Ethiopian Civil Service

University Rural-Urban
Development
MDM5061

CHAPTER EIGHT: RURAL – URBAN

INTERACTION
May 2022
 Chapter Eight
CHAPTER 8: RURAL-URBAN INTERACTION
8.1. Fundamental resource flows
8.2. Formal and Informal Linkages between
Rural and Urban areas
8.3. Policy implications of rural-urban
linkages
 Concept of urban-rural
interaction
■ Cities can no longer be treated as distinct spaces unconnected to
the regions surrounding them.
■ The functioning of urban settlements depends on the surrounding rural areas
for
 food & water supply, waste disposal, recreational value & the growth of
settlements.
■ In order to sustain both urban & rural livelihoods & ecosystems, there is a
need for the sustainable mgt. of the resources requirements of urban & peri-
urban areas.
■ Sustainable forms of urbanization require a coherent approach to the rural-
urban interface.
■ This interface is a highly dynamic & complex system of land use, constituted
by a singular mixture of ecosystems.
■ On many city borders, peri-urban & urban agriculture, industry & transport
compete for water resources.
■ Furthermore, the rural-urban interface can become the “backyard” for urban
waste disposal, imposing severe impacts on the health of
 Fundamental resource flows
■ In 2000, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development urged
governments at national & local levels & the international
community to “take a strategic land mgt. approach aimed at
promoting interaction between urban & rural areas.”
– Rural-urban linkages can increase the vulnerability of the urban &
rural poor.
■ However, the recognition of rural-urban systems and the
interdependencies of populations living and working in both areas
create new prospects for poverty alleviation in many regions in
the developing world.
– When carefully managed, rural-urban interactions can result in
harmonious regional development outcomes.
■ Understanding the Rural-Urban Interface
– The rapid population growth of Third World cities gives rise to
concerns about the changing nature of the relationship between
urban & rural.
 Fundamental resource flows
■ The Figure illustrates
schematically the way rural–
urban flows have been
organized in most cases.
■ However, the figure has
limitations, as most two-
dimensional representations of
complex systems have.
■ One of the key ideas the
figure presents is the
possibility of each of the
flows to work in either
direction.
■ Under certain conditions one-
way flows may dominate, or
the emphasis may change
over time or from one context
to the next.
 Fundamental resource flows…
– The flows of people & food & natural flows are represented above
ground to acknowledge their visibility.
– Money & ideas are less tangible & involve service sectors in delivery, so
are represented below ground as they are less obvious.
– One of the main limitations of the figure is that it represents city &
countryside as clearly separate.
– This ignores distinctions between city & countryside can become
unclear.
■ Until relatively recently much rural–urban research has focused on a
single city & its hinterland.
– However, the increasing importance of international links & the process
of globalization have an impact on rural–urban relations.
– In addition, cities throughout the world are often caught between the
pressure to be included in the world economy, on the one hand, & on
the other the need for links with their rural hinterlands.
– Such tensions raise issues that have not been considered until recently.
– This tension is paralleled in the competing processes of globalization &
decentralization.
 The urban-rural linkage
Hodder (2000) identifies six key reasons for these close links
between U-R
1. Agriculture depends on manufactured goods both for the
transformation of produce (for example, farm tools, machinery,
inputs) & for the consumer goods which are in demand as
agricultural incomes rise (such as radios & bicycles).
2. Modern agricultural practice may leads a country into industrial
based economy
3. Agriculture provides raw materials for some industries, such as
tobacco, cotton
4. Agriculture for export can earn foreign exchange which is
important for purchasing items that are vital to industrial
processes.
5. There is an important balance to be struck in incomes, prices &
taxation between the urban & the rural areas.
For example, high food prices provide rewards to farmers & incentives to
increase production, but may mean high prices in urban areas which can lead
■ Evolutions of the urban-rural linkage approaches
■ 1950s –views were in favor of large scale transfer of agricultural
surplus to the industrial sector (towns) as the driving force of
economic growth and modernization. i.e. justifying appropriation of
rural resources by cities.
■ Late 1950s and 1960s – came out an opposite model on spatial
polarization and core-periphery relationship.
■ 1970s- core-periphery strategy was replaced by promotion of rural
towns (market towns) strategy to fill the gap between the “evil city’
and the countryside. I.e. service center promotion approach
■ 1980s and 90s – the urban-rural linkage approach has been
influenced by new global trends like globalization, decentralization
and growing attention to urban sector development strongly linked
with rural areas.
– Urban and rural areas have traditionally been viewed as exclusive
and competing spheres placed in separate areas for planning,
development and investment purposes.
Evolutions of the urban-rural linkage approaches
■ But the importance of a more holistic approach to local, national and regional
territorial development is currently receiving increasing recognition in the
international development agendas, and the potential of urban-rural linkage
approach to development is attracting greater advocacy.
■ It is now widely recognized that there exists
– an economic,
– social and
– environmental interdependence between urban and rural areas and a need for
balanced and mutually supportive approach to development of the two areas.
■ The discrete consideration of rural development as completely distinct from
urban development is no longer valid.
■ A new perspective, referred to as the rural urban linkage development
approach, is increasingly becoming the accepted approach.
■ Rural-urban linkage generally refers to the growing flow of public and private
capital, people and goods between urban and rural areas.
■ It is important to add to these, the flow of ideas, information and innovation.
 Policy dimensions for urban-rural
linkage
Physical Linkages
■ Scholars have noted that transportation networks “allow greater access to
agricultural employment, improve communications & allow greater access
to nonagricultural employment…& extend areas of service delivery.”

– The creation of farm-to-market road networks pulled together in one

national market what years ago were dozens of small autonomous regions .

■ within the East African region, “farm-to market roads have promoted new
markets, increased interaction among villages, liked agricultural production
areas to crop collection & distribution centers, and made new crops
economically viable.”
 …policy dimensions for urban-
rural linkage
Economic Linkages
■ Urban centers offer outlets for primary products produced in
the rural areas.
– They also offer opportunity for non-farm employment
opportunities.
– The establishment of linkages between resource areas & the
market centers is a primary force in the commercialization of
agriculture, diversification of production & the expansion of the
spatial systems of exchange.
■ money flows between urban & rural areas are a major component
of urban-rural linkages adding that remittances can amount to as
much as 50 to 80% of the families’ income & that such
remittances are highest in the low income families particularly
those who are dependent on farm income.
– remittances are part of a pattern of linkages that help forge the
links not only among family & community members but also
between transfers at different points on the rural-urban
…policy dimensions for urban-
rural linkage
Population Movement Linkages
■ Short term & permanent migration of people from rural to urban
areas or from urban to rural areas is an important form of
urban rural linkages.
Social Linkages
■ market towns & intermediate towns….” are the focal points for a
wide variety of social linkages among development centers &
between those centers & their rural hinterlands.
– Market centers perform many social roles in rural areas.
– In many African countries, economic exchange grew out of
traditional social gatherings & rituals.
– The types & frequency of economic activities were closely linked
to social events because traditional African markets provided an
important locus of social interaction.
…policy dimensions for urban-rural linkage

Service Delivery linkages

■ Traditionally urban areas were providers of specialized services for their
rural hinterlands.
■ Increasing the physical, economic & technological linkages among central
places is critical for the expansion of the service delivery networks.
– Where transport & communications networks have been developed
between urban rural areas, rural families living close to urban areas are
able to take advantage of improved & specialized services in urban areas.
– While improved accessibility to urban areas makes it possible for people in
the rural areas to enjoy high quality services from urban areas, it is not
often easy for urban planner to know precisely whom they are planning for.
– The result is that available urban services are stretched to their limits.
…policy dimensions for urban-rural linkage

Political and Administrative Linkages

■ spatial systems are integrated & transformed through a serious
of political & administrative linkages reflected in formal
government structural relationship, flows of public budget
resources, administrative authority, supervision & approval of
expenditure.
– Political linkages are an important means of securing
development resources from the central government agencies
& urban-based elite for community based projects in the rural
areas.
– An important aspect of Africa’s political system is that because
a majority of legislators represents rural constituencies there
are close ties between urban-based political interests & rural
based political interests.
 Factors of Urban-Rural Linkage
■ It may seem obvious that the links between cities & the
countryside depend on the infrastructure connecting them, or
that sustainable economic, social & environmental
development is hinged to a large degree on the
interdependence between urban & rural areas.
■ Factors influencing the nature & degree of rural-urban linkage:
– level of infrastructure, mainly transport
– Public policy/strategy on human settlement,
– Capacity of urban centers in providing services & market
– Rural productivity & size /composition of rural supplies
– Institutional & legal framework in managing urban-rural
relationships