Abstract
This chapter explores and discusses the instrumentality of planning in the pursuit of rural sustainability using Zimbabwe as a case study. This is against the background that there is a growing bias towards urban areas in terms of planning for sustainability even though there are still more people living in rural places than in urban areas and that urban areas largely depend on rural areas for resources. The chapter argues that sustainability in rural areas is a function of deliberate planning. It engages the qualitative research approach, making use of document reviews and key informant interviews as data collection instruments. It is revealed that sustainability in rural Zimbabwe can remain a pie in the sky if the current approaches to planning are not revisited. Sustainability being plural and multidimensional concept, planning for it requires a multi-stakeholder approach, transcending rural and urban areas, the public and private sector, civic organisations and the rural communities as well as strong institutional arrangements that provide for transparent governance.
Highlights
The modernist approach to the development of rural places resulted in the bias towards urban areas as it was generally assumed that urbanisation of rural places was an indicator of development, as put forward by Rao [12], more attention was put to industrialisation than the agricultural sector, the rural suffered
The first concerns the content of rural planning that is the strategies and policies that underlie what rural planning seeks to achieve
The second may be termed the institutional framework within which rural planning operates, especially the agencies and actors involved and how they interact
Summary
Development trends point to the fact that the global population is urbanising [1] and that more than 50% of the world’s population is urban [1, 2]. On the other hand, is making farming which is the major rural economic activity, difficult as yields are continuously reducing owing to extreme weather patterns This exposes the rural communities to high levels of poverty and distress and to exploit the natural resources in an unsustainable manner. The assumed model of developing rural places was inspired or guided by the modernist philosophy whose focus was mainly hinged on, among other processes, capital investment, the application of science to production and urbanisation [6]. This approach was materialistic in its conceptualisation of development; little consideration was paid to qualitative aspects of development such as improved quality of life and access to basic services. The resultant effect of this approach to development was increased poverty in rural places [13, 14], unsustainable exploitation of raw materials from the rural areas as inputs for industrialisation in urban areas, environmental degradation and the consequential effects such as climate change
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
