Abstract:

In many regions, inequality continues to be strongly defined by the rural-urban divide. Across the world, rural areas tend to suffer from higher rates of poverty and other negative economic and social indicators, compared to urban places. What types of strategies can help bridge this divide? Traditional solutions have often tackled rural and urban poverty separately, without adequately acknowledging the growing interdependencies along the urban-rural continuum, which is constantly being redefined by the flows of labor, capital, ideas, people, and natural resources between places.