Rural-urban interactions: a guide to the literature

TO DATE, MOST development theory andpractice have focused on either “urban” or“rural” issues with little consideration of theinterrelations 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 animportant role in processes of rural and ur-ban change. Within the economic sphere,many urban enterprises rely on demand fromrural consumers, and access to urban mar-kets and services is often crucial for agricul-tural producers. In addition, a large numberof households in both urban and rural areasrely on the combination of agricultural andnon-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 whichthey 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 ofrural and urban areas and activities, reviewconceptual frameworks and consider howrural-urban interactions are conceptualizedwithin development planning. The last foursections review empirical studies on differ-ent flows connecting rural and urban areas(flows of people, of goods and of wastes), andon sectoral interactions (agriculture in thecities, non-agricultural employment in thecountryside and rural-urban interlinkages inperi-urban areas).