Issue Brief No. 37The labels "urban" and "rural" fall far short of capturing the dynamism and diversity of reality. Conjuring up visions of crowded cities and isolated countryside, they suggest separate worlds and ways of living. They mask the many ways urban and rural overlap and intertwine, as well as the variety of livelihood strategies within urban or rural areas. Imagine, for instance, the diversity of conditions and connections along a continuum from the "very rural" to the "very urban"—from isolated farms to villages and small towns to intermediate cities and regional centers surrounded by farmland to large cities, megacities, and their relentlessly growing peripheries.
Policies built on presumptions of separateness or on traditional notions of urban and rural livelihoods diminish the possibilities for economic growth and poverty reduction. More effective policies will take the diversity of livelihoods along the continuum into account and also appreciate the differences among urban and rural areas and the links between them.
Focusing on the connections between urban and rural areas can help to reframe our understanding of development in these areas. We can see that rural and urban lives and livelihood strategies span rural and urban geographies in integrated and interdependent ways. With better understanding of the current reality of urban and rural areas and the connections between them, policies will better reflect the ways people actually live. Policies will take into account the different livelihood strategies, links, and localities that exist across "urban" and "rural." And they will be able to promote synergies—such as market exchange—that benefit all, no matter where they live.
- Full Brief (including addenda)
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Addenda
- Dynamic Livelihoods: Making the Most of Rural-Urban Connections
- Mobility, Migration, and Rural-Urban Changes
- Policies and Institutions: Removing Barriers to Rural-Urban Exchange
- Migration and the Rural-Urban Continuum: Evidence from the Rural Philippines
Agnes R. Quisumbing and Scott McNiven. FCND Discussion Paper No. 197. October 2005.Full-Text (PDF 466K) | Brief (PDF 180K) - Rural and Urban Dynamics and Poverty: Evidence from China and India
Shenggen Fan, Connie Chan-Kang, and Anit Mukherjee. FCND Discussion Paper No. 196. August 2005.Full-Text (PDF 372K) | Brief (PDF 188K) - Market Institutions: Enhancing the Value of Rural-Urban Links
Shyamal Chowdhury, Asfaw Negassa, and Maximo Torero. FCND Discussion Paper No. 195/MTID Discussion Paper No. 89. October 2005.Full-Text (PDF 424K) | Brief (PDF 223K) - Livelihoods, Growth, and Links to Market Towns in 15 Ethiopian Villages
Stefan Dercon and John Hoddinott. FCND Discussion Paper No. 194. July 2005.Full-Text (PDF 412K) | Brief (PDF 180K) - Livelihood Diversification and Rural-Urban Linkages in Vietnam's Red River Delta
Hoang Xuan Thanh, Dang Nguyen Anh, and Cecilia Tacoli. FCND Discussion Paper No. 193. June 2005.Full-Text (PDF 513K) | Brief (PDF 188K)
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