| Theme
3: RURAL VERSUS URBAN AREAS |
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[Myth
7]
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Most poverty is in rural areas |
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[Myth
8]
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Urban development is opposed to rural development |
| [Myth 7](semi-myth) |
... "Most poverty is in rural areas" |
 Myth
7Pdf (152KB) |
This is not a myth globally since most poverty is still in rural areas. For most African and many Asian nations, most poverty is in rural areas. But it is no longer so in Latin America (or Europe and North America). Nor does the fact that there is more poverty in rural areas mean that urban poverty should be ignored - and an increasing proportion of those who suffer absolute poverty worldwide live in urban areas.During the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a recognition among international agencies that most of their projects were bringing little or no benefit to poor rural dwellers. At this time, three quarters of the population of low and middle income nations were in rural areas. Quite rightly, new priorities were set which gave agriculture and rural livelihoods more importance. However, this also resulted in an 'anti-urban' sentiment which meant that urban poverty was ignored or was assumed to be insignificant. In addition, the key role that well-governed urban centres had in supporting more prosperous economies (see above) was ignored. This continues to the present, even though the urban population in Africa, Asia and Latin America has grown by 200 percent since 1970 while the rural population has grown by only 44 percent. The scale of the urban population within low and middle income nations is often forgotten. For instance, Africa is still assumed to be overwhelmingly rural but two in five Africans now live in urban areas. Africa now has a larger urban population than North America. It has twice as many children living in urban areas as... (the full text is available in the pdf file) |
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| [Myth 8] |
... "Urban development is opposed to rural development" |
Myth
8 Pdf (77KB) |
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It is often assumed that urban development is opposed to rural development. Among the staff of international agencies, there are 'rural' proponents and 'urban' proponents. In most agencies, the rural proponents greatly outnumber the urban proponents and some agencies refuse to work in urban areas. In part, this reflects the fact that most poverty in low and many middle income nations is in rural areas, as noted above. But in part, it reflects an assumption that urban development is somehow detrimental to rural development. Yet much of the demand that produces rural incomes (for agricultural and forest goods) comes from urban populations and urban enterprises. Many of the higher-paying jobs in rural areas (including off-farm work) come from urban demand (for instance from tourists) or sub-contracting from urban enterprises. Successful farmers also depend on urban-based facilities and services - markets, banks, processing plants, cold-storage facilities, supply and repair of machinery and agricultural inputs. Rural populations often depend on their local urban centre for access to hospitals, secondary schools, post-offices and most consumer goods and services - also to many of their civil and political rights (the right to vote, to police protection, to legal services). Many low-income households have rural and urban components to their livelihoods - for instance for rural households, one or more family member living and working in an urban centre and sending back remittances or for urban households, links with family or friends in rural areas to ensure a ... (the full text is available in the pdf file) |
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| Complete document
(including all the myths): The
10 and 1/2 MythsPdf (355KB) |
