Ruralopolises : The Spatial Organisation and Residential Land Economy of High-density Rural Regions in South Asia

Abstract

Many rural regions, extending over thousands of square kilometres, in parts of Asia and Africa, have population densities comparable to Western metropolitan areas. In these agrarian and poor regions, population density is precipitating thresholds for collective facilities and services on the one hand, and squeezing the provision of land for living on the other. Such regions have been named ruralopolises to underline the fusion of rural economic and social systems with metropolitan spatial organisations. Ruralopolises are the sites of urbanisation through implosion. This paper outlines the phenomenon of ruralopolises and explores their emerging forms of settlement and evolving residential land tenures. It is essentially a conceptual exploration of high-density rural settlement systems based upon examples and observations from south Asian ruralopolitan regions. Given the scale of ruralopolitan regions in the Third World, it appears that ruralopolises are another urban frontier ripening for spatial and infrastructural crises in the 21st century.