Some Aspects of Rural-Urban Interdependence: Economic-Geographical View

Abstract

There are two broad, often overlapping, categories of rural -urban linkages. «Spatial» links refer to the movement of people, goods, money, and information between urban and rural areas. «Sectoral» links describe the interdependence between agriculture on the one hand and industry and services on the other. In the next two decades, three main issues related to rural-urban interdependence are likely to emerge: (1) changes in land use around urban centers, from farmland to residential or industrial use; (2) greater diversification of income sources in rural and urban areas, often involving people migrating or commuting between the countryside and urban centers; and (3) changes in the direction and composition of internal migration ( see Tacoli, 2000). In this text indicates on the some economic geographic aspects of rural-urban interdependence. Rural and urban development requires a balance between human capital, economic progress and natural resources. The migration of labor from rural to urban areas is an important part of the urbanization process in developing countries. Even though it has been the focus of abundant research over the past five decades, some key policy questions have not found clear answers yet. Sustainable development can be achieved at any level, provided that each component of the system to have the same importance in maintaining a balance between the need to develop and its possibilities. The rural -urban metabolism generates relations of interdependence between villages and towns, resulting in the formation of a «variety of societies, from deep rural to deep urban».