CHAPTER 4
RURAL AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT –
Cause, Effect and Future
When we think ‘rural’ we tend to imagine this...
Instead of this.........
And when we think ‘urban’ we might imagine
this....
Instead of this......
Or even this........
We all have well established preconceptions about our cities,
towns and countryside.........but:
In both social and economic terms, urban and rural areas are
inextricably intertwined and interdependent
Moreover, they have much more in common than we tend to
assume......
People and progress
• Humans have always inhabited both the natural world and the
social world.
• Environment:
– Circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or
groups of organisms
– The complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an
individual or community
Basic History of Humans and the
Environment
• Hunter-Gatherers (10,000 B.C.)
– Obtain food by collecting plants and hunting wild animals.
– Effects on the environment were limited.
• Hunting of some animal species.
• Picked up and spread plants/seeds to new areas.
• Agricultural Revolution (6000-7000 B.C.)
– Humans first developed the process of breeding, growing, and
harvesting plants for food as well as animal domestication.
– Effects on the environment:
• Human population grew more quickly
• Natural habitats (grasslands, forests) replaced by farmland
and villages.
• New breeds of animals and plants were created.
• Industrial Revolution (1800s)
– Shift in the source of energy to fossil fuels
– Effects on the environment:
• More efficient farming
• Faster human population growth
• Increased burning of fossil fuels
• Introduced synthetic plastics, fertilizers, pesticides
• Higher amounts of pollution
Current Conditions
• Human Population > 7 Billion
– Water quantity and quality issues is the most critical issues in
the 21st century.
– Food is inequitably distributed across the globe and 2/3 of
agricultural lands show signs of degradation.
– Fossil fuel reserves are diminishing and the burning of fossil
fuels causes pollution and global warming.
– Air quality has worsened in many areas.
– Loss of biodiversity at a rapid rate.
A Divided World
• World Bank estimates more than 1.4 billion people live in extreme
poverty earning < $1 (U.S.) per day.
• Poor are often both victims and agents of environmental
degradation.
• Cycle of poverty continues over generations as people who are
malnourished and ill cannot work productively and raise healthy
children.
• About 1/5 of the world’s population lives in countries with per
capita income > $25,000 per year (U.S.). The other 4/5 lives in
middle or low income countries.
• Gap between rich and poor continues to increase.
• The gap affects quality of life.
Identifying the rural
• What do we think of when we consider the ‘rural’?
 Low density
 Extensive production
 Forestry
 Agriculture
 Mineral extraction
 Generally poor
 ‘Backward’
 Limited services
• The Urban as dominant and ‘civilised’
• How much ‘rural’ development have you learnt in your
courses so far?
 An example of bias against ‘the rural’!
 Yet almost all the world’s food and raw materials come
from rural areas
• Michael Lipton (1977) Why Poor People Stay Poor
 Urban bias
 Dominance of interests designed to increase unequal
terms of trade between urban and rural areas and people
Urbanisation
“Urbanisation is a process of urban growth which
leads to a greater proportion of people being
concentrated into towns and cities”
Annual growth of world population, 19502011
Major urban areas throughout the world
Causes of urbanisation
1. Rural to urban migration
2. Natural Increase
Population change and urbanization
•
•
•
•
Rapid development since independence
Transformation from agricultural to industrial development
Creation and growth of new towns
Urbanization was driven by rural to urban migration
In Malaysia……..
• Malaysian population growing steadily
• In 1950 – 6.1 millions, 1955 – 7 millions, over 1 million added
every five years
• Population live in urban areas
– 1950 – 20.4%
– 1960 – 26.6%
– 1991 – over 50%
• Estimated – ¾ of population live in urban areas by 2020
Urban, rural and total population, Malaysia,
1950-2030
Year
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2003
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
Total
Urban
population population
(000)
(000)
6,110
7,000
8,140
9,502
10,853
12,258
13,763
15,677
17,845
20,363
23,001
24,425
25,325
27,513
29,563
31,580
33,479
35,191
1,244
1,639
2,165
2,842
3,631
4,615
5,787
7,197
8,891
11,326
14,212
15,617
16,479
18,768
20,998
23,218
25,351
27,324
% urban
Rural
population
(000)
20.4
23.4
26.6
29.9
33.5
37.7
42.0
45.9
49.8
55.6
61.8
63.9
65.1
68.2
71.0
73.5
75.7
77.6
4,866
5,361
5,975
6,660
7,222
7,642
7,977
8,480
8,955
9,038
8,790
8,808
8,846
8,745
8,565
8,362
8,128
7,867
% rural
79.6
76.6
73.4
70.1
66.5
62.3
58.0
54.1
50.2
44.4
38.2
36.1
34.9
31.8
29.0
26.5
24.3
22.4
Urban, rural and total population, Malaysia,
1950-2030
Urban, rural and total population
40000
35000
25000
Total population (thousands)
20000
Urban population (thousands)
Rural population (thousands)
15000
10000
5000
Year
20
25
20
15
20
05
20
00
19
90
19
80
19
70
19
60
0
19
50
Population
30000
Urban, rural and total population, Malaysia,
1950-2030
Urban and rural population (% )
90.0
80.0
70.0
50.0
Percentage urban (%)
40.0
Percentage rural (%)
30.0
20.0
10.0
Year
20
25
20
15
20
05
20
00
19
90
19
80
19
70
19
60
0.0
19
50
Percentage
60.0
Rural – urban migration
• Rural to urban migration – result of push and pull factors
Push and pull factors
Natural increase
• The people that migrate into towns and cities tend to be
young resulting in high levels of natural increase
• high % of young adults = high levels of births
• Falling death rates due to improved medical care means more
babies are born than people dying, further increasing the
urban population
 Population is placing pressure on urban areas and without
having the benefit of industrialization the lack of
employment opportunities for the mass of urban migrants is
undermining the ability of cities to incorporate people.
 The consequences of this lack of employment opportunities
are growing urban areas a large percent of whose population
is unemployed and living in poverty and forced to live in
unsanitary squatter settlements.
Effects of Urbanisation










Lack of housing and open areas of land
Lack of safe and efficient transportation
Crime
Urban heat
Respiratory problems among human
Fire hazards
Loss of land for agriculture
Loss of biodiversity
Aid in global warming
Abnormal births
Industrialization
• Industrialization brings positives effects:
– Inventions are created-More products--produced faster- produced cheaper
– Jobs are created--- people have money to buy more goodseconomy gets better for everyone
– Rich people get richer-- create more factories or businesses - create more jobs--economy gets better for everyone
– Immigration-when jobs are available-------people move to
the location of jobs-industrialization causes immigration--
– Factories are built where people live-------cities grow
• Industrialization brings negative effects:
– Industrialization causes--pollution-air, water
– Industrialization causes---poverty- government doesn’t protect
workers at first- workers compete with other workers for low skill jobs workers work long hours- get low pay- unsafe working conditions
– Poverty is so bad-children need to work
– Massive wealth is created by factory owners- causes corruption-
business owners use money to influence government officials
Poverty and Environment
• Poverty is viewed as encompassing both income and non-income
dimensions of deprivation, lack of empowerment, and extreme
vulnerability to external shocks
• Environment refers to the living and non-living components of the
natural world, and to the interactions between them, that support
life on earth. The environment is a provider of goods and services
and is also a recipient of waste products
Rural Poverty/ Development and
Environment
• Rural poverty and environmental degradation interact
leading to
Soil erosion and
Desertification
Deforestation
and loss of
livelihood
Loss of ground
water
Fuel shortages, lower
agricultural productivity,
occurrence of natural
disasters
Urban Poverty/ Development and
Environment
• Urban poverty causes environmental degradation in two ways:
– Industrialization and urban air pollution
– Congestion and availability of clean water and sanitation
• Productivity losses
• Financial feasibility of providing clean drinking water and
sanitation for all
Effect to environment
Environmental impact caused by urban expansion:
•Industry, homes & cars producing greenhouse gases…
atmosphere overheat---> global warming.
•Smog, a mixture of smoke & fog, builds up…. respitory problems
•Urban waste… up to 30% untreated and goes directly into rivers.
Environmental Issues
• Leading to a rapid loss of biodiversity and other forms of
environmental degradation.
• Poorly serviced areas in terms of urban infrastructures such as
roads, health centers, police stations, electricity, water,
drainage systems, waste management.
• High rate of the urban sprawl, high cases of property
encroachment and rapid changes to unplanned land use types
Urban sprawl
Urbanization has advantages
• Cities are centers of industry, commerce, transportation,
innovation, education, technological advances, and jobs.
• Urban residents in many parts of the world tend to live longer
than do rural residents, and have lower infant mortality and
fertility rates.
• Cities provide better access to medical care, family planning,
education, and social services.
• Recycling is more economically feasible.
• Concentrating people in cities helps to preserve biodiversity.
• Central cities can save energy if residents rely more on energy
efficient mass transportation, walking, and bicycling.
Urbanization has disadvantages
• Most urban areas are unsustainable systems.
– The typical city depends on large non-urban areas for huge
inputs of matter and energy resources, while it generates large
outputs of waste matter and heat.
• Most cities lack vegetation.
– Destroyed vegetation could have absorbed air pollutants,
given off oxygen, provided shade, reduced soil erosion,
provided wildlife habitats, and offered aesthetic pleasure.
• Many cities have water problems.
– Providing water to cities can deprive rural and wild areas of
surface water and can deplete underground water supplies.
Urbanization has disadvantages
– Cities in arid areas that depend on water withdrawn from
rivers and reservoirs behind dams will face increasing
problems.
– Cities can have flooding problems for several reasons:
• Being built on floodplains or near low-lying coastlines.
• Covering land with buildings, asphalt, and concrete causes
precipitation to run off quickly and overload storm drains.
Urbanization has disadvantages
– Destroying or degraded large areas of wetlands that have
served as natural sponges to help absorb excess storm water.
– Flooding as sea levels rise because of projected climate.
• Cities in arid areas that depend on water bodies fed by
mountaintop glaciers will face water shortages if global warming
melts the glaciers.
Urban areas are rarely sustainable systems
Cities tend to concentrate pollution and
health problems
•Cities produce most of the world’s air pollution, water
pollution, and solid and hazardous wastes.
•High population densities can increase the spread of
infectious diseases, especially if adequate drinking water and
sewage systems are not available.
Cities affect local climates
• Cities tend to be warmer, rainier, foggier, and cloudier.
• Heat generated by cars, factories, furnaces, lights, air
conditioners, and heat-absorbing dark roofs and streets
creates an urban heat island surrounded by cooler suburban
and rural areas.
• The artificial light created by cities affects some plant and
animal species.
Future of urban development
• Smart growth encourages environmentally sustainable
development requiring less dependence on cars, controls and
directs sprawl, and reduces wasteful resource use, by using
zoning laws and other tools to channel growth into areas where
it can cause less harm.
• New urbanism involves less-developed villages within cities, so
that people can live within walking distance of where the work,
shop, and go for entertainment
Smart growth tools
Future urban development
 Cities can be revitalized by managing growth
 Cleaning up environmentally contaminated land
 Reinvesting in existing neighbourhoods
 Changing governmental infrastructure financing policies
 Establish urban growth boundaries
 Decentralisation
improved water (%)
Households with access to
eeEnvironmental sustainabilityustainability
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
Access to water source expanding but needs to go
further in rural areas
Urban
Malaysia
Rural
Household with
improved sanitation (%)
1980
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
1991
2000
Approaching universal access to safe sanitation
Malaysia
Urban
Rural
1980
1991
2000
Future strategies for rural areas
Planners promote orderly development to:
Ensure land is use for common good of all
Meet the needs of society housing, food, employ & leisure.
Support regional development, social integration, urban renewal & maintain
strong rural communities.
Protect the environment.
This planning succeeds by:
Controlling transport development, natural resources & efficient energy
use.
Careful location of any buildings & their size.
Protecting natural environment & habitats.
Promote growth of towns & villages, socially & economically.