adriana allen: a periscope on the peri-urban
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at the STEPS Conference 2010 - Pathways to Sustainability: Agendas for a new politics of environment, development and social justice http://www.steps-centre.org/events/stepsconference2010.htmlTRANSCRIPT
A PERIscope on the PERI-urban
Adriana Allen ([email protected])
DPU Environmental Justice, Urbanisation and
Resilience Programme
Development Planning Unit (DPU)
Pathways to Sustainability:Agendas for a New Politics of Environment, Development and Social Justice
23 - 24 September 2010,Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University
Panel: Peri-urban dynamics
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2010
PUI environmentalplanning & management
(DFID)Hubli Dharwad (India)Manizales (Colombia)
Kumasi (Ghana)External Support Agencies
General & comparativeresearch
International conference: “Rural-Urban Encounters”
(FAO) Urbanisation &Urban/PU agriculture
Service provisiongovernance in thePUI of metropolitan
regions(DFID)
Mexico, CaracasCairo, Chennai &
Dar es Salaam
DPU’s Peri-urban Interface Programme ‘Journey’
Applied research inHubli-Dharwad, India
PUI knowledgeconsolidation(NRSP DFID)
PUI participatoryplanning
(NRSP DFID)
Participatory actionplanningIn the PUI
(NRSP DFID)(Action networks)
Bra
silia
NE
UR
-DP
Ulin
k(B
C)
EE
Z
PapersDrama, VideoPosters / websiteGuidelines
Book: “A Taleof Two Cities”
NewslettersPublicationsBook
PublicationsRural-Urban Network
Publication /FAO Website
PublicationsWebsiteDialogue foraGuidelines
PublicationsWebsiteParticip. VideoWorkshops
Seminars / Public.
Various ongoing initiatives focused on the co-production ofperi-urban water and sanitation
Why to be concerned?
Living between two worlds• A large percentage of the future population growth in developing
countries will occur in the localised spaces where the urban meetsthe rural as cities and their impacts spread into outlying areas.
…and yet• Current national and international initiatives and commitments to
improve the sustainable development of rapidly urbanising areas inthe developing world tend to neglect the peri-urban context
Beyond the rural-urban dichotomy• The traditional distinction between urban and rural areas is
becoming increasingly blurred and insufficient to capture the realityof a large number of dwellers that live between those areas
…in particular,• an increasing number of the poor, engaged in rural-urban
interchanges as a result of undue reliance on farming, declining realoutput prices, limited markets, price instability, climatic and marketrisks, absence of rural financial markets, declining farm sizes, etc.
Urbanisation without infrastructure
Land conflicts and forced evictions60-70 millions people will have been
evicted between 2000 and 2020
‘Second nature’ versus ‘first nature’?
On definitions: ‘Peri-urban’ as…. the urban fringe: “the space into which the town extends as the
process of dispersion operates ...an area with distinctive characteristicswhich is only partly assimilated into the growing urban complex” (Adell,1999 citing Carter’s 1981 definition).
as a ‘lacking’ area: “usually characterised by the loss of ruralaspects (e.g.: fertile soil, agricultural land, natural landscape) or the lackof urban attributes (such as services & infrastructure)” (Allen, 2003).
a transition zone: “of interaction between urban and rural socio-economic systems; …. a zone of rapid economic, social structuralchange (Rakodi, 1998 cited in Adell, 1999)”.
a new kind of ‘rural/urban hybrid’: “a dramatic new species ofurbanism” (Davis 2004).
a challenging ‘periphery’: subject to “ambiguity, informality andillegality”…But also encompassing unconventional or unorthodoxalternatives to dominant planning and management perspectives.
On emerging landscapes inthe rural-urban continuum…
Towards a space-less city-region? Edge-cities, post-suburban landscapes and the ‘informational city’
Region-based urbanisation: ‘extended metropolitanregions’ (Ginsburg et al, 1991) , ‘ruralopolises’ (Qadeer,2000) and the ‘desakota’ (McGee,1991)
Sustainable urbanisation as ‘reciprocalurbanisation’? From spatial definitions to functional andrelational focus on rural-urban flows
Socio-economicstructure andrelations
Rural economy(sectors)
Rural productionregimes
Non-agriculturalemploymentUrban services
Production supplies
Non-durable anddurable goods
Markets for sellingrural products
Processing /manufacturing
Information onemployment,production, prices,welfare services
Rural systems Rural – Urban Flows Urban systems
People
Production
Commodities
Capital/income
Information
Natural resources
Waste and pollution
Source: Allen, 2003, based on Douglass, 1998:31.
Rural-urban linkages
The ‘Peri-urban Interface’ The PUI is a mosaic of‘natural’, ‘productive’and ‘urban’ sub-systemsAffected by material andenergy flows demanded byboth rural and urban areas.
Heterogeneous andchanging social andeconomic structuresMix of mix of newcomersand long-establisheddwellers.Mix of farming, residentialand industrial land uses.Diversified livelihoodsstrategies
Fragmentedinstitutional landscapeAffected by rapid changeand unclear boundaries andjurisdictions.
On the drivers of change
‘urban and rural economic refugees’ in search ofcheaper residential land and multiple livelihoodopportunities;
conservationists’ who buy bush or farm blocks for re-vegetation or timber plantations;
‘minimalisers’ seeking to establish less materiallyintensive lifestyles with a degree of self-sufficiency;
‘sprawlers’ seeking larger blocks than available in urbanareas, where they can live extended suburban lifestyles
and many more….
On intervention models
Source: Allen, A, ‘Rural-urban linkages: Models of intervention’ in SOFA (2002:90-106).
On planning and research implications
Beyond negative conceptualisations
Maintaining a focus on ‘hidden’ entities
From lacking areas to ‘insurgentperipheries’
Recognising opportunities in hybridsituations
Turning the peri-urban notion inside out