Showing papers on "Rural area published in 1968"

Defining the Rural-Urban Fringe

Abstract: This study is concerned with the rural-urban fringe as a complex transition zone on the periphery of growing urban areas in Western countries. Case studies of the fringe and related areas are reviewed, and a definition of the rural-urban fringe is suggested. Further, the urban fringe is differentiated from the rural fringe, the former constituting the subzone of most rapid exurban invasion. Hypotheses are postulated regarding the residents, accessibility, and land and dwellings in the fringe, and suggestions for future studies are outlined in the conclusion. T L. Smith's discussion of the "urbanl fringe" around Louisiana in 1937 marked the first use of this term signifying "the built-up area just outside the corporate limits of the city."' As a landscape phenomenon, the fringe varies from city to city, and from one time to another. Around several cities in the Netherlands a fringe is barely recognizable; Paris is somewhat similar to the U.S.A. in the intermingling and scatter of land use, but there is a closer dependence on public transport; London is different again, because of its Green Belt, * The financial assistance and research supervision provided in the Department of Geography, University of Melbourne, are gratefully acknowledged by the author. 1 T. L. Smith, "The Population of Louisiana: Its Composition and Changes," Loulisiana Butlletini, 293 (November 1937). This content downloaded from 157.55.39.10 on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 05:31:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 203 although there is some scattering of land use, and some villages are located within this belt. In general, Dickinson concludes that the modern European city "exhibits the same tendency to extend and explode" as the North American metropolis, "but not nearly to the same degree."2 Conversely, some American writers now question whether the urban fringe problern is disappearing, because "laws permit more cities to supervise zoning within a certain distance of their borders."3 Two features characterize the literature on urban fringe over the past 30 years: 1. The general absence of explicit references to the subject outside North America, although there have been studies, for example, in Sydney,4 Adelaide,5 Melbourne,6 and in London7 and Johannesburg.8 The relatively integral urban nature (rather than nonoccurrence) of the fringe around European cities emerges from Wissink's comparison of that continent with the American urban scene.9 2. The confusion of terminiology and lack of clear delineation in case studies. The problem of evaluating and comparing cases is increased by (1) their range in time, as prevailing economic conditions influence the rate of growth and internal characteristics of the fringe; (2) the range in size of the urban center, from a small village to a metropolis or Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, each with inherent differences in its fringe, according to the rate of growth, functions, and hierarchical relationship of the central place; (3) the variation in type and degree of zoning control of urban invasion beyond a city's corporate limits, so that London's modified Green Belt results in a very different form of guided "overspill" to Eugene-Springfield's "uncontrolled population expansion" ;10 (4) the differing social, economic and political contexts of the studies from different countries; ancd (5) the differing aims and interests of various research \vorkers. A REVIEW OF RELATED TERMS Because of this diversity, a number of attempts have been made to clarify concepts, and to differentiate between commonly used terms. After reviewing some ten definitions, Kurtz and Eicher1 differentiate between "fringe" and "suburb"; Wissink12 defines 'fringe," "suburbs," "pseudo-suburbs," "satellites" and "pseudo-satellites"; Schnore13 distinguishes between "satellites" and "suburbs"; and a number of writers have described different types of suburbs, some of which could be synonomous with the "fringe" of anotlher research worker. Martin discusses satellite rural areas.14 Areal differentiations have also been made, clualitatively, within the fringe: the "urban 2 R. E. Dickinson, The City Region in Western Etrope (London: Routledge Paperback, 1967). 3 E.g., R. E. Murphy, The Amterican City: An Urban Geography (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1966). 4 N. R. Wills, "The Rural-Urban Fringe: Some Agricultural Characteristics with Specific Reference to Sydney," Australian Geographer, 5 (1945), pp. 29-35; and R. Golledge, "Sydney's Metropolitan Fringe: A Study in Urban-Rural Relations," Australian Geographer, 7 (1959), p. 243 ff. 5 D. L. Smith, "Market Gardening at Adelaide's Urban Fringe," Economtic Geography, 42 (1966), p. 19 ff. 6 R. J. Johnston, "The Population Characteristics of the Urban Fringe: A Review and Example," Atustralian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 2 (1966), pp. 79-93. 7 R. E. Pahl, Urbs in Rure: The Mlfetropolitan Frintge in Hertfordshire (London: London School of Economics and Political Science, Geographical Papers No. 2, 1965). 8 G. H. T. Hart and T. C. Partridge, "Factors in the Development of the Urban Fringe North-West of Johannesburg," South African Geographical Journal, 48 (1966), pp. 32-44. 9 G. A. Wissink, Anmerican Cities in Perspective: With Special Reference to the Development of Their Fringe Areas, Sociaal Geografische Studies, Hoogleraar aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, Nr. 5 (Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum, 1962). 10 W. T. Martin, The Rural-Urban Fringe: A Study of Adjustmnent to Residence Location (Eugene: University of Oregon Studies in Sociology, No. 1, 1953). 11 R. A. Kurtz and J. B. Eicher, "Fringe and Suburbs: A Confusion of Concepts," Social Forces, 37 (October 1958), pp. 32-37. 12Wissink, op. cit. 13 Leo F. Schnore, "Satellites and Suburbs," Social Forces, 36 (December 1957), pp. 121-127. 14 W. T. Martin, "Ecological Change in Satellite Rural Areas," American Sociological Reviezo, 22 (April 1957), pp. 173-183. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.10 on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 05:31:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Rural economy and country life in the medieval West

Abstract: In 1961 Georges Duby wrote what is still the best overview of European medieval rural history to date. Originally published in French and first translated into English in 1968, Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West brings together local research on the countryside and its economic life and distills from it lessons that apply much more widely. With this edition, the University of Pennsylvania Press brings this modern classic back into print.

Determinants of rural-urban migration in Ghana.

Abstract: In the 39 years between the 1921 and 1960 censuses, urban population in Ghana multiplied by nine while the population of the whole country only trebled. The major factor in urban growth was rural-urban migration and the reproduction of the migrants. In 1963 a survey consisting of a systematic sample of households in 45 rural centres, randomly chosen in Local Authority Areas selected in accord with the regional rural population distribution, reconstituted the rural population so as to include current migrants in the towns as well as those remaining in rural areas. For analysis 13,748 respondents were divided into 14 categories by ruralurban migration behaviour. At the same time a survey of urban population provided a check on rural-urban migration data. study of the propensity to migrate from rural to urban areas shows that this increases with the closeness of the rural area to a large town, the population size of the rural centre, the economic well-being of the rural household, the number of rela...

Income, consumption and saving in urban and rural india*

Abstract: The main purpose of the study is to determine the savings potential of urban and rural households in India and in the process determine the possible savings and consumption functions separately for urban and rural areas. Four different possible functions have been used for determining the savings behaviour of the households both at the aggregate level and at the per capita level. The rural households, according to the results, have an extremely low rate of saving with income elasticity of saving of less than unity. For the urban households on the other hand, the income elasticity of saving is high enough to suggest the possibilities of considerably high savings potential. To understand the consumption behaviour of these households, the long-run and the short-run marginal propensities to consume and the marginal propensities to consume out of‘permanent’ or ‘normal’ income and ‘transitory’ income have been worked out. For the urban sector none of these give encouraging enough results and the analysis has been extended to examine whether other factors like prices and household assets are of any significance. Whereas for the rural sector, Milton Friedman's theory of ‘permanent’ or ‘normal’ income is somewhat substantiated, other factors like ‘transitory’ income, prices and assets appear to inthence urban consumption behaviour though no single one of them substantially enough. A negligible effect of ‘permanent’ income on urban consumption behaviour is, on the other hand, very clearly suggested by the results. Household consumption and savings have next been projected using the above results to determine the possible levels for the next three years. The results suggest that the rate of domestic savings likely to be achieved by the end of the Third Five Year Plan (1965–66) falls short of the targets laid down.

Components of city growth in selected Latin American countries.

Abstract: A detailed analysis of city growth by city size categories was made for the Latin American countries of Chile Mexico and Venezuela. These countries are among the 6 most urbanized of the region and additionally they have experienced a high rate of urbanization during the last intercensal period. The analysis of city growth--the principal factor contribution to urbanization--shows why cities are growing so rapidly and consequently why urbanization is so rapid. The study of city growth covers the last intercensal period with cities classified in 6 size categories according to their size in the 1960 census. All cities with 10000 or more inhabitants in the 1960 census were studied through the intercensal period. The analysis purpose was to determine whether internal migration had been the principal factor of city growth. A migrant factor was developed in which the estimates of the number of migrants were found by multiplying the factor by the number of migrants and their descendants born in the cities. The migrant factor was .8877 for Chile .8497 for Mexico and .8283 for Venezuela. Cities are growing rapidly in Latin American countries. Mainly in those less urbanized countries urbanization is occurring without any industrialization. In these areas the supply of services necessary in cities will cost relatively more than if the country were industrializing at the same time. Yet when some of the more urbanized countries industrialize they encounter sooner those problems related to urbanization such as air pollution and sewage because factories and industries locate very close to the largest cities without taking any precautions against smoke gases or waste. Principally Latin American cities are growing so fast because the population is reproducing at a high rate. Natural growth rates in certain cities as in the case of Chile and Venezuela are higher than in rural areas. In general the birthrate by city size category declines when the city size increases except for the intermediate category of 100-500 thousand in which case the birthrate increases in the 3 countries considered. Mortality counteracts part of the effect of the differential in birthrates and thus the growth rates are not very different between rural areas and cities. Migration from rural areas to cities the 2nd important factor in urbanization in the countries considered has been observed as following almost the same pattern. In Chile and Venezuela the lowest number of net migrants is received by the middle city size category. For Mexico the number of net migrants increases with the city size.

Principles of community mental health in a rural setting: The Halifax County program.

Abstract: A temporary solution to the manpower problem inherent in trying to meet the mental health needs of people in rural areas is the development of consultation programs. Based upon a history of organization and operation of such a program in rural North Carolina, zo principles, focusing on community sanction, consultation techniques, clinical services and other aspects of community mental health programming are proposed. These are presented as hypotheses to be subject to empirical examination.

Poverty in rural america

Abstract: Economic distress and poverty have a major impact on housing conditions for both communities and households alike. Rural households in poverty experience some of the worst housing conditions in our nation. While housing conditions have improved dramatically for rural residents over the past three decades, more than 3 percent of all rural households occupy a unit with moderate problems, including inadequate services (kitchen/plumbing) and crowding (2009 American Housing Survey).

Attempted Suicide in a Largely Rural Area During an Eight Year Period

Abstract: This is a survey of 762 cases of attempted suicide occurring in the largely rural areas of Shropshire and parts of Montgomeryshire, during an eight-year period. The annual incidence was shown to be increasing at a rate beyond that which could be expected. It was, however, lower than the equivalent rate found in urban communities. The increasing use of psychotropic drugs in suicidal attempts was noted.

Medicinal plants and appalachia

Abstract: Plant materials from Appalachian forests have been used in the manufacture of drugs since early colonial times, and the collection of these wild medicinal plants has been an important source of supplemental income for residents of Appalachia for several generations. However, collecting has diminished greatly over the past 25 to 30 years. This decrease in the amount of materials harvested has been due to changing social patterns, decreases in plant populations, and-to a limited extent-increased imports from abroad. In Appalachia, the population has migrated from rural to urban areas. At the same time, blue-collar employment has increased, and those who remained in the rural areas are reluctant to work in the fields and forests. These changing social patterns have contributed to the decline in medicinal plant harvesting. Past over-harvesting has reduced plant populations materially, so collections are more difficult and less profitable. Ginseng, once common in the mountains, is scarce now, and only isolated plants are found. A number of genera have suffered a similar fate. Technological changes in the area also have played a role. The bark of certain trees, like black cherry and pine, used in cough remedies, was once harvested by hand, but it is now produced in quantity as a byproduct from lumber mills. Foreign imports of medicinal plants have been increasing, although exact figures are not readily available. In 1965, imports of botanical drug materials in three categoriesnatural crude drugs of vegetable origin, natural advanced drugs of vegetable origin, and drug compounds of vegetable origin-totaled over 13 million pounds, with a value of $5,832,706 (16). India was our leading

Impact of Water Recreational Development on Rural Property Values

Abstract: Public investment in water-based recreation facilities is made to increase the recreation potential of an area and to improve the economic resource base of the area. Estimates of the impact of one such investment on the structure of the land market and on property values were made for a rural area in Pennsylvania. The findings of the study support the general hypothesis that investment in water-based recreation facilities does significantly influence the value of rural property and the structure of the rural land market. Property characteristics and subdivision activity on surrounding properties had to be considered in addition to distance from the recreational development to measure the impact of this public investment.

Fertility and poverty in the United States: some implications for family-planning programs evaluation and research.

Abstract: This survey of the literature finds that large family size is most likely to occur when family income is less than $2000 a year when the woman is not employed outside the home when the family lives in a rural area or has rural origins and when educational level of the wife is 8th grade or less. When urbanized low-income families are less likely to have unusually large families they are more likely to marry sooner and have their children closer together than are stable working-class and middle-income families. Since nonwhites are more likely to have lower incomes and educational levels and are also more likely to have rural backgrounds it is no surprise that nonwhites have larger families than whites. The illegitimacy rate has increased rapidly over the period 1940-1966 fueled by high unemployment rates especially among blacks welfare policies which discriminate against families in which a father is present and low contraceptive use among poor families. Studies done to date have been limited because they have concentrated on white middle-class married couples. Several of the studies were done before modern contraceptive methods were available and most of the classic surveys have been limited to 1 city or 1 geographic area. Future research should focus on the social psychological and economic factors that influence family planning especially among lower-income families which appeals can be used with such families and the effects of different types of delivery services. Administrative studies also need to be made. Future family planning efforts should also be directed toward males.

Nutritional status of primary school children in a rural area of Lucknow

Abstract: A study of the nutritional status of 812 rural primary school children from 6 to 15 years of age is presented. Most of the children came from the large low socio-economic group of rural families.