2 lntroduction!

I

.

i

I!I

i.

happening within cities in Third World regions. The last two chapters (9 a-nd10) are dwoted to the consideration of policy-issues, involving r-rrbar environ-mental conditions and questions of urbar eivironmental sustainability, plusrhe wider arena of urban policies a-od srrategies.

In overall rcrms, tle book endeavours to explore in detail the reladonshipswhich exist between cicies in dweloping areas and atendant processes ofglobalisation and change. Art overarching argument is that global processesare not leading to uniformity between cities in different parts of the world.Far from ir although the generic problems faced by cities in terms of hous-ing deficia, congestion and unemployment show considerable commonalities,urban processes seem to be leading rc furrier differentiation berween regionsand places. In many insunces, trends towar& funher loca.lisadon carr be iden-cified as the direct outcome on the ground. In this respect tie processes ofglobal convergence and global divergence act as overarching concepts inform-ing our analysis of rhe city in the developing world.

As well as eumining such vita.l topics as bousing, employrnent and worhtopics which are generally covered in the majoriry of texts on urbanisadon indweloping areas, the present volume emphasises issues which up to this pointhave cuscomarily received less attention, or which have been dmost entirelyneglected. These include urbanisation and the provision ofbasic needs, includ-ing education, health, food a-nd nutrition, the linla berween urban systemsstructure and development, the morphology and sructute of cities in thedeveloping world, and cities ald the concp! of environmeotal sustainabiliry.

An;the; .i"r of r}re volume is to link the andysis of the Third Vorld cirywirh current rhemes of debate iq rJre social sciences. It has already been notedthat these include globdisation, modernity-postmoderniry convergence, diver-gence, the signifie-nce of gender and ethnicity, especially in relation to hous-ing, b"sic neids and employmenr, world cities, global cities, the infuences ofss-ucrural adiuscment policies and neoliberalism, the new povercy agenda,the salience of civil society, along with the potenrial influence of new social

Chapter 1

The

the developnature and scale of urbanisation i

ng world

lntroduction

n

.

l.

i

It

i

I

:i)'

t:

IIiIih.

One of the mosc frequently cited statisrics summarising the process of urban-isarion which is currently being experienced in the so-called developing worldis drat the towns and cities of tiese poorer counrries are receiving Jstaggering45 million new urban inhabirants each and every year. This vast number ofnew city dwellers in the poorer counrries of the world - amounring to some-where in the legior of 125,000 new urban citizens a day worldwide * is rheoutcome of high levels of rural-to-urban migration in combination wirh highrates of naturd increase of the population. By comparison, approximately7 million urbarl residents are added on an annual basis to the towns arrd ciriesin the countries of tie more dweloped world.

The scele of rhis process of urbanisation is difficult to comprehend in re-spect of the numbers of houses, water conneclions, schools, clinic-s, hospicalbeds artd jobs that will be required over the coming decades in che moreimpoverished countries ofthe world, Quite simply, we are living drrough whatcan only be described as a record-breaking era: one during which the world hasexperienced its fasrest ever rate of urbaaisation. The lwel of urbanisarion per-taining to a region, narion or any other rerritory is measured as the proponionof the total population that is ro be found living in towns and cities, howeverthese are defined, but normally following local definirions. Berween 1950 and2025, a petiod of some 75 years, the overall level of world urbanisation willhave increased ftom 29 to 61 per cenc. The half-way point at which 50 percent ofrhe world's population is to be fouad living in urban places is ser co bepassed shonly after the year 2000. Between 1960 a-od 1970, the world's urbanpopuladon grew by i6.8 per cent. From 1970 ro 1980, it increased again by16.9 per cent. Ifthe same rate were to have continued from 1980 onward, theworld would have been totally urbanised by the yer 2031, a period of.iustover 50 years. Such is the magnitude of the urban processes which is to befaced as we enter the lwenty-frrsr century.

These few illustradve statistics demonstrate that urbanisation and urbangrowrh are occurring much more rapidly in rhe developing world than theydid in the more dweloped world regions during rle heyday of the lndustrialRwoludon. Later in rhis introductory chapter, statistics showing the rate ofurbanisation in rhe various continenta.l regions making up both the moredeveloped and less developed world berween now and the 6rst quaner of the

movementsThe final chapters of the book make the telling point that it seems more

tharr likely rhat invironmentd facrors will be of pressing significance in shap-inq rhe future of cities in the Third \7orld. The poliry agenda, which iscuirendy increasingly driven by the Vorld Baak's'urban push', and whar isdescribed as the nJw urbatt management Programme, is the subiect of discus-sion in the very final chaprer of dre volume.

3

4 The nature and scale of urbanisation

rwenly-filsr century will be considqed in derail. But before rhat, rtre changinghiscory of world r.rrbarrisation whici has just been sketched out in dre broadesto[ rerms, will be amplified more fully.

The magnitude of the developmenral pressures Presented by the cuuentglobal urban process is perhaps put in more accessible terms by a hypotheticalscenario which was pt...ttted in the news magtirne Neutueeh, under theadmittedly very alarmisr tide 'A.rr age ofnightmare cities: food rides of huma-n-iry will creare mammorh urban problems for the Third Vorld':

k is a swelcering afternoon in *re yea-r 2000, in rhe biggesc cicy wer seen on earchTwenry-eigbt -illion people swarm about an 8-mile-wide mass of smoky slums'surounding walled-in, high-rise islands of power and wealdr. Ha.lf rhe ciry's workforce h unemployed, mosc of dre rich have Aed and many of rhe poor have nevcreu"r, s"".r downrowt- In a na.meless, open_swr shaary-cown, dre victims of yetanother cholera epidemic are dying slo-ly, wichout any medieJ atcenrion. Acrossthe rown, che water auck fails co arrive for the rhird suaighr day; police move inwith rcar gas to quell one more desultory riot. And at a score ofgritty plazas around*re ciry, groaning buses from dre parched countryside ernpty a thousald morehurgry peasarrrs inco what rhey drink is their ciry of hope. (Neusueek, 3l Ocrol:et1993, 9. 26\

Historical perspectives on world urbanisation 5

a \rorld U.bdilnion

E a aSaa 8 3 a

b. Th. Physiql Fom ofs.td.moB

-

Prdrinoic +

-

Hn(oric

--CurEft

_

r Futurc -

/,

Historical perspectives on world urbanisation

As nored by rtrc Brandr Repon (1980) Nanh-South: a Programmz fot Sumiual,rogerher with poverty and overpopulation, urbanisation is one of the mostsignificanr processes affecdng human societies in rhe rwentieth century. Undlrecenr dmes, urbanisation was almost universally seen as a direct indicationof modernisation, development and economic growth, Throughout history,industrialisation ald urbanisation have tended to occur togerher. But thissimple mo[oroDic reladonship which has held for more thal 6000 years, sincerhe emergence of the very 6rst cities, has chaaged quite firndamentally over rhepast four decades.

The world is currendy experiencing a-n entirely new era of urbanisation.Today, it is the nations which make up the developing world which are experi-encing rhe highest rates of urbalisation. How and why has this come about?In order to address tiis question, we need ro look briefly at the whole historyof world urbaaisation.

The first settlements drar can be referred ro as urban dare from the so-calledUrba-n Revolution. This follorved the Neolithic Revolurion, which occuredin rhe Middle East some 10,000-8000 ec. Ic is imponant to understand theprecise processes involved in rhis uansirion to urban living, for they are esserti-ally the same forces rhat sewe to shape the overall pattern of urbanisadon inrtre contemporary global contexr. Accordingly, rhese processes are examined indetail ar *re beginning of Chapter 2.

For many cenruries after the development of the firsr ciries, dre overall levelof world urbarisarion increased only very slowly and che urban areas whichexisted were small and effectively locd in scope (Figure l.la and b). After rhe

Figure 1.1 A sumnary of g{obal urbanisation, 10,000 sc to 2OOO ao (source: potter, 1985).

Urban Revoludon, the subsequent hisrory of urbanisarion in the Middle Eastand.Europe was comple< and probably involved elements of boch independ-enc invendon and sparial diffusion. However, it was with the rise of the grearempires of the Greeks and rhe Romans, and ro a lesser exrent the Musiims,thar r.rrbar life spread widely across Europe. The primary diffusion of the cirythat occurred under rie Creelo was inrensified under rhe Roma-n Empirein thc firsr three centuries a-o (Pounds, 1969). However, ciry life declined wirhrhe fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth cencury ap. In fact, ir was nor uncilthe rcnrh ard elevenri centuries thac ciry developmenr became imponanr once

Table r.r

exrstnce.

Undersanding these arld subsequenr developmens requires a brief ovewiewof che developmem of human societies and rhe rise of the world economy. Inhis book Clg, and Socicty: Ax Outline for 1lrban Gagrap@, Ron Johnscon(1980) recognised five broad epochs in the wolutioo of society: reciprociry,rank redisuibudon, money-e(change, mrcanrilism, and capitalism (both indus-tria.l and late), as summa-rised in Table 1.1.

The initial suge of the Reciprocal Society, the details of which will be fullyexplained in the next chapter, was synoqymous with the firsc small societieschac were of limited territorial extent. These serdement groupings were fullyegalitariar and were based on consensus arrd democratic forms of decision-making. In them, exchange was based on reciprocal principles and no power orelite group existed. Such socieaies were pre-urban in all respects. \fhere pro-ducdvity increased a-nd a surplus product was first stored, tlLe egalitariaa struc-ure of sociery broke down, being replaced by a rank-ordering of rhe membersof sociery. At the same time, goods and labour were redistributed amongmembers, so that the stage is referred to as that of'Rank Redistribution'. Thisis synonymous with rhe Urban Revoludon, and the 6rst emergence of milirar)'and religious power. Precisely why and how this should hatre occurred is con-sidered in depth in Chapter 2.

Subsequendy, trade was required in order to enhaice economic growth, andwas met by small-sc"le territorial expalsion, Such a need was the precursor tothe third sociecal chalge, identified as che Money-Erchange system, for uadenecessitated rie establishment of a common unit of exchange, or a monetarysysrem. At this poim, moneery rents could smrr to be charged by the ownersof land and properry for its use, rarl.rer than paymenrs in kind, Johnsronsummarises how rlis led to a clear threefold division of society into ar elite, asubject group and an intermediate set of administrators and military personnel.

However, in regard to global urbanisarion, it was wirJr the emergence ofthefounh and fifth stages of the sequence, those of mercantilism and capital-ism respectively, thar major developments occurred. The principal hdlmark of

Historical perspectives on world urbanisation 7t.he mercanrile sociery was the expansion of rrade, and the outcome 'aas theestablishment of merchanrs whose job it was !o aciculare trade by buying arrdselling commodities, mainly over long dixa-nces. fu the role of merchantsdemands that they buy goods 6rst and rhen sell them, dris required drat theyhad access ro capiul before sraning ro trade. Surplus capiel was now held bythe owners of land, who could offer loals for merchants to esrablish them,selves, so tlnt a close interdependence could emerge between these lwo gloups.Thus, some ofthe surplus previously resting enrirely in the hands ofthe rulingelite was now shared with the merchaat group. This early development ofmercantile sociries occurred in Europe around rhe founeenth-fifteenth cen-turies and was associated witi much more complex and interlinked settlementand economic patterns (see Figure 1.1a and b, page 5),

The most important dwelopment, howwer, came widr colonialism, forcontinued mercandle growh required greater land re-sources. Historically, suchgrowth occurred during the sirteenth to eighteenth centuries, first by meansof trading expeditions, and then by distant colonialism, a rrans-oceanic ver-sion of local colonial expansion, mainly invohing areas of low socio-economicdevelopment. Ifan indigenous population already existed, colonial power couldbe enforced by administrative elices on rours of duty. In extreme cases, localpopulations were entirely wiped out, as in many Caribbean rerritories, wheresubsequendy tley were replaced by African slaves and indentured labourers(lowenthal, 1960). In formerly unoccupied lands, a colony could be estab-lished, and under such conditions ports came to dominate the urban system,acting ar gatewa).s to the new colony. Frequendy, a coastal-linear settlementpanern emerged, often characterised by dre beginnings of strong urbal con-centratioo or primac7 and spatial polarisatiol, a phenomenon which is fur-ther examined in Chapters 2 and 3. Thus, rhe setdement paaern of both drecolony arrd the colonial power developed symbiotically ftom this point onward.

'W'hilst some commentators stress that the process ofEuropean colonisationof the tradirional world by the Spanish, Portuguese, British, Germans, Bel-gians, French, Ducch and Ita.lians represenced the spread of economic growthand development, others argue that it represented a form of exploitation andexpropriation, an observation that gives rise to ideas concerning modernisationa.rrd uickle-down processes on the one hand, and dependenry and backwashon the other. These processes and associated philosophies of development atefully discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. Certainly the process involved the fow ofexua profirs or surpftx value, often hailing ftom the produccion of a stapleagriculturd product such as sugar, first from rural areas to the colony's gatewayprimate city and thence to the major cides of the colonial power. These devel-opmenc wimessed the increasing economic specialisarion of countries and theinternarional division oflabour. An importalt condusion is reached: that fromthis time onward, the economic evoludon of rie dweloped and developingworlds has ben inexcricably interlinked. Similarly, the rise of urbanisadon canonly be correcdy interpreted if it is seen as a conjoinr process involving rhedeveloped and developing worlds together. This argument of interdependentdwelopment and incerdependent urbanisation (Brookfield, 1971; Robens, 1978,

r-The nature and scale of urbanisation

Stags in the evoJution of human societies

Stage no Stag

Reciprocal societies

Rank redistriburionMoney-excharge systemsMereidle sociliesCaoitalism: indunial od lare

Souceri after lohnsron, 1980j Poldyi, 1968i}!:r!ey,1973

Approximar rimc priod

l21

4

5

Up to 10,000 BC10,000 ro 3500 BCUp co 1400 AD1492-18001850-2000+

more, and it was *re twelfth and thineenrh centuries thar saw dre rise of themedieval ciry based on increasing local and long-disrance rrade. By the end ofthe Middle Ages, most of che major European ciries of roday were already in

8

]l?1 l::::., ]9tll I992b) hu imporrant impticadons for both urban theoryancl pracuce, as wlll be demonsrrated in rhis rext.The 6fth historical societal sege idenri6ed by Johnsron. capitalism, reorcs_

enLs.a complex devejopmenr, bur ia principal out.orn. **, -.hr, the scje of-."T1,1yT.,",

*d f :id^:.rion expanded dramatically wirh the rise of the factorysysrem. Johnsron Q980:37) commenrs riar .afthough industrial capitalism is

inexaicably bound r.rp wicl rhe facrory syste* , ;,. *5r, i-poi-,1;'";;;*,however,. lhe alienalion oflabour power which enforces t]re-working for wases,..l hose wLrh capital gained conrrol over rhe means ofproducdon, uihilr, *i.k-ers coutd only sell rlteir labour. This 6rst stage is known as iadustdal caoiral_ism. As.a subseq-uenr suge, late o, -oooioly *piolj";o-.;;;-;;'1.potenual markec for goods becomes sarurated. Undei such circumsnnces, firmscan only e\pand,sales by capru-ring more of rhe existing marker, so Ehat succcs-slve mergers.lead-ro a process of increasing industrial ioncentracion.

lr rs rhe flse of lDdusrrial capiralism in rhe eighreench century that brines usto me,onset ot.dle modero period ofworld urbanisarion. Thus, rhe expone"nria.lgrow(n or world urbanisation sraned onJy around lg00 (Figure I.l a, page 5).At rhis poinr, only 3 per cent of world poprl",lon *".;;il'Auni'ff?;-.uroan se(rlemenEs. .lhe grear glowrh in urbalisation came only *uirh "rhelndusrral^Kevolution in rhe iare eighreenrh and early nineteenr! centuries inEurope. Uavls (1965) ha5 srressed rhe imponance ofrhe enormous growah mproducciviry thar came widr dre use of irianimare ;;;;;#;;;"_chinery. Similarly. Siob-ag u960) t". ..npt""ir.J.i,. i;il;i,f,:;;il.revolutlon as the basis lor rhe Indusrrial Revolurion. He notes thar the adventof indusrrialisation broughr large-scale production. i,np..;;;;; ; ;:;_:::l iTp"rn.tlr: and fa-rming rechniques, improvemenis in food preseriarionreclnrques and berrer rransporr and communications. AI of thcie technicalqw(ropments rn lhe rntral period ol rhe lndusrriaj Revolurion up ro lg30conrrrbuced ro borh increasing producriviry in agriculture and the Jarallel d1-l.]:l_T.-1, ?,

*.o*,ry., I h.c srearn engine was r.rndoubredly rhe key'invenrion,leaolng to rhe nse ot rhe Jacory sysrem, whereupon mechanisarion and massprooucoon became esrablished. Taken togerher, riese fundamental changcsaJlowed people

:o.congregate in ,t,. *ot"j;; i;;*;;,J.;;**"""- '"-'t'.--Yjtli9.-1.

.,ghl.enth and nineteench cenruries, de,,eJopment and chanqc:::*..:.1 more interdependenr at a global level, involving increasine lintoerween rnctustrial ard non_indusrrial couotries. This increiinelv .1.,.? ."t"_tionship is expressed by whar is referred,"

", a.p*l""f 'ri.i;"tr"o1.,

I967). The approach. which wilJ be fully e*plor.d'in iilr1", z,?as'i*-*j"derived in the concexr of Larin A.,".ri* ;J :h;-CJlo."ri*a j,"irf iillrhe de.relopment of Third \(/orld narions has been dictated by ics inregracioninco che capiralisr mode of producrion,

".d ,h";;-h; ;;.;r;il;;;", H":Deen .

r ncorpo rared inro the global c:piralist system, ah" -or. und".i*.loJ.athey have become (Fraok. 1i66. r967; Bec#ord, ,;t, il;;";, i;;;j,;;,i.,rJ-ran dre other way around.

. The approach has dear implicadons for urban development in the form ofwhar may be referred ro as 'Dipena."t UrU"-i".ti.";1i*."U;,';9?, G:il,

Patterns and processs of global urbanisation I

and Gugler, 1992), $e basic components of which have been enumeratedbv Frieimann alrd Vulff (1976) ;hen rhey sure dur developed counrrieseitablkbed urban outposts in Third $ orld countries fo! three closely relatedreasons. Firstly, ,o "*,o", "

surplus by way of primary products; secondly, to

exoand rhe market fot eoods developed under advanced monoPoly capitalism;

*i ,ttirAy, ,o .n.ur. ih" conrinued scabiliry of indigenous political systemsrhat will most willingly suppon the c.apitalist system. .

However one reacrs to dle cenual arguments of dependency lheory' lr rsindisputable tlat the close interrelation existittg bet*een developed,and devel-opini counries ftom the sixteenrh century-onward has had.a remarkable bear-

iri" o'n oro...r* and associared panerns of world urbanisation The epochs of

-!r.*iili.rn ard industrial c.apiralism ser the stage for the rapid urbanisationfiends rhat were shonly to follow. Johnston (1980) observes that early induvrrial czoitalism led to tle accenruarion of the primacy of gateway cities in dtedeu.loied co,-rrrt.ies and served ro bolster the iivisions ecistin-g berween.levels

of rhe'settlement hierarchy. This argument is picked up in Chapcer 2 in rhe

form of Vance's mercjntile model-of setdemint evolurioo and rhe closelyassociared plantopolis model (Rojas, 1989; Porte!, 1995). A central conclusionis rherefo.! rhat it was ar this ;tage thar the seeds of spatially unequal andpolarised development were being laid in the countries ofthe developing wodd

ihus, it may be posited that witf,out the intrusion of industria.l capitalism.andimperi"Iism, some de,reloping societies might sill lack major cities today (Gilberr

and Gugler, 1992).

The rapid urbanisation rha! occurred in \Veslern EuroPe and Nonh Ameticadurins'de late eiehreenth and earlv nineteenrh centuries was associated with anrrdull o.o."r. oi industrialisation a.nd economic change. Duting this period,i.,""dyin"."".. in the demand for labour occurred in dte rowns, whilst at the,"rn" i-., technical dwelopments in agriculrure allowed for a declining ruralpopulation. Thus, " sready stream

of ioig.arion occutred from rhe rural to,r.brrl

"t.r.. HeaftJr and saniurv condidons in the towns, howet'er, were very

ooor indeed. As a resulr, rhere was litde or no nalural increase in urban PoPu-iations. Brirish ciries were quite simply dre death uaps ponrayed in rhe novelsofCharles Dickens. For example, data ftom the Registrar General indicate thacin 1840, life expectancy was ody 24 years in central Ma-nchesrer. 26 years inLiverpool end j8 years in London, againsc a naliond fi-gure ot.37.years.

The .o,-rrse of urbanisarion in rhe developed world followed what can besrbe described as a smoodl progression, whereby gradual demographic chaages

were marchd by equally g.ttil" "h"ng.t

in economic structure This is well.u--"ti."d by Iti.rgiley b":"ist (1965iclxsic concept of rhe 'Cyde of Urban-isation'. By examining the exPerieoce of a range of developed counuies overthe past 150 years, espicidly Britain, Davis argued thar the progress ofurban-isarion is moir accuraiely represented by a curve in rhe form of an anenuated

The nature and scale of urbanisation

l)

lNineteenth- and twentieth-century patterns and Processes ofglobal urbanisation

ba

tSoo tgoo 2OOO

\

rSoo tsoo 2000

50

30

20

50

30

20

- Birlh rat

- - Death rate

2000

25

%so

dc

ogeliving;npopulati

urban pl

1900 2000

roo too

75

8so

DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES

INDUSTRIALISED

COUNTR IES

=z

12 The nature and scale of urbanisation

e of a street market jn Old Delhi, lndia (photo: Rob potter)

In facc. verv often, natural increase ald in-migration concribure in broadly.oJ o.oo6.ion, to che rotal growth of urban populations Thus in thephitiooln., in the 1970s, *te in-rnigration rare to cirjes was 1 8 per cent per

u."t,'iu, of " total popularion gto*-th p.t annum of 3-9 per cent For Brazil

i.rrins the s^rne deiade, in-migration accounted for 2'2 per cem Per anoum

oui o? " ,ord urban growth rite of 4-4 Per cenr Per year (United Nations'

Patterns and ptocesses of global urbanisation 13

1988; Devas and Rakodi, 1993).But relarive rural-urba-n shifts in population are occurring too, so that

Jhird Vorld ciries are growiog at very rapid rates Often, the percentegrowth of urban population is running in excess of 6 per cent per

.aJtnum, and frequen dy over 10 per celt. At the later rate, rhe absolute number

of urban dwellers will double every seveo years, and at the former, wery 10

years. During the decade 1960-70, for example, rhe percen rage annual growttr

of urbar pop'-rlarion for Malawi was 10.1, for Tanzania 8 6, Nigeria 6.0,

Malaysia 5,9, Venezuela 5.6 and Colombia 5.0\Vhy has rapid urbanrcatlon become so characteristic of contemporary de-

veloping countriesl Custo marily chis is explain ed by a combinacion of 'Push'

and 'pull' faccors. Vith regard to pull factor the enhanced health care facil-

t;

1.

t1

1:,

;!

s,

provided in ciries in the developing world has already been stressed (seePlate 1.1 The husile and busit illips, 1990) In addition, after the Second \?ortd Var, many dwelopingules were encoutaged, and were rhemselves keen, ro seek economic grolwh

prosperiry by means of indusrrialisarion, esPecially programmes based on

pon substirution iodusuialisarion, for e.xample the producrion ofsoft drinks

and dte like. Histor ically, as noted earlier, markets and infrastrucure have

normally been centred on the primate galewaY cilies of developing socieries.

Thus, post-war development planning and the legacies of colonial and capital-

ist penetration have led to rhe increasing concencration of industrial and com-

mercial job opportunities in rhe major urban areas. For examPgeria, some 76 per cent of all manufacuring employment is ro be found in

najrow coaslal zone forming the south ofthe counrry, running ftom Lagos

Port Harcoun, and Ca.labar (Filari, 1981; Poner, 19 92b)Roberts (1978, 1995) echoed traditional dependency rheory when he argued

t it is the form of indusuialisacion that has occurred, and not inertia orrraditionalism, chat is holding back development in much of the Third !7orld

.Others, such as Lip.on (1977, 1982), alcho ugh accused of over-simp Iificarion,

have mainrained that Third !?orld poverry is largely the product of urbanbias in all aspeos of developm

rapid growrh of roral popularion. In^rhe period 1970_75, thepopularion ofthe world grew ac an overall rare of I.o,"p,i,"di g,o*il,;;;;;:;; ;,i ?:1.".jjff',rffft i.".y:fi Ji:j"j:*o_ll.

9f 9 9 p.' ..r,, p., *nu- i' a. a.".lop.j iord.

*"'** '*r nere rs, however, a.norier verv imponanr disringukhing feacure of urban_

i'.T:?.1 l"*: developing world and this-;s .h" h.t.';r;;;;;;-1:;'d;:-.[T:[1iff''iffiY*ff [:?:i':?':0"'p i*r-' i' 'i' I'i+'*'" a*o,o h.". ..^"i-nJ*";ffi".jfi l,[ff *"t.,i:jl;:"i ti.i-,l"*u:i-?,-",itf:ly. e.Th of . roral popuJatio'n, b";,h ;;';?"'il;:;' ffi ,lrfi ,[world counrries (plate l.l ).

Thus, even if chere were no relarive shift in rhe proponion of developiug:::l.rd -c_olulrries

popularions living in urban .'.*, ,[;;:;;;;;*;;:;'"* ,r,raprq urban growrh would still occur due co the ,"- ht.r-:.-:'^; _1.-lincrease or po'puJation *dil;; ;;;;i,.d"X*i,i?o"l3i,,-f,)jj,rll"Xil:1

,y,trq:1i:{.ili {;;i ::;;;:: i":;',, :,l,ij::l-r;,;w1h post-induruial morcaliry. Conremporary ciries r, fi. i.rJ"pig ',i,iaaextubrr some ol rhe highesr rares ofnar1975: Drvi( r qr,si,'* ---l:,]' l'druriu rncre:re ever found

jn cities (Dwycr,

;, ;.;;;;:n'#;;Jl,'",'"illii:,lt*acas' venezuela' rrom 1e60 to re66.an idencicar.";i il ;;;.1'r"l'rl',1'"jrl"i"X,:j f: if.'il.jjl;; llJ;:MacGregor a_nd Valverde (1975) norerlo r v o'',?..f n a ia ;; ;;J ;i fi

.;L'lil#,ll'il:1T ill"f; T;Xl

Ie, in the case of

ent.

The industries established in developin g counulving rhe

ies in the post-war periodfinal stages of rhe produc-yere often of the 'final couch' vatiety, invo

n sequence, and hence provided relatively few jobs. Later, the attracrion ofplalrs of overseas multrna(l0nds war atrempted, by means of offer-

g tax breals and the susPensron of planning and orher regularions Vhac is

unden iable, however, is rhat the jobs thar are avai lable offer reladvely high

wages in comparison wirh rural incomes. Further. as elsewhere, average income

levels reod to rise progressively with increasing ciry size (Hoch, 1972). Hence,

cities in the developing world have come to offer eb,e hope of emplol-rnent, high

1'tl

I!

Ii'l

'14 The nature and scale of urbanisationwages, bener oppomrnicies and an improved environmEnt, ifnor immediacelnrhen in rhe future.

In addition, there is also rle existence of rhe informal sector ofthe economy

- :lil#: Td individually led - which also offers rhe ch*..

"f ir,riiiri,"g

ij::l"S ri lhe urban economy (Santos, t9Z9; McGee, 7979a; pones "t ail,1991,). r-unher, many would mainrain rhat in the pasc, inappropriare curricularn scnoohr collegeJ and universiries have also served to orieni yoLrng peoplecowards white-collar r-lrban-based occuparions (Mabogr.rnje, rSgdl. i.'r,i.,-,h.Third Wotld ciry rs essenrially aser ofpe-rceived oppoitrinities, s" if,"i f.ri,.p,Lhe/ do no more than promise the /ope for work ard setclemenu bur co obraineven crumbs one must be near the uble, (Jones and Eyles, 1977:210). Someoccasionally observe that the oven poverry. crowding, unemploymenr and sDo_radic squalor ofThird \X/orld ciries should

"cr as deier.enrc io migrants butl of

course, chis argumenr ignores the massive unemployment *a p"ou"rr" *ii.f,are to be found in the rural areas of so rnany developi"g

"",ioni lCil'6"i--aGugler, 1992;.Poner,1985, t99lb). tn faci, as wili bei.guJ i, Cl^rr".:,citi-es are based on the very existence of such inequaliries.

lllkllt reveal rhe precise degree to.which urtanisarion in the developingworl_d hal been ourrunning rhe rate ar which it has been experiencing industri-elrsauon. L hrs drspariry is frequendy referred ro as .urban in-flation' ir .hrp"r_urbanisation'. Statisrics included in Bairoch's (1975) survey of rIe economicdevelopment of the Third World in che twerr,i.tt ."rrtury

"*i-pf$ rf,i, "*a.In 1970, in rhe non-communisr less developed .o,r.r,ii., ,ali"r, L " *tot",2l per cenr of the population wa-s urban, whiisr some l0 per cenc ofthe ".tiuepopulauon was engaged in manuficturing, so rhat u-rbanisation exceeded manu_

hfl.,18-llnploymenr by I 10 per cent. By comparison, for the countries ofEur-ope in I930, 32 per cenr ofrhe populacion had'been urba-n and 22 per cenr wasemployed in manutacruring, giving a.n urbanisarion surfeit ofonly ZJ per cenr.. uesprte the rtrong eftoru made by developing narions ro indusrria.Jise, manu-tacunng sull only accounrs for a relatively small parc of rhe economies ofsuchnations. Tn 1960, industry accounred for some I !.6 per cent of che roral grossdomesrc producr of developing counrries raken as a whole. By 19g3, rhe'ievelof indusrrialisation had increased, bur only rnarginally, ro 17.5 per cent. Atchis larrer date, industry accounted for approxim-ately 25 p.. ..ni of orod,.r._tion. Since 1983, levels of industrialisation ha"e incieased. In t994, ilndusryaccounted for 36 per cent of gross domestic producr for developing countrie'staken as- a whole Modd Bank, 1996). But ever more saliently, ch"e develop-menr of indusrry has bcen highly uneven befween the different part of Jredeveloping world. Latin America and rhe Caribbean, rog.the, *i'rh E"sr and-*r*:T fuh, reprsenr rhe most induscrially developj areas of tl. it ira'\florJd. Turning to.individual counrries, Koria, Hong Kong, Mexico, Braziland Singapore-rogerher accounred for j_usr under 60 pe-r cenrif a1l developingcounrry manufacruring expons in 1986 (Chandra. t99Z). These d"c, s.-'" roplnpornt.rhe currenr detree to which che gro\yth of towns and cities in lessdeveloped nations

-is running a}ead of indusrrialisation, dre provision of jobs,

infiastrucrure, welfare services and adequate housing.

The city in the developing world

Collectively, these conditions rePresenr rhe Push an

Med latitude

4430'39"20'

35'44'34',07'

Mes population(millio$)

'15

Perccntag of worldpopulation Iivingin 'niUion' cider

d pull facrors stimul-ati[g urban growrh and urbanisatioa in developing socieurbanisation as opposed to levels of urbanisacion in the world are increasinglybecoming inversely related co levels of economic developmenr and weahh,

terrng in dramatic fashion a reladonship which has previously held forme fiYe and a half millennia. It is the developing countries rhat accouot lor

extremely rap id current rate of world urbanisati on, whilsc the developednauons are exhibicing declining rates, aod some even declining levels of urban-

Thus, Dwyer, writing in 1975, observed that in 'all probabiliry weave reached the end of an era of association of urbanisation with \festern

le industrialisation and socio-economic characceristics' (Dwyet, 1975: 13)

is certainly the case, and provides the context in which we must consider

nature and role of the ciry in the developing worJd

i city in the developing world; contemporary context andedictions to 2050

staristics included in Table 1.2 show that in the early 1920s, there were 24

in the world with more than one million inhabitancs, Sixry years larer'the early 1980s, rhe number of so-called 'million cities' had increased to

But far more significantly, during each decade between these nvo dates,

average Iaricude of million cities had moved sreadily lowards rhe equarorThe mean location of million ciries had shifted from 44 degrees

inutes in the 1920s to 34 degrees 7 minutes by the early I980s' showing

million cities are increasinglY ociated with che tropical and sub-tropical

ble 1.2)

cies. Thus, rares of

ess

86 cities of a million or more in less developed counrries

ms. The growth ofvery large or 'mega cities' has attracted much attention

the lasr 1 0 years or so (see Oberai, 1993; Gilben, 1996)urther, by 2000, ir is believed thar just under balf of all urban dwellers in

Plng countries will live in cities of ooe million or more (Harris, 1989)

950, there were 31 cities of a million or more inhabilants in dweJopingtries, but by 1985 chere were 146. ft is proiected thac by 2025 there will

a sBggerlng 4is, 1989) All of these facts serve to illustrate the degree to which the

1.2 The \"/orld distribution of cities with more than one million inhabitants'1980s

Number of'nillion'

cities

1920s 241940s 411960s I 131980s 198

2.r42.25

2.39

2.r8

2.86

4.00

8.71

11.36

Porter, 1992b

l6

la0te l.J

The nature and scale of urbanisation

The larqest cities in the world, 1950 and 2000

Rrk

I

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

l01l12

t3r4r5

1950

Cit/

New YorkLondonRhine-Ruhrroky.ShaaghaiParis

Buenos AiresChicagoMoscowCalcuttaLos AngelctOsaka

MilaaBombay

Mexico Ciry

Pop0latiotr(nilliom)

2000

City

Mexico CirySeo Pau.lo

ShanghajroboNew YorkBeijingzuo de JaneioBombay

Ca.lcuaa

Jakarratos tugelaSeoul

CairoMadras

Pop'r.lation(nilliom)

12.3

r0.46.9

6.7

5.e5.5

5.34.9

4.8

4.64.0

3.8

3.63.0

3.0

31.025.8

22.420.9r9.016.8r6.415.7

13.9

13.7

t2.912.7

l2.t

RaDk

I23

45

678

9

l0llt213

t4r5

Source Unired Narions, I989a

a

Ill!.ii.

i1

world's larges[ urban places are becoming a fature of developing, rarher rhanonly developed, countries,

The crend towards developing world urbanisation is also exemplified by theleague table of rie largesc urban places in che world in 1950 aod2000 (Table1,3). In 1950, che rtrree largest cides in rhe world - New York, London andrhe Rhioe-Ruhr conurbarion - wer all in rhe developed world. By 2000, byconuast, it is anticipared *rar three developing world ciries, Mexico Ciry, SioPaulo and Shanghai, all with over 23 million inhabiranrs, will represent rheworld's largesr cities. At this larter dare, of the 15 largesr cities in thi world, 12can be described as being in dre Third World. This compares with only five in1950. Secistics conrained in the Unired Nadons volume Prospecx for'X/orldUrbaniztion 1988 (Unired Nations, 1989a) indicate riat berween 1970 and1985, Mexico Ciry was growing at an average annual rare of4.30 per cent, andalthough rhis is Iikely ro reduce somewhat, it will remain at 2,56 per cenr peranoum between 1985 and 2000. Slo Paulo in Brazil was growing at 4,38 percent per annun berween 1970 and 1985, and will condnue et 2.79 per cantbetween 1985 and 2000. Meanwhjle, in Korea, Seoul was growing ar 2.27 percenc per annum from 1970 to 1985, and is projected ro conrinu; ar a ratt of1.69 per annum beween 1985 and rhe endtfthe century.

The worldt fastesr growing cities during 1985-2000 ire shown in Figure1.4, lr is noriceable rhar these fasr growing ciries are all Iocared to the sourh ofthe line which is customarily drawn beween the rich 'Norrh' arrd tle poor

G-9

-E

.9

o

('

bo8

0

0

0

$x

b

e=

o

I

i-

I

I.9

,g

" ERB !oe F g I HsI -; -; t !EF g I E EHffiHl,]llE i

OCo

$ ,.;

9e* RE38N:Ye.eii

2q

5!H

.EE9

:F A

!5

More developed regions

Les developed regions

18 The nature and scale of urbanisation The city in the develoPing world 19

Percentaqe of population living in urban arees by major continental reglon,

Percentage of toul populatioo living ir urbaa pl

The city in the develoPing world 21le 1.6 Averuge annual percentage rate of growth of urban and total populations by

r continental division, 1995-2000 and 2020-2025

1995-2000 2020--2025

populatioETotal

populatiooUrbu

popu.latiooTotal

popularioaUrbar

developed

Afric:Africa

Africaihcrn Africa

Africa

2.60.7

3.6

1.6

0.41.9

r.90.32.4

1.0

0.2l.l

'Eog

.!

.9

2

E

.9

-9

IE

.9s

;

4.8

6.1

3.6

3.25.3

3.0

3.7

3.t2.2

1.9

3.2

3.0

3.3

3.02.3

3.3

r.92.1

2.t1.3

1.3

7.0

..

t1

1

I

E

g

E

I

2.42.2

2.7

2.3

1.8

1.J

2.01.8

1.7

Llt.72.22.6

r.4t.21.7

t.3

1.1

o.7

r.3t.1

rUnired Narions, 1988; LTNCHS, 1996

rld for wery one in rhe developed world. And by 2025, dre dara and graphrhat the ratio will have increased ro almost four ciry dwellers in tJre

12020 and2025

34Asia 2.3

Asi? 3.7

Asia 3.5

2.3

1.9

1.0

2.6

2.3

0.9

0.4

0.9

1.1

r.7

g world for every one to be found in the developed world Table 1.5also shows thar ir is predicted thar by 2025, rhere will be an astound-19)

2589 million urban inhabirants in Asia alone, mole than double *re numberwill be found in dre developed world raken as a.'rrhole. By rhe same date,

will have some 913 million urban tesidenrs, Er more than those to bein Europe (421 million) ard Nordr America (259 million).the end of the firsc quarter of dre twenry-first ceDtury, therefore, urbanwill have become 6rmly associated with the poorer counrries of the

e. til4rilst the rate of urban population growth has been running at 3 6 perpff annum between 1995 and 2000 in rhe dweloping world, during theperiod the rate was 0.7 per cent per annum in the more developed world

Ie 1.6). These growth rates will decrease to 2.4 per cen! per annum forc?:.e developing world and 0.3 per cenr for rhe developed world respectively

2020 and 2025 (Table 1.6). The highesr predicred urban growth ratespercain ro eastern Aftica, where it is predicted rhat the

will be 3.7 per cenr per annum. The annual rate of urban popularion

22 The nature and scale of urbanisationgrowth will also remain above rhe .] per cent level in both middle Africa andwesrern AJriq during this period lTabJe l 6).rVhat of che physical form thar such cjries will take on the ground? A goodstarting point in examining chis question is a book publishid in che "earlyl9-70.s b1 rwo Greek urban scholars, Doxiadis and papaiouannou (1974), j;which they forecast the developrnent of whar rhey ."i.d .E.u-.rropoli.l, o,a single functional world ciry, by Lhe middle of rhe rwenry-first ..nrl.v. Th.idea.of Ecumenopolis began wirh the coalescence of malor urban aieas indeveloped counrries into massive polynuclear urban forms. On rhe norcheast-ern seaboard of rhe United States, Gorrmann (1957) recognised in the 1950swhat he referred ro as Megalopolis'. This comprised a *h"ole ch.io ol -etro_polican areas srretching rhe 600 miles beveen Boston and -Washington, andwhich raken togecher housed 30 million people.

Subsequendy, Gorrmann (1978) r.cognir.d six such megalopoliran syslemsaround rhe world, each with a populaiion in excess ofi5 million.'Thscinduded rwo in rhe developing world, in Brazil based on Rio de Janeiro/SioP.a$o, a1d in China focusing on Shanghai. Ifa 10 million populaiion thresh_old is taken, many orher megalopolitan sysrems can be recognised, includingones cenued on Buenos Aires, Calcutta, Bombay, Cairo and- Mexico Ciry inthe Third World.

Doxiadis and Papaiouannou's suggestion is thac these complexes will even_tually become linked in a chainJike iorm, giving a series of incirrelared megalo-politan systems (Doxiadis, 1967). Thereby, rhiy envisaged rhar high dcisityurban [ineamencs will evenrually connect the urban cores ivithin LatiiAmeric.,Africa and Asia. The.rerm 'Ecumenopolis' is used ro indicare a funcrionallyintegrared

-urban whole and is clearly not meant to imply complete physical

covrrage ofthe world s land surface. In order to produce th.i, for".".r. Do*i"di,and ?apaiouannou assumed world populations of 6430 million by 2000 and9600 million by 2050, of which 71.! per cent would be residins in cities.They rhen explored the habiebiliry of difkrent areas of the globl ;n 2t00,according co climare, altirude and water supply, and thereby asiertained areasfor possible fi:ture urban developmenc. Thesi zones were dren used to de6ne atheoretical _configuration of global urban cenrres and growth axes_ The worksubsequendy pro.jected the likely serdemen, p"n".rr, *rrrrLirrg *orld popularionsof20,000 million by 2100 aod 50.000 million bv 2200.

-

The authors subJded their book'the ineuitable cicy of the furure', Althoughsome may remain uncolvinced of rtre unavoidabiliry of Ecumenopolis. itsprediccion is an inreresring physical corollary of the statistical projeciions onglobal urbanisation presented in this chaprer. Funher, the forecasc ofEcumen-opolis once_again makes us aware ofthe highly incerrelated and inrerdependenrnarure of the urban process in both rhe developed aad developing worlds.However, chis should noc be taken as implying rhat the cities of th. poor andrich parcs ofthe world will come co look identical - far from it_ This theme ispursued ar the level of individual cities in Chapter 6, having been consideredprwiously ac rhe national/regional scales in Chipcer J_ For eiample, a numberof urban scholars have argued thac ahhough complex, funcrionjly inregraced

Can we generalise about urban conditions? 23

zohes can increasinglY be recogn ised in Asia, these are characterised by r}le

d&elopment of a growing tendency for non-agr icultural and agricukural activ-

urban cores ofitiis to be found alongside one anoboth the sparial

ther surrounding theand household

largelevels. In a deliberatemany Asian countries, at

to distance the concePt from Eurocentric western conoolations, Mccee

coined dre term 'Kotadesasi', by juxtaposing rhe Indonesian words for

town and counrry, co describe such emerging urban fo rms (see also Chu-Sheng

!';'r, 1994). More recently elsewhere, McGee has referred to desahota regionsMcGee, 199lb, 1995; Firman' 1996) rnd to rhe gro,rrh of Extended

.Metropolitan Regions (EMfu) (McGee and Greenberg, 1992) in Pacific Asia

rom a similar PersPe crive, Baker (1995) and Bentha.ll and Corbridge (1996)

explored lhe naure of rural-urban interactions in Tanzania arrd India'

Different paEerns are, however' likely to appear in other parts of the devel-

mg world, especially given the demise of state socialism following its collaPse

ir the former USSR and in eastern EuroP e since 1989 It may be posited that

Posslble ourcome of these transformarions is thp intensifrcati n of capiralisto

ment and the further gravitarion of capipl rc urban cores (see PotlerPUnwin, 1995) In these circumsrances we might expecc a very different

me ftom that just described for Parts of Asia. In particular, a growingIariry and distinctio n berween the urban and rural sectors of rhe economY

well be the outcome, with this disjunction being increasinglY predicaced

strong and gro\trng rural to urban flows (Po,,.1 31d {Jn1vi1, 1989,r995)

e fact that many leading aid agencie-s articular the \florld Bank,

recently stressed aftesh vhat theY se as rhe need for urban-based in-

roductiviry to fuel the develoPmeot Processr makes this sceflario

,bucinp

ngly likely wherever the cap italist path is followed in earnest (see Gould,

92; Harris, 198 9, 1992) This theme is Picked up in several parrs ofthe rexc

forms part of the conclusions Presented in Chapter 10

nwegeneralise about urban conditions in theavelopin g world?

s brings us ro the 6nal section of this chaPte r. Given the interdePendence

the develope d and develop ing worlds, and the manifes! heterogeneirY of

rent Parcs of the globe artd of the individual nations which make uP these

divisions, can, and indeed should, we try to make generalised statements

ut dre develoPing world as a wholel A useful offshoot of this discussion is

consideration of rJre nature and definition of the developing worid irself'

metiing rhat so far we have not atemPredThere is an argumerrt tiat the develoPingt highly mkleading to endeavollr to make generalisations concerning

condi-

lnP

world is so diverse drar it is at

es

ns wirhin ir, and at worst entirelY fruirless (see Plare 1.2). CertainlY, culural

rsiry alone is likelY ro negate any efforts lo derive neat universal solutions

sociel, economic aod Politica.l p roblems spanningrhe entire Third lforld

us, Gilbert and Gugler (1992: 220 , Dt) nore how 'too often Policies usefuljOne country at one sPecific rime are turned into panacea for all countries

at

Mwv\

$iF::T

il,.r

fill:'

j,..:

i,1

24 The nature and scale of urbanisationCan we qeneralise about urban conditions? 25

break-up of rhe Soviet Unioni many see che terms First 2nd I hrrd World ar

leing rendered equalLy obso lete (see Drakakis-Smith, 1992The present text generally uses the expressions 'developing coun uies'and

'developing world' as shonhaad for rhe ser of counrries which are relativelypoor. Most of rhese countries are to be found ro rhe south of a line drawn

und rhe globe which serves to include Ladn America, the Caribbean, Africa

and most ofAsia. This line is showo in Figure I 4 (page 17), with rhe possibleption of richr states such as Israel. Hong Kong and Singapore (GilberrGugler, 1992: 6). Most, but noc all, ofthese counuies make '-rp

rhe rrop ica.1

irrd sub-rropiel world, arrd chey dispro portionately count amongst them formernies. More salientln drey represent dre 75 per cenr of the world's population

! accounts for only 15 per centof global energy

of irs income, I4 per cent ofwo rld industry,20 per cenr consumption (Potter, 1994: 113)

The central argumeot advanced in this book is rhat ir is fitti g !o consr derdeveloping world as a w

by such countries arehole, jusr asdifferent in

longscah

as we recognise thar the problems

, rarher rhan in kind, frcm rhoser are faced by r-he richer natjons of the worId, Hence, problems of regional

ance and inequaliry, social polarisarion, ulban concenuarion, unemploy-t, poor housing arrd access to services and structural povrty occur in all

es. But they affect the poor in the poorer counrries more thai the relat-y well-off and the poor in the rich world, Such an observation also relaresthe imponant argument rhar poverry.is a rehtiue u well as an absolau pl:'e'

eoon, arrd that fiom the point of view ofsocial policy, it is rhe occurren cinequalitieshighlighted

thar is more important rhan poverry 2er re. This argument wiat several points in this volume, but esPecr allv in relation to rhe

ision of hor-rsing, other basic needs and emp loyment i Chapters 5-8

Plate 1.2 Modern tGnsport intrashucture and buildings in l_long Kong (photo: Rob potler).

all times', and char 'inscant solutions raken from rhe lacesc vogue generalisationhave wroughr, havoc' in rhe 6eld of planning and deu.lop-"enriE*;;;; ,",:"rl,ol ,o, urban.plaoning and developmenr rhar wilL bi looked ar in'sor,,coetal rn rhrs book include rhe idea of spreadjng developmenr by msans of:o-called-lrowth poles' and 'growrh ..n,rlr.,

" no",ion *iiJ."*Ji"," "._*rn rhe 1970s, along wich ideas of classic hierarchical ,.,,t.-.ni ,.r.rn. iramodernisarion. rheory as a srandard remplare for ar .,",j""r'ir*"'Ci"",.i zano fl. r hus, rr should be srressed chat in considering developinq countries asa whole, we do nor rnean to impty rhat ""i";Jlt";;i;;fi. ?"i'*pr, ",'apolrcy responses can be idenrified.

Furrher, rhe essenrial hererogeneiry of rhe counrries which make up whar iscromlnonll referred ro as rlre .developing world', $e .Third \?.orld,, cl.re .lessoevetopecl world or wharever, has co be recognised righc ar rhe ourset. Thcterm'Third Vorld'wes coined during rhe C"ft w", p."..J"i,i""r ii,r, *aoesprre lrs common emplovrnenr, heared debate stijl surrounds its use {sce.O^S^o.:o':

t,97 6: Arry,' 1979; V"ff:nf,iff tpr, i97i;-il;;;;;. 1;;o:ir):;,I980r Drakakis-Smirh, t993; Milner-Smidr

""a p"r,.., iid# ff,.",".- o,,ginally had,a purely polirical m_eaning, servirrg ,o d"rro," ,ho.! .or""i* *lr;.f.rwere non-alrgned ar rhe end of rhe Second.Vrcrld Var. .I'h.r" *.r. ,li" n"-*lyindependenr narions-escaping from coloni"lism, wii.f, *"L "", ."^,,'i,iJerher ro_rhe weslern free-market bloc or to the eesre.n socialist ce.rrrlf

"'"i_".agroup o[ countries ar chat juncrure. T.d"y, h"*;;r;;i. ;;# ffi..",ingly ro be used to denore rhe poorer- councries "f

,h. *".11 (A,iii;:;-'S;irhard porer, 1995). wirh tie de,iise of much of rhe.s.."; V;;il:;.. il.

Some have put forward the argumenr rhat the magnitr.rdeand develo Pment lmtrauves

of the problemsby developing countries means that planrun

initiadves, rarher tha-n couse) planniog, and ismprehensive master p

In

more likely ro be based onlans. Funher, plarning in

g

to be premised on different foundations Thus, Taylor and Villiams82) note that planning rarher than physical

gln(land

developing socieries neqds ro sress social plan-

ping areas has ro be predicared on the fact that people are having to relyself-help much more than in developed counuies, arrd that the employ-

and housing markers ate as a result, far more informal in rhese conrextsningsburger, 1983; Potter, 1985). The fact that rJrese nadons face the sameblems as orier more dweloped ones, but in a far more pressing form, andt the severiry of problems also varies sharply between nations within thecalled developing world, meaas rhat we ca.rr, and should, seek to generaliseout the experiences ald prospects of develop rng countnes In short, theblems of poverty and inequali ty are s Pressrng and exhibic so many com-o

ties that consolidated and generalised approaches are requiredorrvever, as Aury (1979) ald O'Connor (1976) have reminded us, chere

y a wide variery ofdeveloping counties which are best regarded as mak-up a continuum. Thus, there aje trea[ differences even within the devel-

ng world in terms of the size of countries, their resource bases and their

26 The nature and scale of urbanisationdemographic.circumsrances. Aury 0 979) distinguishes befween cjregories suchas rhe ort-rrch UI,EC counrries, rhe Newly Ioduscrialised Countriis (NICs),and the smalL impoverished island states oi,h. p".ifrl

"nd ,i;t";;L#;;:,

arguing the case for a swen-fold division of rhe developing ;;r[. 6d;",has, argued the.ase.for a six-fold rypology, whilsr

'\7olf_i,f.lifiio, iilZir ,*""r-rsed tour vr'orlds. I he emergence of the posr-communisr srares since 1990 f,asadded yer anoLher complicarion ro these elready complex rypologies.

Chapter 2

Third World urbanisation anddevelopment: theoretical perspectives

troduction

A pivotal argument presented in this chapter is thac in order ro understand checess of urbanisation, it is necessary to ponder the process of developmentf. In a sense this argumenc was exemplified in rhe account ofglobal urban-ion which was presented in Chaprer 1. In rtre present chaprcr, however, thencipal aim is co oudine the rheoretical foundations and implicarions of ttris

nt. For example, the significance of so-called 'top-down' planning andent can only be appreciated when it is recognised that the term refers

an ideology of change which is based on the belief drat development bestrs ac che top of the setlement hierarchy, and only rhen filters downwards

lioncrast, rhe more recendy emphasised, although considerably more diverse,ilosophies of'bottom-up' planning and development connote siruationsere it is argued rhat change should focus initially on the lower echelons ofsetdemeot system, and only subsequendy be cransmited up the setclement

. This "itally imponant, ahhough quite straighrforward, distinctionthe theme of the present chapter, namely, that the processes ofurb-

on and de.'elopment go hand in harld alrd need to be considered together

origins of urban living and the role of a social surplus

-mblehave lived in settlment clusters of sufficienc size ro occasion use of

label 'urban' for at ieasc 5500 years. However, as was briefly indicated inr 1, once established, rhe spread of urban setdements and predomin-

urban modes of life was a slow process. As Figure I -1 (page 5) has illu-, by 1800, nearly five and a half millennia after the development of the

,true cluesJ only an estimated 3 per cent of the total world population wasfound residing in towns and cities

ven the lengh of the transformation, why should we be concerned withanswer to this imponanc question is that we can e to develop

N C aPPreCraUO n of today's global and regional proonly hopcesses of urbanisation

examine rhe facrors chat are believed to be behind the very first impulse

Summary

Urbanisacion is occurring.much more rapidly in today,s poorer countries thanrr olo rn rhe.more developed narions during rhe heyday of Lhe IndusrrialKer,,olulon. Clearly, urbanisation as a global process can oo Lonper be seen asa clrrecr correlare o1, developmenr and modernisation. The hisrorill account ofuroanlsauon rocludd ln rhis chapcer srresses, however, rhat the evolution ofrhe developed and developing worlds has co be seen as inexrricablv Iinked, Thisrnrerdependence is also shown physicaliy wirh u\e prediccion of .dr_rmenopolis.,or a, funcrionally integrared world urbar sysrem, by the end of t}e first clarrerol rhe rwenry-hrsr cenrury. The predicrion of EcumenopoJis does nor'_""r,,however,.rhar everywhere.wiJl become the same _ far from ir. as subsequentchaprers in_chis book will amply demonstrare. Buc the fact that rhe oiorercountries ol the world which rogerher make up the developing world aie fac_Ing such presslng problems ol strucrural poverry and inequalicy, means tharconsidering rhem as a whole is nor only possibie, ir is " ire.si'ne "...i. "fimmense significance to rhe fi.rrure habiiabiljry of rh. planir.

urban living. This was well summarised by Bird (1977: 27) when heted that thi ttudy of city origins throws a greac searchlighr on themen

27

2a Third World urbanisation and developmentmarch forward of human sociery'. Despite the involvemenr of archaeologisr.s,arrhropolo-gisrs and hisrorians in rhe srudy of urban developmenr,

" ,u.pr"irirrg

amounr of wliling in the field has been disappointingly ahistorical, 'Thus,Friedmann and, WoIff (1976:10) warned of-har they iegarded as fie .facilegeneralisarions ofchose socjal scienrism who are inclined tithink rhat the starrofurbanisadon in Third \0orld counuies coincided . . . wirh rhe beginnines oftheir.own inrerest in rhe sudy of this process'. It is imporcaar rh"ir]ris w""ro-ing should be heeded. Urbanisadon is by no means a piocess which is new tothe countries which make up rhe conremporary Third lVorld. Indeed, rhe 6rsrretlons of urban developmenr were all locared in whac today are considerd [obe part of the developing world.'Wlat

were the circumstaaces whereby humans 6rsr sraned to live in larqe,dense and permanent agglomeracions associated with fundamenra_l

"aorro^i.,demographic, socia-l arrd behavioural rransformationsi As noted irt Chapter l, suchchanges were so far-reaching rtnr they are referred co as the seconjor ,UrbanRevolution' which followed rhe 6rst or Neolithic Revolution (Childe, 1950,l95l; Adams, 1960; Sjoberg, 1960). This is rie same as rhe chanse fromreciprociry ro rank redisrribucion wirhin sociery, invoLving the develJpmenr,storage and redisrriburion ofa socia_l surplus, as outlined-in Chapcer j. ft rsunderstanding (he narure of rhis so-callid social surplus prodJct which isviral,ro.our understanding of che ciry in the .onreriporary developed anddeveloping worlds. As Davk (1973: 9) commented, the dreory of how citiesbegan is beginning to be inregrated wirh rhe theory of how ciries operate inmodern socretv

Origins of urban living and role of social surplus 29

arose independntly in rhese orher regions.Thus, cities in the Indus Valley appear to have developed around 2500 Bc,

two well-documenred examples being Mohnjo-Daio arrd Harappa in modern-day Pakistaa. Borh senleme;r show evidnce of irrigation and v/ere well Plarnedon a regular recrangular grid basis. However, urban life in rhis area aPPeds lohave atrophied and ceased altogecher after 1500 oc.

In China, urban development is thought to have starred around 1500 ec onrhe alluvia.l plains of dre Yellow fuver, with Anyang and Chengchow repres-enting rwo i-porcaot u.ban places. In rhe case of meso-America, ceremonjal.o-pTo., ,u.h as rhar at Teotihuacan in Mexico seem ro date from around100d sc. In the central A.rtdes, setdements based on maize and shifting culdva-rion are dated from 500 sc. However, some archaeolotists doubt r}lat rhesewere rrue ciries and atgue that chey were merely ceremonid foci for low-density rural populations in dre viciniry. Finally, there is evidence rhat theYoruba rerritoiiei of present-day Nigeria constitule a somewhar later regior ofprimary urban geneiarion. It is suggested that ceremonia.l cenrres may haveappeated as ea-rly rs the end of the 6rst millennium a.p, the initial developmentbiing

"t pteseneday lfe. It is beLieved that orler subsequent areas.of develop-

meni su.i, "r

Crece, soucheast Asia and Etruria were all secondary, having been

dwelopmens in other regions represenred a form ofspadal diffirsio-n from rhisorieina-l area. But the more recent posicion is that whilst specific items oft..f,nolory may well have been difflied, rhe actual development of urban life

Even *ris briefrCsumi ofpre-indusuial urban development gives clear poinrerstd the hypotheses rhat may be advaaced to explain urban genesis. lVidening

the discussion somewhat, Catcet (1977, 1983) argues that four main explana-tions for rhe inirid emergence of towns and ciries may be identified. Firsdy'there are hyd-raulic or environmental-ecological theses suggesdng thac ciciesoccurred du. to the preserce of a favourable physical envirooment whichallowed rhe extracrion of an agriculrural surPlus Economic theories, on rheother hand, imply thar the ciry was a product of che articuladon of long-distance trade and regional market firnccions. Thirdly, it may be posiced lhatrowns grew for military pu.po$e$ at defensiv slrong poinrs. Lasdy, rdigioustheoties envisage that ur6an development occuffed abour th foci afforded byshrines and temples.

Bur before turning to consider rhese vatious explanations in grearer derail,rhe precursors to tle urban revolution need briefly ro be considered. Duringthe Palaeolidric or Old StoneAge, a period genera.ly equivalent co the Pleistocenegeological epoch, hr-rman groups relied enrirely on hunring, fishing and garher-ing. Then, during 10,000-8000 gc, the Neolithic Revolution commencedin dre Middle Easc. The cerm is used as a shonhand to describe *re periodwhen humans firsr began to domesticare animals and to planr, cuhivare andimprove edible grasses ald roots. In odrer rvords, huma-ns srarted to modifr che

' derived ftom these seven primary areas of urban generation (lVheatley' 1971)

The processes involved in the rise of the first citiesWhen and where did the first cities develop?The current view is rhat rhere were ar least seven regions of primary uba-nq..:".+.",- ]!i: is,, areas of. apparencly independJnt u.b"il d"".iop*.r,,{Wheadey, I97l). These are all in rhe presenc-day Third rX/orld: (l) Mesopo-umia, (2) Egypt. (3) rhe Indus Valley,'(4) rhe Norrh China nUir. i:l f..1.'r"_America, (6) the Central Aldes, and (7) sourhwest Nigeria. Toeether rheseareas may be regarded as forming the so-called pre_indr-ritrial ci"ifisations.. .l}te s(andaJd accolrnt regard_s the first uue ciries as having developed in rhecraoles or crvrLLsarron, or rhe'firtile crescenr' made up by rhe Tigrii, Euohra.res and Nile.riverine.valleys of rhe MiddLe Easr. Accoidirg . S;;"rglifi0l,tne nse ot urban clvrtrsarion dares from j500_j000 Bc in Mesoporamii, amoncthe earliesc ciries being Eridu. Ur, Lagash, Larsa, Kish, Jemdet'N*, *a-Ur"ilWirh r

30 Third World urbanisation and developmentenvironmenr rarher rhan merely adapring to ir, so thar rhe possibilicy of estab_rsnrng permanenr setrlemen(s

32 Third World urbanisation and developmentFinally, there is as yet no universal acceptance of che designacion of rhe seven

areas menrioned as being the only possible sires of primary urban generadon.In pardcular, excavarions on the Anatolian plateau in Turkey ar Ciral ttOWkshow evidence of ceremonial shrines and graveyards daring back io 6500 ac.Thus, ic has been suggesred rhar prior co 6000 ec, some rhrle or four millenniabefore che famous cides of the Middle East, Qaral Hoyi.ik was a 6rllv fedsedand thriving urban cencre (Mellaarc, 1964, 1967). These facrs add euidence'todre process explaaarions offered in the presenc accounr, for chis upland area didnoc enjoy any of rhe advanrages of rhe riverine valleys, indicating thar urbanIiving was nor rriggered by favourable ecological circumsmnces ald aiood. surplus.

Cities and social surplus product 33axiomatic thar views of the processes involved will be coloured by polidelpredisposidons. The de6nicion ofsocial surplus prodr.rct is an excess ofproduc-iion over biological need, so thar some membels of rhe sociery are releasedfrom rhe need to produce.

The issr:e has bee., treared from a Marxist perspecrive by Ir{.arvey (1973)'who follows tte view rhat 'cities are formed rhrough the geographic concentra-tion of a social surplus product' (Hawey, 1973: 216). Ic may be argued thata surplus c:m take

-rwo quite disrinct forms. In the first' ir is ar amounc of

mateiial prodnct that is set aside ro provide for improvements in humanwelfare, fhis may be regarded u the communist form ofa surpl*s. As Harveya.rrd orhers have noted, a social surplus is required to advance a socialisr sociery,but ir is a-reued that this does nor have to be, and indeed shor.rld not be, class-based in ciaracter, but rarher should be used for socially orienred or com-munally defined purposes. Thus, Hartey (1973) notes rJrai whilsr a surplus. isreqr.rired in a soiialiit society, drere is no a ?ioi rcason why ir should bespatially concentrated. However, Hawey goes on ro artue lhat as investmencmay well be more efficiendy deployed in concenrrared form due to the opera-rion of economies of scale and agglomeradon, some rype of urbanisadon maywell be acceprable. But in so far as t}le surplus is discribured for the use of thepopuladon i.t genera.l, roo great a degree of geographic concenrrarion shouldte avoided. As an example, Hawey cites rhe case ofCuba, where following cherevohrtion of 1959, a conscious altmpt lvas made to disperse medical faciliciesaway from Havana, an example which is reviewed in Chapter 4 (Pltte 2.2).

Opening up the debate: cities and social surplus productThe imporranr lesson to be drawn from che review of urban origins is rhat thecharacter and form of urbanisacion canDo! be divorced from-rhe nature ofdevelopment itself- ft follows therefore, rhar changes in socio-polirical organisa-cion are required ro effecr urban change. Furrher. ir is manifestly rhe caie therciries havt always served, and been asiociated wirh. elire groupi wherher reli-gious and milirary as in Mesoporamia, an exparriare elire al in

-rie mercanrile -

colonial ciry, or the corporare inreresrs ofpresent-day mulrinarional companies,Associated widr this is r}te central facr thar ciries have always been'inriirr-

ately associated with_the generation of a surplrrs. Indeed, it 2arl be arguedthat widrout a social surplus product, ciriei cannor exist (plare2.l).it is

late 2.2 Havana, Cuba: concentrated Social surplus characterises urbanity undel Socialisms well as capitalism (photo: Rob Potter).

Plate 2.1 Cities and surpluses: informal sector transpoft in Delhj as part of surplusredistribution (photo: Rob potterl.

34 Third World urbanisation and developmentThe second kind ofsurplus is described as an esuanged or dienated version

of rhe first. Simply stated, it is a quantity of material resources and produc(*rat is appropriaced for one segment ofsociery at the expense ofothers. Haweyargues that it is chis form ofsurplus that has characterised Neoiithic urbanism,rural-urban fows a-nd contemporary urbanism under capim.lism. This gives riseto the argument thac profirs are rhe vital signal to dre economy and that inequal-ities are a vkal pre-requisite for economic growth and efficiency. This is, ofcourse,rhe srartiog poinc for the raditional-classical view of economic development.

Under a capitalist formulation, ic is posited that surplus value in the formof profics is invested in realising funher pro6ts. Hence, Harvey (1973) pointsro the monumenral architecture, conspicuous consumPtion and need creadonassociaced wiri the conremporary ci!y. Some argue that under capicdism, ur-banisation is legitimised by irs contribution to gross narional product. Broadly,ir is asserced rhat investmen! should be concentrated in the most profitableareas in order to maximise growth. Thus, advocates of che fiee-market systemargue thar surpluses in the form of profits signa.l the demands of consumers toproducers. It is a simple step to srate that the city is a mechanism of economicefficienq' and growrh, and rhus eventually, increasing prosperiry for all. Thischesis relates direcdy to the tradicional idea that cities are iotimately associatedrvith economic development (see, for example, Gottmann, 1983). Certainly,the ciry has often been regarded as a centre of mixing, discovery and innova-tion, benefiring from scale and agglomeration economies. This is epitomisedby Lampard's 7tg55t Sz) statement that the 'modern cicy is a mode of socialorganisalion which furthers efficiency in economic activiry'. This, of

36 Third World urbanisation and developmentThe general economic developmenr model of the American economist

A.O. Hirschman forms a convenient springboard for discussion ofthe approach.Hirschman (1958), in his volume The Straug of Econotnic Deuehpment,advalced a norably optimiscic view io presenring rhe neo-classical position(see Hansen, 1981). Specifcally, Hirschman argued dlat polarisacion musr beregarded as an inevirable characreristic of rhe early stages of economic dwel-opment. This represents rhe direcr advocacy of a basically unbalanced economicgrowrh srrategy, whereby investment is concentrated in a few key sectors of theeconomy. lt is envisaged thar the growth of chese sectors will creare demandfor the other sectors ofthe economy, so that a 'chain of disequilibria will leadto growth'. The corollary of sectorally unbalanced growth is geographicallyuneven dwelopmenr, and Hirschmarr specifica.lly cired Perroux's (1955) con-cept of dre natural grov'th pole.

The forces of concentration were collecrively referred to by Hirschman as'polarisation'. The crucial argumenr, however, was chat eventually develop-ment in rhe core will lead to the 'trickling down' of growrh to backwardregions. These trickle-down effects were seen by Hirschman as an inevirabieand spontaleous process. Thus, *re clear poliry implicarion of Hirschman'sthesis is that governmenls should ooc iorervene to reduce inequalities, for atsome juncture in r}le future, dre search for profics will promote the spontahe-ous spin-off of growrh, inducing induscries to backward regions, The processwhereby sparial polarisarion trends give way to spatial dispersion out from thecore co rhe backward regions has subsequendy come ro be kaowo as dre pointof 'polarisation reversal' (Richardson, 1977, 1980).

The true significalce of these ideas concerning polarised developmenr ex-tends beyond rheir use as a basis for undersranding the hisrorica.l processes ofurban-iodustrial change, for in rhe 1950s and 1960s they came to representan explicic framework for regional developmenc policy (see Friedmann ard'Xlea'ter, 1979). Thus the doctrine of unequal growri gained both posiriveand normacive currency in the 6rst posr-war decade and rhe path to growrhwas actively pursued via r-rrban-based indusrrial growrh. The policies of non-intewenrion, enhancing natural growri cenlresJ and creating new inducedsub-cores became the order of rhe day. As Friedmann ardVeaver (1979: 93)observe, rie 'argumenr boiled down co rhis: inequaliry was efficienr for growth,equality was inefficienc', so rhat, 'givn drese assumptions about economicgrorth, the expansion of manufacuring was regarded as the ma.ior propulsiveforce'.

Hirschman's ideas car be seen as parr of wider moderoisation tleory. Thepa-radigm wes grounded in the view rl-rar the gaps in developmenr which existberween the developed and developing counuies cal gradually be ovelcome onan imitative basis, and thereby developing counrries would ioexorably cometo resemble developed counrries (Hettne, 1994). The modernisation thesiswas largely developed in rhe 6eld of polirica.l science, but was picked r.rp by agroup of geographers in rhe late 1960s (see, for insrance, Soj;, 1968, 1974;Gould, 1970; fuddell, 1970). In such work, sem ofindices which were held torefect modernisation were mapped and/or subjected to muhivariate statisdcal

Cities and surpluses in developing countries 37a-nalpis to rweal what was regarded as dre 'modernisation euface'. For example,using such an approach, Gould (1970) examined rhe so-called modernisarionsurface of Tanza-nia.

A classic paper wriren in rie mould was by Leinbach (1972), who investi-gated *re modernisarion surface in Malaya berween 1895 and 1969, usingindicators such as rhe number ofhospirals and schools per head ofthe popula-tion, togerher with the incidence ofpostal and telegaph facilities a-nd road andrail densities. The modernisation approach did serve to emphasise rhat coreurban areas and the transporr corridors running berween them are tle focusof dynamic change (Leinbach, 1972), rho:;gh from a crirical perspecrive,Friedmaln arld Weaver (1979: 120) observed that rhe approach only succeededin 'mapping the peneuarion of neo-colonia.l capiralism'.

The hallmark of such work was rhar ir posited that modernisacion is basic-ally a temporal-spatial process. In such a formulation, underdwelopment isseen as somedrint which can be overcome, principally by rJre sparial diffusionof modernity. A number of sudies argued thac growth occurs wirhin rheseclement system from the largest urban places ro rhe smallesc in a basicallyhierarchical sequence. Foremosr among, rhe proponen$ of such a view wasHudson (1969) who applied rhe classic ideas of Hagersrrand (1953) ro .heseclement or central place systern. Hudson argued that innovations can uaveldrrough rhc setdement sysrem by a process of conragiolrs spread, where thereis a neighbourhood or regional effecr of clusrered giorth. This was close toSchumpeter's (1911) general economic rheory in which he argued rhac rheessence of development is a volume of innoyadons. Opporruniries rend tooccur in waves which surge after an inirial innovadon. Thus, Schumpeterargued d-rat development tends to be'jerL7'and ro occur in'swarms'.. Altemadvely, Hudson noted rhar dift.uion calr also occur downwa.rds rhrough

rhe srtdemenr system in a progressive manner, the poinc of introducrion beiigrhe largesr ciry. Pedersen (1970) argued the case for a stricdy hierarchicalprocess of innovation diffusion of this kind, an assertion which semed tobe subsranriated by some empirical-hisrorical studies carried our in advancedcapira.list sociecies such as dre Unired States (Borchen, 1967) and England and

ales (Robson, 1973), Pedersen drew a very imponant disdncrion berweenmestic ald entrepreneurial innovations, tie lacrer beiag the insrrumenr of

glowth, radrer dran rhe former, In another frequen tly cited paper of thee, Berry Q972) a.lso argued srron gly in favour of a hierarchical difrrsion

of growdr-inducing innovarions. tlLis basically bein g seen as the resuJr ofsequendal marker searching procedures of 6rms, along wich imitation effecm

ut notabln Berry's analysis was based on the diffusion ofdomesric as opposedentrepreneurial innovations, namely of telwision stadons and receiversAll of rhese approaches, involving unequal and uneven growth, modernisa-

on, rhe diffusion of innovations and hierarchic patterns of cha.rrge, may beed togerher and regarded as consriru dng dre top-down paradigm of

t (Stiihr and Taylor, 1981), which advocared rhe establishmencstrong urbar-indusrrial nodes as rhe basis of self-sustained qro\nh. Suchapproach is premised on r-he occr.rrrence of srrong rrickle-doin effecs, by

38 Third World urbanisation and dvelopmentmeans of which it is believed thar modernisarion will inexorably spread fromuban to rural areas. Thereby, such models, including Rostow,s (1960) classicThe Stages of Economic Growth, see cities as engines-of growth ald develoo-meff. Rosrow envisaged thar lhere \rere five stiges chro-ugh which all devjl-oped co_unties have [o pass: rhe cradicional sociecy, the pre-co'ndirions to lake-oft;rake-off, rhe road co maturiry, and the age of mass- consumption. His stagemodel encapsulares faith in the cepicalist syscem, as expressed by the subdtle "ofRostow's work: 'a Non-Commr.rnist Manifesto'. Sr_:chTormulations place abso-lure faith in rhe exisrence of a linear and racionalistic path ro deuelopmenr,based on western posicivism and science, ald che possibiliry rhat all nari6ns canfollow this in an unconsuained manner. Modernism was very much an urbanphenomenon from 1850 onwards (Hawey, 1989). Universal or high rnodern-ism became hegemonic afrer 1945. Thus, rhe top-down approach ias stronglyassociated wich the 1950s, through co the early I970s.

Cities and surpluses in developing countries 39

.Figure 2.1 A summary of Friedmann's core-periphery model (adapted From Friedmann, 1966)

Historical approaches: realism dawns?

In concrast to Hirschma:n, che Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal (1957),although writing at much the same time, took a noticeably moie pessimisticview, maintaining that capitalist development is inevirably marked 6y deepen-ing regional and personal income aad welfare inequalities, Myrdal foliowed thearguments of the vicious circle of poverty in presenring his theory of ,cumul-arive causation'. Thereby, ir was argued that once diffirential tro,,rrh occurs,thereafter internal ald external economies ofscaie will perDetua;e the pa(rern.This is che outcome of the 'backwash' effec whereby population mig^rations,crade ald capiral movemencs all come co focrrs on rhe'key g.o*th poiris of cheeconomy. Increasing demand, associated with mulriplier effecrs and dre exist-ence of social facilities, also serve ro enhance rhe coie reqion. \i(4rilsr 'spread,effects will undoubtedly occur, principa-lly via the incriased market for theagricultural .producrs and raw materials of the periphery, Myrdal basicallyconcluded that given unrestrained free-markec forces, these wor:ld in no waymatch the backwash effeccs. Myrdal's rhe,sis leads ro the advocacF of strongstate policy in order to counrerac what is seen as che normal tendency of rhicapitalist sysrem to fosrer increasing regional inequalities (see Hollier, 1988).

The view that, wirhout intervention, social surplus produc and developmentare both likely co become increasingly polarised in uansitional socieciis wastalen up and developed by a number of schoiars towards the end ofthe 1960sand the beginning of the 1970s. In so doing rhey ran couDrer co ch conven-tional wisdom of rhe dme. Such works were based mainly on studies whichencompassed an historical dimension. Perhaps the best-knJwn example is pro-vided_by rhe Arnerican planner John Friedmann's (1966) core-peripherymodel. From a purely theorerical perspective, Friedmann's cenrral contentionwas tiat 'where economic growth is sustained over long time periods, its incid-ence works toward a progressive integrarion ofthe space economy' (Friedmann,1966:.35). This process is made clear in the much-reproduced four-stage ideal-typiel sequence of development, which is shown in Figure 2.1.

The firsr stage, that of indcpendent bcal centes with no hietarchl, represencse pre-industrial srage and is associated rvith a series of isolared self-sufficienr

economies- There is no social surplus product to be concentrated in spacean even and esseotially srable patcern is the resulc (Figr:re 2.1)

'.

|.

i..'.

,..

li,:'

il

In stage 2, a single stoxg cente, it is posiced rhat as the result of some form'external disruprion' - a euphemism for colonialism - the former srabiliryreplaced by dynamic change. Growrh is envisaged ro occur rapidly in one

region and urban primacy is the sparial ourcome. Social surplus prod-stroogiv concenrrated. Tbe cencre (C) feeds on the resc of che nation,

.small elite of urban consumers, who are located at the centre. However,

ct 15that rhe exrensive periphery (P) is drained. Advantage tends ro accrue to

iedmann regarded rhis stage as inherencly unsrabie (Figure 2.1).The outcome of this inscabiliry is the developmenc of a single national cente

strong peripheral rub-cennet (Figure 2.1). Over cime, the simpie centre-eriphery panern is progressively cransformed ro a multinuclear one. Sub-cores

lop (SCl, SC2) leaviag a series of inrer-metropolitan peripheries (Pl to

5C2

\----'-r7t---

5ta9e 4: Afuncion.lly interdependent synem of cities

sta9e 1: l.dependeni lo

40 Third World urbanisation and developmentwhen social surplus producr srans to be concenrrared in parrs of che formerperiphery, aibeit on a highly concenrrared basis.

. The fourrh and 6nal srage, which sees rhe developmenr of a fiinctionallyinterdependenr sysem of citier was described by Friedmann as .org;r,ised .om-plexiry'.and,is one where progresiive national lnregrarion conrinuls, eventuallywitnessing rhe total absorpdon ofrhe inter-merropolira-n peripheries. A smoorjrprogression ofciries by size is envisaged as rhe ourcomeiFieure 2.1)-

The 6rsc rwo srages of the core-p-eriphery model describ"e direcri the hls-tory ol che majoriry ofmosr developing counrries. lndeed, ir often ajpears 4orro be appreciared rhat rhe line along which the small independen,'.o-^un_roes are drawn in srage I represenrs the coasdine. The occurrence of unevengrowrh and urban coDcentrarion in rhe early scages of grow.th is seen as beingrhe direcr outcome of exogenic forces. Thui, F.iedman"n commencd rJrar rhcore-periphery reLarionsbip is essentially a colonial one, his work having beenbased on rhe hisrory of regional developmenr in Venezuela,

- The p-rincipal idea behind rhe cenue-periphery framework is thar early on,factors ofproducrion will be displaced from che piriphery to ch"

".nr.", ih.r"

margnal producrivities are higher. Thus, ar an early scage of developmenr,norhing succeeds like success. However, che crucial chang-e, of.oursel is rherransition beEween rhe second and thild srages, rhar is whire rhe sysrem re[dsrowards equilibrium and equalisation. Friedriann's model is one whi.h,unnoorhac in rheory. economic dwelopment will ultimately lead co rhe.onu.#n..of regional incomes and welfue diffe rentials.

But at dre very same lime as he was presencing the simpliGed model as atemplate, Friedmaln observed rhat in realiry rheri was euide.rce of persist.rrtdisequilibrium. Thus, in a scaremenr whicir appeared alongside ,h'; ;.d.1,Friedmann (1966t 14) observed thar rhere was'.a majo. dhculrv with rheequilibrium model: hisrorical evidence do., no, ruppor,i,'. Oopir.',ti, J"-rr-ing caveac many aurhors have represented the modei as a sraremint of invarianttruth. igooring

^Friedmann's w"rning rhac .disequilibrium is buift into trarsi_

flonal socreues from rhe sErr'(Friedmann, 1966: 14\, Effecrively. Friedmannwas mainraining rhat wirhout state intervenrion, rhe rransirion from s.age 2 tostage 3 of rhe model will nor occur in developing socierie,s,

"nd i" ,ll, .?rp".,,

he,was in agreemenr wi*r Myrdal's prescripriois ,t", ro.lrl ,urpf," froiu.,wlLl become ever more conceotrared in space.lX/riting iusr a few years after rhe appea-rance of Friedmann,s much-ciced.

modeL, an American geographer, Jay E. Vance (I970), noced rhat it wa_s wirhrhe developmenr of mercanrile societies from che fifteenrh century onwardrhat senlemenr sysrems srarred ro evolve along more ."-pr.. i-* ti" ^I"qevelopmenr, :!s nord in Chapter 1, came with colonialism, for continued1,"::-i: tr:*i r:quired grearer land resources. Frequently, ,h", **, irri,i"llymet Dy,tocat colonlal

.expansion via trading expeditions. By the seventeendrand erthreenrh cnruriesJ howeverr this need was increasingiy fulfilled bv dis-tanr colonialism, that is rhe lrans-ocearlic version of t"cai Lf""iJi.-] ii.impiicarions of these hisrorical developmenrs have been well *;;i.;d ilyVance (1!70: 148):

Cities and surpluses in developihg countries 41The vigorous merc:ntile entrepreneur of rhe seventeenrh and eighteenrh centuryhad ro rurn oucw:rd from Europe because the long hisrory of parochial trade arddre confining honeycomb ofChriscaller cells rhar had grown up with feudalism leftlitde scope chere for his activiry. Vid-r overseas developmenr, for che 6rsr rime rhemerchalt faced an unorganised larrd whrein the designs he established furnishedthe geography of wlolesale-trade location. By contrasr, in a central-place situarion(such as drat affecting much of Europe and rhe Orienr), co introduce wholesaletrade meaar co conform to a serdement partern drat was premercanrile.

The development of mercanrilism has already been summarised in Chapter 1.During this period, pons crme to dominate rhe evolving urban systems ofbodr the colony and rhe colonial power. In the colonn once esublishd, ponsacted as gateways to the inrerior lands. Subsequently, evoludonary changesoccurred rhat first saw increasing spatial concenuadon ar certain nodes, andlater, Iateral interconnecrion of rhe coascd gateways and rhe establishment ofnew inland regions for expansion. The serdemenr pattern of the homelandalso underwenr considerable charge, for social surplus produc flowed into thecapital ciry and the principal porcs, rhus serving ro srrengthen considerablytheir position io rhe urban system.

These historical facets of trade arriculadon led Vance (1970) to suggestwhat amoun[ed to an enlirely new model of urbal setdement evoludon, onethar was firmly based on hisrory. This is referred to as rhe mercantile model,and irs main fearures are summarised in Flgxe 2-2 (overleaf). The model issummaJised in five srages. In each of rJrese rhe colooy is shown on rhe left ofthe 6gure, and tie colonial power on rhe right.. The 6rst srage represeon dre initial search phase of mercantilism, involving

the search for economic information on rhe part of rhe prospective colonisling power. The second stige ses lhe testing if productiuity aid the hanest ofnetural ttolege, with rhe periodic hawesring of staples such as 6sh, furs anJtimber. However, no permanent serdement is esrablished in the colony. Theplanting of wthn utho produce taples and contume tbe mdfiufdctares of th,e homecoutltrT rcplesents the third srage. The setdemenr system of che colony isesrablished via a point of acachmenr. The developing symbiotic relarionshipbecrveen the colony aod rhe colonia.l power is wicnessid by a sharp reductionin the effecdve distance separaring drem. The major pon in thi homelandbecomes pre-emineor. The fourrh scage is characrerised by 6e introduction ofintenal tra* and manufaaure in the colonT. Ar r1-ris juncture, pneuarionoccurs inland from th ma.ior gateways in the colony, based on sraple produc-tion. There is rapid growrh of manufacturing in rhe homeland to iupply borhrhe overseas and home markets. Poccs conrinue to increase in signiEcance. The6fth and fina.l srage s ees irc establishment of a netcantile sexlcmht pattem withcentral place infilling occurring in the colony; and the emergence of a centra_lplace-rype settlemenr system wirh a mercanlile overlay in rh! homeland.

The mercancile model scesses rhe historical-evolutionary viewpoint ineyaminint the development of narional senlement sysrems. The frameworkoffers whar Vance sees as an alrernarive and more rea.liscic picture ofsettlemenrstructure, based on *re facc that in che sevenleerrh and eighteenrh cenruries,

42 Third World urbanisation and development

TIIE OVERSEAS COLONY THE COLONIAL POWER

Figure 2.2 A simplified representation of Vance! mercantile model (source: potter, 1992b).

Cities and surpluses in developing countries 43mercanrile entrepreneurs turned ourward from Europe. H.nce, th. sour.. ofcharge is external to developing counrriesJ a theme which is conrinued:nChapLer 3 in a contempo.ary contr(r. In conrrasr. rhe development of settLc-ment parrerns and systems of central places in the developed world was basedon,endogenic principles of local demand, rhereby rendering whar is essentiai,Ta closed setdement system (Christaller, 1933; Losch, 1940).

The hallmark of the mercantile model is the remarkable linearity of senle-men( parterns, S151 :lnsg coasts (especially in colonies), and secondly alongthe rouces which deveJoped berween the coasrd points of attachment and thestaple-producing inreriors. These two aJignments are Jso given direc( expres_sion in Taaffe, Morrill and Gould's (1963) model of transport expansion inless dweloped countries, based on rh traffporr hisrories 6f Brazil, Malaya,East Afiica, Nigeria and Ghana.

In plantation economies such as chose of rhe Caribbean, a local historicalvariant of ctre mercaldle serdement sysrem is provided by rhe plantopolisnode-I. A simplified represenraciol of r]ris is shown in Figure 2.i (o.,erLaf).Ttre firsr-cwo stages are based on Rojas (1989), althougf, the graphical de-piction ofthe sequeoce and its er

44 Third World urbanisation and development Cities and surpluses in developing countties 45colonial power. Hence, a pattern of spadally unequal or polarised growthemerged strongly several hundred years ago with the screnghening of rhissymbiodc relationship berween colony and colonial power. The overall sugges-don is that due ro rhe requiremenm of the inrernational economy, far greaterlevels of inequaliry and spatia.l concenlnuion of social surplus producr areproduced dran may be socidly and morally desirable.

Stage 2

EMANCIPAIION(r833 - )