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When urban meets rural: opportunities for people on the edge

Cities in developing countries are growing fast. Population growth and migration from rural areas to cities mean that the edges of urban areas are changing: buildings are constructed on agricultural land and cash becomes more important in the local economy. This means that there is no longer a clear divide between urban and rural.

The UK Department for International Development’s Natural Resource System Programme has brought together research on the areas where urban meets rural: the peri-urban interface. Findings from India and Ghana show that poor people living in these areas need assistance to adapt to rapid changes which bring opportunities for some but can leave vulnerable people behind.

Despite changes associated with urbanisation, research showed that most people in peri-urban areas still rely on natural resources, primarily for agriculture. Food is produced both for feeding the household and for trading. However, as land is absorbed into the city, natural resources become scarce and people need to find new sources of income and food.

People with land, capital and education can do well in new urban markets by producing perishable goods of higher value like eggs, milk and fish. However, poor people, especially women, find it difficult to find new cash-earning opportunities. They often lack education, suitable skills, finance to invest and access to natural resources on previously common land.

Factors hindering people from adapting to new urban ways of living include:

A lack of resources to invest in new cash earning opportunities. Poor people without savings need quick cash returns from new activities.
Scarcity of natural resources, upon which women and the poorest people are particularly reliant as they find it harder to get paid work.
Social structures tend to break down with inward migration and pressures on land. This makes working in groups less effective than it often is in rural areas.
Governments and non-government organisations (NGOs) working in development do not understand the specific issues of peri-urban areas well. Government policy and practice is still split between urban and rural, so interest and interventions are fragmented.

The research also shows that NGOs and community action can help people adapt and find new or adapted livelihoods.

Lessons for successful policy interventions include:

Communities should be encouraged to work together to develop self-help groups, credit schemes and training.
Protecting and improving natural resources is especially important for poor people, who remain reliant on natural resources even when they begin new activities.
Farming and trading provide bridging activities that support people moving into new livelihood patterns.
Encouraging trading activity and offering credit to traders is beneficial, especially for women.
Training helped people, including the most disadvantaged and those without formal education, to understand markets and make business plans.
Links need to be set up between peri-urban producers and markets in towns.
Women who process food are threatened by larger processing companies. Forming associations and self-help groups is a potential way to compete.

Source(s):
‘A Synthesis Of Peri-Urban Research Of Kumasi, Hubli-Dharwad And Kolkata Peri-Urban Interfaces. Final Report Of Project R8491 Natural Resources Systems Programme.’ Development Planning Unit, University College London: London, by Pam Gregory, 2005 (PDF) Full document.
‘The peri-urban interface: intervening to improve livelihoods’. NRSP Brief, NRSP: Hemel Hempstead, by Michael Mattingly and Pam Gregory, 2006 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: DFID, via the Natural Resources Systems Programme (NRSP) of the RNRRS programme of research.

id21 Research Highlight: 12 February 2007

Further Information:
Pamela Gregory
Plan Bee
Pentrebwlen
Llanddewi Brefi
Ceredigion SY25 6PA
UK

Contact the contributor: pamgregory@beeb.net

Development Planning Unit, University College London, UK

Michael Mattingly
Development Planning Unit
University College London
London WC1H OED

Tel: +44 (0)20 76791111
Fax: +44 (0)20 76791112
Contact the contributor: m.mattingly@ucl.ac.uk

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