concentrate demand, and act as links to regional and international markets. At the same time, incomes from farming have decreased in many regions, especially for small-scale producers who increasingly engage in non-farm activities in rural settlements and local small towns. Occupational diversification within households is closely linked with the increase, in virtually all nations, of mobility and migration, especially circular movement, which involves traditional migrant groups, such as young men, but also groups previously unlikely to migrate such as young unmarried women.

With the implementation of decentralization programmes in many nations since the 1990s, small and intermediate urban centres are again attracting interest for their role in the provision of services and goods to their surrounding rural regions, and as potential engines of regional economic growth. And finally, rapid urban expansion in many nations goes hand in hand with the growth of peri-urban areas that combine ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ characteristics, and present new challenges to urban growth management.

As this short list suggests, rural–urban linkages can be seen as critical elements of most policy issues and priorities – certainly of most policies that directly or indirectly try to promote poverty reduction and economic growth. Policies that address environmental issues also need to take into account rural–urban linkages, as the chapters in Part 5 of this Reader describe. The risk of this pervasiveness is that rural–urban linkages are not clearly defined, and therefore remain as elusive as ever to policy support.

The rest of this Introduction is organized along the same lines as the different parts of this book. However, these parts are not entirely separate categories and, indeed, several chapters address far more than their part’s focus. It would be impossible for a Reader to cover the vast literature that in one way or the other relates to rural–urban linkages. The papers included in this collection share a special attention to the impact of rural–urban linkages on different aspects of sustainable development. The combination of conceptual and empirical work will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the nature and role of rural–urban linkages, and of how they can best be supported.

Defining rural–urban linkages – and what is ‘urban’ and what is ‘rural’

The interactions between urban centres and their surrounding – as well as more distant – rural regions include ‘spatial’ linkages such as flows of people and goods, money and information, and other social transactions that are central to socio-economic and cultural change. They also include linkages between different sectors: for example, many urban enterprises rely on demand from rural consumers, and access to urban markets is critical for many agricultural producers. And there is a general underestimation in official census and employment data of the number of rural residents that engage in ‘urban’ activities (manufacturing and services), and perhaps even more so of the number of urban residents that engage in agricultural production, either for household consumption or for sale, or for both.

The latter raises the question of what is rural and what is urban. In general terms, most nations define what is ‘urban’ – rural is effectively a residual category. But even definitions of ‘urban’ are not straightforward, and make comparisons between nations as well as, in some cases, comparisons within one nation over time, problematic. Most governments define urban centres in one of four ways: through population size thresholds; through population size thresholds combined with some other criteria (population density, or the proportion of the population employed in non-farm activities); through administrative or political status; and through lists of settlements named as ‘urban’ in the national census. A first problem is that population size thresholds can vary widely between nations. For example, while many European and Latin American nations use a threshold of 2500 inhabitants, many other nations – among them the most populous in the world – apply a threshold of 20,000 inhabitants.

There are related differences in the ways in which the boundaries of urban centres are set. In some nations, urban boundaries correspond to the built-up area, and as the urban centre expands populations clearly associated with the settlement find themselves outside the urban boundaries. In other nations, or even other urban centres in the same country, boundaries are set to include large areas into which urban development is expected to expand or over which urban centres are expected to govern, with the result that largely agricultural populations living in low density areas may find themselves within the urban boundaries. Very large urban centres often have different boundaries for the city proper, the metropolitan area and the urban agglomeration, and total population can vary by several million inhabitants depending on which boundaries are employed.

Recently, many experts have argued that planners are being misled by the continued reliance on a somewhat artificial distinction between urban and rural (Montgomery, Stren et al, 2003; Hugo and Champion, 2004). However, while the often neglected sectoral and spatial interdependencies between urban centres and countryside are critical, there are also crucial differences between urban and rural contexts which, in turn, affect the determinants and characteristics of the vulnerability and poverty of their populations, and which require more careful understanding and consideration. But it is also important to recognize the great diversity between and within urban contexts, especially larger cities, and between rural areas. Hence, to understand poverty and the best means to address it, including ways to stimulate local economic growth, it is necessary to understand the diversity of local contexts, be they urban or rural. The difference between rural and urban contexts is one useful way to emphasize these important and often significant variations, but it is essential to keep in mind the diversity between different urban areas and different rural areas, and the many links between rural and urban areas and people that make the dividing line between rural and urban contexts imprecise.

The chapter by David Satterthwaite in this collection (Chapter 1) offers a detailed analysis of recent census data, with special attention to small urban centres. The latter are given insufficient attention in analyses of urban change, although a high proportion of the world’s urban population live in such settlements. They also often play an essential role in the provision of services to their own populations and that of the surrounding rural regions, as well as acting as important market centres for agricultural production. But the variations in the ways in which national censuses classify their urban centres, as well as the huge diversity in the economic bases of small urban centres, suggest that generalizations should be treated with great caution.

Rural–urban linkages and livelihood transformations

Perhaps the best understanding of the importance of rural–urban linkages and of their significance for economic, social and cultural change in low-income nations comes from detailed analyses of the livelihood strategies of poor and non-poor groups. These show how most individuals and households straddle the rural–urban divide through increased income diversification and mobility, sometimes involving long-term migration. An important distinction that emerges from this work is that between strategies that lead to the accumulation of assets, and strategies that only ensure the survival of those who undertake them.

The chapters in Part 2 include a detailed case study of northern Tanzania by Jonathan Baker (Chapter 2), a summary of case studies in Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania by Mahmoud Bah et al (Chapter 3) and an overview of the Southeast Asia region by Jonathan Rigg (Chapter 4). Despite the differences in geographical focus and approach, they all show ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures, Tables and Boxes
• About the Authors
• Chapter Sources
• Acknowledgements
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Part 1 Introduction
• Part 2 Rural–Urban Linkages and Livelihood Transformations
• Part 3 Policies that Address, Ignore or Misunderstand Rural–Urban Linkages
• Part 4 Mobility and Migration Between Rural and Urban Areas
• Part 5 Beyond the City Boundaries: Peri-Urban Areas and Environmental Issues
• Further Reading
• Index