Using small spatial units to refine our perception of rural America

More than half of the US rural population lives inside metro or micropolitan areas and even at more disaggregated scales, such as the census tracts, most spatial units mix rural and urban population. At a national scale, only 30% of the country are inhabited by 100% urban or 100% rural population, implying that more than two third of the US territory are somewhere in between both situations. As the rural/urban dichotomy appears today to be blurred by the emergence of new phenomena like rurbanization or exurbanization, our perception of rural America may be somewhat twisted and the reality of rural areas underplayed. This paper focuses on using finer-grade spatial units such as the census blocks and block groups, in order to provide new elements about the extension, localization and characteristics of rural America as well as about its inner dynamics. To that end, we analyze and process geographical and social data at these two levels of information, and use population density as a main factor of analysis. This allows us not only to propose new measurement of the extent of rural space in the USA but also to propose a new vision of its spatial dynamics by studying how several social indicators such as income, median age or sex ratio reveal regional and micro-regional variations and situations in the rural part of the US.     

Urban growth and quality of life: inter-district and intra-district analysis of housing in NCT-Delhi, 2001–2011–2020

One out of three people in India is urban. In 2011, there were about 53 urban agglomerations larger than 1 million population as against only 35 in 2001. Much of this urban expansion has been occurring in the country’s largest metropolises including the National Capital Territory of Delhi which has expanded horizontally and vertically both. This has also added to overall decline in its already dilapidated housing stock and quality of life. Delhi, a historical hub for regional, national, and international commerce, and a place for the socio-political elites, has failed to provide basic life amenities to its average citizens. This research critiques the (un)sustainable elements of Delhi’s urbanization and concomitant decline in basic amenities pertaining to quality-of-life by examining the growth and expansion of its urban-built-up areas during 2001–2011–2020 and provides nuanced insights into its ‘livability’ by examining select quality-of-life attributes. The LANDSAT imageries for 2010 and 2020 are used to measure NDB-Index that assesses its built-up area and change, which are later corroborated with Census household data to examine change in its ‘livable’ and ‘dilapidated’ housing structures. Significant sub-regional disparity exists in the availability of good and livable homes, with almost 20–30% of several districts still without drinking water source inside premises. However, significant progress is also noted for basic amenities like lighting, latrine and bathing facilities, and majority of Delhi’s built-up area has expanded along newer developments and transportation corridors. This calls for goal-oriented strategic interventions by policymakers to help achieve the SDG-11 on Sustainable Cities.

     

Policy responses to informality in urban Africa: the example of Maputo,Mozambique

In the global South informality constitutes one of the leading issues for urban policy makers. The planning challenges around informality are particularly relevant in urban Africa as most Africans make their livelihoods in the informal economy. This paper examines issues of state policy responses to informality through the lens of street traders. Under scrutiny are policy responses towards street trading in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, a city that has experienced the advance of informalization. It is argued that the dominant approach towards informal trading across urban Africa is of a ‘sanitising’ policy response by the local state which is rooted upon traditions of modernist urban planning in search of ‘ordered development’. The research discloses that in Maputo national and municipal authorities have adopted a more tolerant approach to the informal economy, mainly because it provides a livelihood to so many of the city’s poor and because of potential social unrest likely to be triggered by a repressive approach. In Maputo the core narrative is of an urban informal economy viewed by officials as an important livelihood for the city’s poor, albeit one which is subject both to periodic harassment and encouragement to ‘formalize’. The analysis represents a contribution to the expanding corpus of writings on Africa’s informalising cities and specifically concerning policy responses towards street trading.     

From sprawl to compactness and back: population dynamics (1848–2011) and the economic structure of a Mediterranean city

In the recent decades southern European cities experienced morphological changes and a demographic transition towards zero (or negative) growth and aging. Population dynamics shifted from the impressive growth of the post-industrial period into recent de-concentration processes determining the spillover of commercial and residential settlements across the surrounding rural areas. Based on long-term demographic data, the present study hypothesizes that urban expansion did not follow a one-way linear path from compactness to dispersion while reflecting differentiated growth patterns based on the specific socioeconomic context at the local scale. Along a sufficiently long time period non-linear expansion waves alternating settlement densification and scattering are expected to be found especially in complex urban contexts such as those developed in the Mediterranean region. This hypothesis was tested for a paradigmatic case study in southern Europe (Athens, Greece) using demographic data covering 160 years (1848–2011). Urban growth in Athens was assessed through the analysis of long-term census data made available on a district level. These data provide information on the spatial distribution of resident population and characterize distinct expansion waves according to the dominant socioeconomic context. Results of the study were discussed in the light of the debate on future development of the Mediterranean cities and the (changing) economic relations with the surrounding region.     

Dispossessing irrigators: Water grabbing,supply-side growth and farmer resistance in India

This paper examines, first, the conditions under which irrigating farmers are being alienated from their water through a state-led process of dispossession, and then, second, details the dialectical process of farmers’ resistance to these efforts. The paper advances recent scholarship on water grabbing and ‘accumulation by dispossession’ by drawing on a case from northwestern India to explore the connections between non-agrarian economic growth, irrigated agriculture and farmer livelihoods. Specifically, it examines an urban water infrastructure development project that aims to provide water to Jaipur, the Indian state of Rajasthan’s capital city, through the appropriation of an existing rural dam/reservoir complex built for irrigation and redirecting it to domestic, commercial and industrial uses. Drawing on an examination of policy documents and interviews with farmers and state planners, this paper argues that these transfers must be understood as a supply-side solution to support economic growth, where the lack of stable water supplies is a barrier to capital accumulation. The paper contributes to critical scholarship by showing that the processes underpinning water’s reallocation are specific acts of ongoing ‘dispossession’ through extra-economic means under advanced neoliberal capitalism, which alienates water away from peasant producers towards new centers of capital accumulation, dialectically creating peasant resistance to these efforts.     

Natural resources as national fantasies

The development of agriculture is recognised to be an essential preliminary and on-going element in the economic development strategies of most developing countries. The contribution of agricultural production to gross domestic product, food self-sufficiency and export income are amongst the major development goals exercising the governments of such countries. In addition, in many countries the agricultural sector is regarded as one with a potential for generating a surplus to sustain other economic activities and to have an important stabilising role in reducing the movement of population from rural areas. This article discusses renewable natural resources, soil and water, as the basis for agricultural development and especially of irrigated farming. A number of case studies will be referred to which illustrate the idea that many national governments attribute quite unreal qualities to soil and water resources. Once development schemes were launched appropriate rhetoric was mobilised to invest the reclamation of ‘virgin lands’ and ‘new lands’, with the character of ‘green revolutions’. These ventures have been sustained not because of their success but because the ‘fantasies’ have been circulated amongst ill-formed urban populations, remote from the arduous realities of land reclamation. Case studies in the Soviet Union and the Middle East are discussed.     

Rural development and rural to urban migration in China 1978–1990

Economic reforms since the late 1970s have brought about significant changes in rural China. A large number of surplus rural labourers have been released from the agricultural sector and there has been a massive transition of rural residents from agricultural to non-agricultural employment. These changes will be analyzed by examining the changes in the employment structure of rural residents. Rural to urban migration is another important option for many rural labourers. The size of China's urban population and the scale of rural to urban migration continue to be an ‘enigma’ due to several changes in the definition of the urban population. Several data sources will be used to provide more realistic estimates of rural to urban migrations on a set of comparable though different bases. Data on the new entries into urban employment and the urban ‘non-agricultural population’ will be used to illustrate the scale of migration by rural residents to the formal urban sector. This may only record those migrants who have changed their registration status from ‘agricultural population’ to ‘non-agricultural population’ which is tightly controlled by the government. The 1990 Census data provide some evidence on the rural to urban migration by the registered ‘agricultural population’. The 1987 1% population sampling data will be used to analyze the actual migrations among cities, towns and counties over the period 1982–1987. It is found that town and county populations tended to move to towns at the intra-provincial level, but to cities at the inter-provincial level. Out-migrants from cities tended to move to cities at both the intra- and inter-provincial levels.     

县域统筹城乡发展综合评价研究——以陕西省华阴市为例

县域是统筹城乡发展最为关键和迫切的地域单元。统筹城乡发展,须以区域经济社会发展进入一定阶段为前提,涉及城乡经济、社会、文化、基础设施等多个方面,构建统筹城乡发展评价体系具有明显的复杂性。在回顾总结已有测评研究和对统筹城乡发展进行再认识的基础上,构建了3个一级指标、18个二级指标组成的评价指标体系,据此对陕西省华阴市统筹城乡发展水平进行综合评判,提出了统筹城乡发展的对策建议。     

Variegated borderlands governance in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture along the China-Myanmar border

International borders and associated borderlands—especially as viewed at the national and international scales, and via regional and global-scale maps—are generally thought of as being primarily governed by national governments. In reality, however, national borders and associated borderlands are complex and varied spaces, ones that are governed not only through national laws and regulations, but also an array of policies and localized practices, both formal and informal, conceived and implemented by government agencies and other non-government entities operating at various scales. This is especially the case for the borderlands we are focusing on. In this article we conceptually apply Agnew’s idea of the ‘territorial trap’, Ong’s notion of ‘graduated sovereignty’, Laine’s conceptualization of the ‘multiscalar production of borders’, Amilhat Szary and Giraut’s concept of ‘borderity’, and Brambilla’s understanding of ‘borderscapes’ to consider the multiscalar and multi-sited nature of borderlands governance along the China-Myanmar border in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Focusing on the China side of the border, we emphasize how different scales of government agencies and non-government entities variously interact. Ultimately, these different actors create multiscalar borderscapes dependent on various situational factors, ones which are more complex than is typically acknowledged by national governments.     

Against ourselves – Local activists and the management of contradicting political loyalties: The case of Phiri,Johannesburg

In spite of continued mass urban protests in post-apartheid South Africa, few are the social movements or individuals which openly disengage from the dominant and former liberation party, the African National Congress. Many authors have analysed this paradox as a two-pronged strategy, ‘the brick’ and ‘the ballot’, to try and influence public policy. However, these two political positions become increasingly contradictory and difficult to hold together, as the ANC becomes more and more intolerant towards social movements. This paper, using the example of women’s contention about water commodification in Phiri (Soweto), examines how activists shape their opposition whilst still stating their affiliation to the ruling party. They manage these contradicting political loyalties through a variety of tactics exonerating the ANC from the blame of urban mismanagement: contrasting the current ANC with the ‘real’ ANC of the past – to which they remain faithful; and blaming the ‘deployees’ of the ANC at the local level for betraying the ‘real’ ANC at the national level. These tactics however may be short-lived as social movements upscale their action to the national level.     

Spatial modelling of commercial spaces in medium-sized cities

The pattern of commercial spaces in a city has never been the consequence of chance. Retailers have always searched for the ‘best location’, but the notion of what exactly constitutes the ‘best location’ has changed over the decades. It is no longer a question of being close-to-market. It depends on an amount of social, economic and even morphological aspects of urban life, not to mention intrinsic aspects of the retail sector itself, namely new types of stores, products and purchase and payment options. Consequently, the methods retailers have employed to determine ‘best location’ have also evolved, and today increasingly complex mathematical and geospatial models are in use. It should then be safe to assume that commercial geography has changed and therefore, commercial hierarchies need to be re-invented, or at least challenged. A current trend in the literature is revealing more than ever the influence of commerce in the spatial and morphological re-configuration of cities. Thus, the understanding of modern retail patterns may be a key issue in interpreting and regulating the processes of urban, social and economic development. Using as test-beds four Portuguese medium-sized cities, commercial and morphological data was collected, analysed and compared, applying spatial analysis techniques. Similar patterns were found between the four cities, which led to the proposal of two geospatial commercial distribution models, one for the city-centre and one for the suburbia. These models shed a new light on the structure of Portuguese medium-size cities, and may well be valid in other medium and small towns across Europe.     

Contesting the market-based nature of Mexico’s national payments for ecosystem services programs: Four sites of articulation and hybridization

Mexico’s national payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs pay rural landholders for hydrological services, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and improvement of agroforestry systems. The intention of the programs’ initial funders and designers was to create a PES program that would introduce market efficiency into environmental policy and “green” the market by creating and recognizing the economic value of healthy ecosystems. This article traces the complex processes through which this ideal type conceptualization of market-efficient environmental policy was subverted and the practice altered to more closely fit national interests, rural realities and alternative conceptions of the ‘value’ of socio-nature. This article examines how the market-based notions of the programs’ designers were hybridized at four distinct sites of articulation: (1) the federal politics of poverty alleviation in Mexico; (2) rural social movements with distinct conceptualizations of ‘conservation’ and ‘development’; (3) the institutional and cultural context of the ecosystem services being commodified; and (4) the socio-natural knowledges and grounded practices of rural Mexico. This analysis is based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted with program participants, intermediary organizations, and designers. The article draws on a growing critical literature on market-based mechanisms and minutely examines the process through which the Mexican national PES program was altered at multiple scales and in multiple forms, from the rhetoric of political speeches to the specific elements of the policy’s design and from the theoretical tinkering of neoclassical economists to the quotidian practices of rural environmental managers.     

Micro-level perception to climate change and adaptation issues: A prelude to mainstreaming climate adaptation into developmental landscape in India

Climate change adds another dimension of challenges to the growth and sustainability of Indian agriculture. The growing exposure to livelihood shocks from climate variability/change and limited resource base of the rural community to adapt has reinforced the need to mainstream climate adaptation planning into developmental landscape. However, a better understanding of micro-level perceptions is imperative for effective and informed planning at the macro-level. In this paper, the grass-root level perspectives on climate change impacts and adaptation decisions were elicited at farm level in the Moga district of Punjab and Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, India. The farmers opined that the climatic variability impacts more than the long-term climate change. They observed change in the quantum, onset and distribution of rainfall, rise in minimum as well as maximum temperature levels, decline in crop yield and ground water depletion. The key socio-economic effects of climate change included decline in farm income, farm unemployment, rural migration and increased indebtedness among farmers. In order to cope with climate variability and change thereon, farmers resorted to adaptation strategies such as use of crop varieties of suitable duration, water conservation techniques, crop insurance and participation in non-farm activities and employment guarantee schemes. Farmers’ adaptation to changing climate was constrained by several technological, socio-economic and institutional barriers. These include limited knowledge on the costs–benefits of adaptation, lack of access to and knowledge of adaptation technologies, lack of financial resources and limited information on weather. Besides, lack of access to input markets, inadequate farm labour and smaller farm size were the other constraints. Further, on the basis of the grass-root elicitation a ‘Need-Based Adaptation’ planning incorporating farmers’ perceptions on climate change impacts, constraints in the adoption of adaptation strategies and plausible adaptation options were linked with the most suitable ongoing programmatic interventions of the Government of India. The study concluded that micro-level needs and constraints for various adaptation strategies and interventions should be an integral part of the programme development, implementation and evaluation in the entire developmental paradigm.     

平阴县孝直镇关于大村制新型农村社区建设的探索和实践

平阴县孝直镇属偏远的农业大镇,为解决村庄规模偏小、布局分散和＂空心村＂等问题,充分利用国家城乡建设用地增减挂钩政策,以土地综合整治为平台,积极推进大村制建设,合村并点建设新型社区,从根本上改变农村面貌,加速城镇化和城乡一体化进程。     

Delineation of potential fluoride contamination zones in Birbhum,West Bengal,India, using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, is one of the most severely affected districts by fluoride-contaminated groundwater. Fluoride content as high as 20.4 mg/L has been reported. Several cases of fluoride-related disorder such as dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis have been reported to be endemic in the district. Proper management of groundwater is very crucial. This contribution has been carried out for delineating potential fluoride-contaminated zones (PFCZ) in Birbhum district with the implementation of weighted overlay analysis in GIS environment. Twelve different potentially influential environmental parameters are integrated and evaluated. The final output map was categorised into two subclasses, i.e. ‘low’ and ‘high’, where the low region represents fluoride concentration of 1.5 mg/L and below and the high region represents fluoride concentration above 1.5 mg/L. The outcome reveals that approximately 24.35% of the study area falls under PFCZ, whereas about 75.65% of the study area falls under the safe zone with respect to potential fluoride contamination. On validation of the PFCZ, the reported fluoride contamination data in groundwater shows an overall 87.50% accuracy in prediction via superimposition method and 89.06 and 85.85% success and prediction rates, respectively, when validated with success and prediction rates.     

Lithostratigraphic contact – a significant site for hydrogeological investigation in crystalline fractured-rock terrains

Estimating the hydrogeologic control of fractured aquifers in hard crystalline and metamorphosed rocks is challenging due to complexity in the development of secondary porosity. The present study in the Precambrian metamorphic terrain in and around the Balarampur of Purulia district, West Bengal, India, aims to estimate the hydrogeologic significance of lithostratigraphic contacts using fracture characteristics obtained from surface bedrock exposures supported by hydrological data from the existing dugwells. This study involves the domain-wise analysis of the frequencies of fractures that control the fracture-porosity. The domain-wise study reveals higher fracture-frequencies adjacent to the lithostratigraphic contacts. The concurrence of lithostratigraphic contacts with the occurrences of high-discharging wells and also with the deep weathered zone in low-lying areas is clearly established, thus assigning the lithostratigraphic contact as hydrogeologically significant. An increase in frequencies of the fractures within the ‘influence zone’ of the lithocontact, is clearly visible. Among those fractures, particularly, which make the angle greater than the ‘limiting angle’ with the lithocontact are characterised by increased frequencies. However, brittle rocks like quartz biotite granite gneisses, phyllite and epidiorite show high porosity of fracture, within the ‘influence zone’ of the lithostratigraphic contact. Enhanced deepening of the weathered-zone at lower topographic region may perhaps be a plausible explanation for this increased fracture-porosity at lithocontact to assign it as a hydrogeologically significant transmissive zone within fractured rocks.     

Evaluation of metallogenic potential of the Nuggihalli greenstone belt,South India

Chromite from the north–south-trending schist belt of Nuggihalli (southern Karnataka), belonging to the greenstone belt of South India (3.0–3.5 Ga) and crystallising at 1178 °C under oxygen fugacity of ?6.67 shows komatiitic affinity. The chemical data of the Cr-spinels when plotted in the form of the discriminant function of Johan (1979) show a remarkable follow-up of the curve A, which delineates the boundary between the ‘barren’ and ‘fertile’ (with respect to the plausible presence of sulphide phases) Cr-spinel bodies. Only a few samples plot marginally within the barren region (Fig. 1), suggesting that the chromite bands should hardly hold the possibility of becoming host of sulphide mineralisation of commercial relevance.     

Analyzing spatial disparities in access to health care: A methodology with application in Bangladesh

This paper develops a methodology for analyzing spatial disparities in access to health care in situations where the data base is limited, and applies it in the context of Bangladesh. The proposed indirect measures of inpatient and outpatient service utilization, and of quality of available services, seem to provide reasonably accurate, consistent, and interpretable results; these indices are combined into a composite index of relative access to health care. The form of the composite index and its components permits the incorporation of Sopher's disparity index into the methodology for measuring urban-rural disparities in relative access to health care. The empirical analysis based on subdivision level data revealed that Bangladesh's health care delivery system is, in general, characterized by extremely low level of access and a high degree of disparity in favor of urban areas, especially in terms of inpatient services. Spatial patterns of relative access and urban/rural disparity were perused through cartographic and statistical analyses; although clear-cut regional patterns did not emerge, the considerable spatial variations could be explained largely with reference to urbanization and density of population. Assuming improved level of access and minimal urban/rural disparity as basic policy goals a method to prioritize spatial units for future allocation of health sector resources is recommended.The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper by Dr. S. M. Bhardwaj, Professor of Geography, Kent State University.     

[Without Title]

The paper examines the factors that influence the utilisation of health services by women in the rural and urban areas in Ghana. The systematic sampling procedure was used to draw the sample from women aged 18 and above with diverse backgrounds from Ahafo-Ano South district, representing the rural districts and Kumasi metropolis, representing the urban districts. The research instruments used for data collection were the questionnaire and formal interviews. Multiple regression was the main tool for analysis. The research reveals that the key factors that impact significantly on the utilisation of health services by women in the Ahafo-Ano South district are, distance, income and family size (number of children) while for Kumasi metropolis they are education, distance and marital status. Whereas it is clear that distance is a common problem facing women in both rural and urban areas in Ghana in the utilisation of health services, marital status and number of children have emerged as contrasting factors influencing utilisation of health services by women in rural and urban Ghana. Recommendations to improve utilisation include the location of maternal and child health services within easy reach in the rural areas, intensification of family planning education in the rural areas, the empowerment of women through access to formal education and vocational training for income generation activities and the full implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). A model of utilisation of health services by women in the rural and urban areas has emerged.