Taylor and Francis Lynch, K: Rural-Urban Interaction in the Developing World

Sustaining the rural and urban populations of the developing world has been identified as a key global challenge for the 21st Century. "Rural-Urban Interaction in the Developing World" is an introduction to the relationships between rural and urban places in the developing world and shows that not all their aspects are as obvious as migration from country to city. There is now a growing realisation that rural-urban relations are far more complex. The book takes urban-rural relations as its focus, rather than considering them as only a part of either urban development or rural development. It examines a range of interactions between the rural and the urban, by considering these interactions as flows that can take place in either direction. It considers migration as just one of a series of flows between the rural and the urban, rather than only focusing on the phenomenon of rural-to-urban migration because the movement of people into the city is a strong and highly visible indicator of urbanisation.Each of the flows of people, food, the environmental, money and ideas has their own chapter. The book steps back from accepted orthodoxies by considering the flows as interactions that may take place in either direction, across space as well as within sectors. These flows are also considered within the context of development theory. "Rural-Urban Interaction in the Developing World" uses a wealth of student friendly features including boxed case-studies, discussion questions and annotated guides to further reading, to place rural-urban interactions within a broader context and thus promoting a clearer understanding of the opportunities, as well as the challenges, that rural-urbaninteractions represent.