Rural-urban interactions: a guide to the literature

TO DATE, MOST development 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 linkages between urban centres and the countryside, including movement of people, goods, capital and other social transactions, play an important role in processes of rural and urban change. Within the economic sphere, many urban enterprises rely on demand from rural consumers, and access to urban markets and services is often crucial for agricultural 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 livelihoods. This paper reviews some of the recent literature on rural-urban interactions, with particular attention to the ways in which they have been affected by recent and current economic, social and cultural transformations. 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 different 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).