Rural-Urban Flows: Conceptualizing the Relationship Between the City and the Countryside in the Developing World

"Some of the earliest work on the interaction between city and country in the developing world adopted a clear distinction between the two and largely focused on urban-based conceptualizations.  Examples include modernization diffusion (Gould, 1969; Rostow, 1960), Friedman’s (1966) core-periphery model, Vance’s (1970) mercantile model.  Lipton (1977) made considerable impact on development studies, arguing that urban-based (and biased) industrialization was at the expense of rural areas.  However, this was still an urban-focused, as opposed to a rural, approach.  The distinction between urban and rural development is now being questioned.  This paper aims to re-unite the urban and rural areas in the study of development across the developing world.  It considers research on ‘rural’ activities in ‘urban’ spaces, ‘urban’ activities in ‘rural’ spaces, the links between urban and rural livelihoods and changes taking place on the interface between these two realms.  The paper will argue that there is a need to move towards conceiving of the relationships between urban and rural as more important than the divisions.  This paper therefore recommends a focus on flows between urban and rural areas, which encourages consideration of the movement of goods, people and ideas.  Fluid and fragmented identities play a role in the lives of the people who communicate, exchange and travel the links which bridge the urban/rural divide.  A key contention is that this fluidity is often deliberately incorporated into livelihood strategies by people living in rural and urban areas." [Abstract from Conference Program and Book of Abstracts]

[Concurrent Session I-A: Defining the Interface]

[Presented at "Emerging Issues Along Urban/Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society", a conference held March 13-16, 2005 in Atlanta, GA (US)]