Rapid Rural-urban Migration Research Articles

AGING, MIGRATION, AND GRANDPARENTING IN POST–ONE CHILD POLICY CHINA

Abstract China’s rapid rural-urban migration and population ageing are posing significant challenges to traditional patterns of intergenerational familial support. To tackle population ageing, China’s one-child policy has been replaced by a two-child policy, subsequently a three-child policy. With limited institutional childcare facilities in place, ageing grandparents from rural areas often move to the cities where their adult migrant children settle to provide care for grandchildren. This group of older, rural people are largely marginalised and are invisible on the current research and policy agenda. This ongoing study, conducted in the Yangtze River delta urban area — one of the most developed, crowded, and the largest migrant-receiving urban regions in China — aims to uncover their experiences during the process of migration and adaptation, and establish the way in which this arrangement of grandparenting has impacted their everyday lives and well-being. Three compelling themes emerged at this stage: 1) intensified caring responsibilities imposed on older women largely owing to patriarchy; 2) intersection of old age, being women and exclusion of social welfare due to having a rural origin contribute to poor well-being; 3) the feeling of a lack of balance in terms of family exchange over the life course is not uncommon. It is possible that urbanisation will reinforce vulnerability and marginalisation of and exacerbate social exclusion of older women from rural origin. This project will form an important evidence base to tackle issues such as social exclusion of disadvantaged communities in China against the backdrop of rapid population ageing and urbanisation.

Rural Land Management and Revitalization through a Locally Coordinated Integrated Master Plan—A Model from Germany to China

Land management has its local dimension in rural, peri-urban, and urban perspectives. Recently China adopted rural revitalization in response to the rapid rural–urban migration and the emergence of hollow villages, characterized by declining and ageing populations, limited economic and social opportunities for residents, and depleting natural resources. It covers political, cultural, social, and ecological progress issues for speeding up local development in rural areas. By taking a specific cross-country approach, this study presents the evolution of adapting the experience of Bavarian rural revitalization to Sichuan, China, through the coordinated, integrated master plan approach. It frames an approach to rural revitalization in China by drawing on Bavarian experiences in rural development. The study is based on a pilot project in the Sichuan Province of China undertaken by the Hanns Seidel Foundation to strengthen the Chinese rural revitalization strategy. It addresses the rural development complexity in China through a locally coordinated, integrated master plan based on adapting rural development principles from Bavaria (Germany) to China. It shows that, at the local level, Germany’s rural development principles can be applied to China. It contributes to cross-country, future-orientated support for rural revitalization, strengthening communities, nature protection, and improving the living conditions of rural people.

Assessment of the outcomes of innovative construction technologies in slum upgrading: A case of Mathare Valley, Nairobi

Affordable housing was one of the four pillars of Kenya’s big four agenda of 2018. Rapid rural-urban migration and the high cost of formal housing units have led to the proliferation of informal settlements commonly referred to as slums. Provision of decent housing is still a challenge in Kenya due to continuous population growth and high demand for low cost housing. The aim of this paper was to assess the outcomes of innovative construction in housing in slum upgrading in Mathare valley. Post-occupancy survey approach was used to establish existing technological challenges on the walls, roof and floors of the upgraded units. Structured questionnaires were administered to the slum residents. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data and results were presented in tables. Results indicated that the upgrade improved the houses structural envelope of walls, floors and roofs. The respondent’s perception of the scheme in terms of quality and acceptability was significant though deterioration of the structural envelope with time was evident. The upgrade improved the physical infrastructure and livelihoods as compared to the previous situation characterized by poor sanitation, degradable roofs, and walls and inadequate of social amenities. The relationships between residents were improved as compared to the previous situation. Better communal facilities such as roads, drainage and toilets were realized. The previous houses were made of assorted degradable materials which were substituted with fairly permanent elements during the upgrade. In conclusion, innovative construction technologies improved the social, economic and physical aspects of the project but certain aspects remained unchanged. The innovative construction method should focus on pro-poor approaches like improvement of the existing structures in lieu of demolition. The residents should be involved in assessing and determining their needs to ensure construction of houses suits their interests. Effective monitoring is critical to avoid displacement and minimize political interference and corruption.

Throwntogetherness in Dhaka: rethinking urban planning

Rapid spatial growth and rural-urban migration in Dhaka have influenced the dynamic evolution of the city’s unplanned and old neighbourhoods. Despite development control and planning regulations, following the diverse needs of the residents, most neighbourhoods evolve through organic transformation and restructuring of space. This photo essay argues that the ‘throwntogetherness’ of the citizens in these neighbourhoods results from cohesion, mutual support, and affordability priorities. In contrast, the pursuit of ordered and regimented urban space in the city denies the fluid transformation that has led to high value planned residential areas and condominiums, predominantly to provide exclusive urban services to those who can afford them. However, such placemaking creates fragmentation and encourages hostility and ‘thrownapartness’. This essay contends that the planned production of space in this city should recognise the value of diversity, fluidity and openness and move away from exclusive and rigid space making.

Farmers' Exit from Land Operation in Rural China: Does the Price of Agricultural Mechanization Services Matter?

AbstractThis study uses data covering 3,914 farm households, collected from Henan province in China, to investigate the links between the price of agricultural mechanization services and farmers' exit from land operation. The results indicate that the increasing price of agricultural mechanization services leads to farmers leaving land operation, especially when the high sunk costs and the long‐term breakeven period of self‐owned machinery are considered. This effect is intensified by the rapid rural–urban migration in China. Further analysis reveals that the surge in service prices reduced land renting‐in and encouraged non‐grain production. Our analysis suggests that the agricultural mechanization service market in China tends to work against the survival of smallholder farmers. However, the price of agricultural mechanization services is conducive to eliminating less‐productive farmers and cultivating new agricultural operators.

Prospects of interventions to alleviate rural–urban migration in Jiangsu Province, China based on sensitivity and scenario analysis

ABSTRACT Rural–urban migration is an adaptive response to location-specific environmental or socio-economic stressors. Jiangsu Province, China is witnessing rapid economic growth fuelled by manufacturing and services sector. Rural–urban migration in Jiangsu, which brings higher stress to resource-carrying capacity of urban areas, is driven by rural “push” factors, principally labour surplus and unemployment in agriculture. This study investigates possible policy interventions aimed at relieving the rapid rural–urban migration in Jiangsu based on a sensitivity analysis of driving factors in rural agricultural production. It shows that rural–urban migration is sensitive to input elasticities of precipitation and labour. Two groups of scenario analysis corresponding to possible policy interventions are implemented. The first policy focuses on providing government subsidies to rural non-agricultural industries then compensate for the shrinking agricultural production. Another policy supports education in rural areas to provide more skilled labour resource which can be absorbed by non-agricultural industries. Both two policies are effective in reducing rural unemployment and alleviating rural–urban migration.

Do land renting-in and its marketization increase labor input in agriculture? Evidence from rural China

There exist problems of land abandonment and low-efficiency land use when China is undergoing active rural-urban migration. Whether increasing land scale can attract more labor engaged in land use is important to increase land-use efficiency and relieve labor shortage in agriculture. This paper uses data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey to assess the relationship between land renting-in and labor input in agriculture. The results show that land renting-in increases labor input in agriculture. With higher land rents and profit motives, more labor in lessees’ households will be engaged in agriculture. Further analysis indicates that there is no difference in labor input in agriculture between lessees transacting with acquaintances and those transacting with non-acquaintances for the increasing marketization of land rentals between acquaintances in today’s China. Our analysis implies that developing land rental markets and promoting the marketization of land rentals are important approaches to land use sustainability and relieving labor shortage in agriculture, which has great policy implications for countries with rapid rural-urban migration and abandoned arable land.

Understanding the Challenges Faced by Child-Focused Civil Society Organizations in Ho Chi Minh City

The presence of an active civil society is one of the most integral parts of progressive and productive community development. Within the past two decades civil society organizations have grown in size and scope throughout Viet Nam. This has been in an attempt to offset the divestment of international aid networks and match the rapid economic development occurring in urban centers like Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The prospect of high paying jobs resulting from increased domestic and foreign investment in urban areas has encouraged rapid rural-urban migration within HCMC. As a result, urban poverty is on the rise in HCMC and the children of these vulnerable populations face unfavorable odds in educational, emotional, and legal support. The civil society organizations discussed in this paper aim to fill these gaps by supporting children in need in HCMC. However, this research finds that organizations lack sustainable funding networks, autonomy, and human resources. To ensure that their practices persist, government policy must be implemented to encourage a culture of domestic charity from individuals and businesses, as well as assist these organization’s capacity building measures.

Urbanization and Its Impact on Urban Poor Housing Policies Based on Some Experiences of Third World Countries

Many third world countries have experienced a process of rapid urbanization. The rapid rural–urban migration and the lack of proactive planning have resulted in the expansion of slums and squatter settlements inhabited by low-income and the poor, excessive house rents and poor or total absence of infrastructural facilities. The problem more recently exacerbated in most cities of the third world as a result of the failure of governments to respond adequately to the urban development challenges by adopting adequate housing policies to the urban poor. This paper focuses on the study of urbanization and the impact of poverty and deprived urban living conditions on urban areas. It aims to find out the correlation between the poor urban areas and the housing policies, pinpoints the most successful housing policies to be taken to provide an adequate environment, and proposes basic guidelines for housing policies of the poor in the countries of the third world.
 Keywords: Urban poor, Urbanization, Housing policies, Third world countries.

Urbanization and Its Impact on Urban Poor Housing Policies Based on Some Experiences of Third World Countries

Many third world countries have experienced a process of rapid urbanization. The rapid rural–urban migration and the lack of proactive planning have resulted in the expansion of slums and squatter settlements inhabited by low-income and the poor, excessive house rents and poor or total absence of infrastructural facilities. The problem more recently exacerbated in most cities of the third world as a result of the failure of governments to respond adequately to the urban development challenges by adopting adequate housing policies to the urban poor. This paper focuses on the study of urbanization and the impact of poverty and deprived urban living conditions on urban areas. It aims to find out the correlation between the poor urban areas and the housing policies, pinpoints the most successful housing policies to be taken to provide an adequate environment, and proposes basic guidelines for housing policies of the poor in the countries of the third world.
 Keywords: Urban poor, Urbanization, Housing policies, Third world countries.

Peri-urban land grabbing? dilemmas of formalising tenure and land acquisitions around the cities of Bamako and Ségou, Mali

ABSTRACTThis brief note identifies the consequences of land acquisitions in peri-urban spaces around the cities of Bamako and Ségou, Mali. This contributes to debates surrounding the rapid expansion of African cities faced with rapid rural-urban migration and new arrivals settling in precarious conditions. West Africa has a long history of urbanisation, in some cases accompanied by highly productive and intensified land use. It is, therefore, vitally important to question whether formal property rights within peri-urban spaces are a viable option to secure rights for those most marginal and/or recently disposed of their rural land holdings. What are some alternative formalisation mechanisms, which avoid the hazards associated with formal titling, and address the precarious tenure conditions in peri-urban zones?

Influence of rapid rural-urban population migration on riverine nitrogen pollution: perspective from ammonia-nitrogen.

China is undergoing a rapid transition from a rural to an urban society. This societal change is a consequence of a national drive toward economic prosperity. However, accelerated urban development resulting from rapid population migration from rural to urban lands has led to high levels of untreated sewage entering aquatic ecosystems directly. Consequently, many of these regions have been identified as hot spots of riverine nitrogen (N) pollution because of the increasing level of urban point-source discharge. In order to address this concern, we assessed effects of urban development on ammonia-nitrogen (AN) loads using a panel data regression model. The model, expressed as an exponential function of anthropogenic N inputs multiplied by a power function of streamflow, was applied to 20 subwatersheds of the Huai River Basin for the years 2003-2010. The results indicated that this model can account for 81% of the variation in annual AN fluxes over space and time. Application of this model to three scenarios of urban development and sewage treatment (termed urbanization priority, sustainable development, and environmental priority) suggests that future N pollution will inevitably deteriorate if current urban environmental management and investment are not significantly improved. Stronger support for environmental management is very critical to alleviate N pollution and improve water quality. More effort should focus on improving sewage treatment and the N removal rate of the current sewage system in light of the increasing degree of urbanization.

An explanation of labor migration and grain output growth: Findings of a case study in eastern Tibetan Plateau

Although there has been rapid rural-urban migration in rural China since the 1980s, the total grain production of China saw a continuous increase. As of today, the relationship between labor migration and grain output growth remains partial and contradictory. The main aim of this empirical study is to examine some specific measures adopted by peasants to deal with labor shortage and maintain grain output growth. Using tracking survey, participatory rural appraisal methods, and land plot investigation, we investigate 274 households and 1405 arable land plots in four villages in two stages in Jinchuan county, southwestern China. The results show that continuous emigration of labor from the four villages caused the abandonment of a small amount of land, decreased labor intensity, and reduced multiple cropping index, shifting from “corn-wheat” multiple cropping pattern to the “corn” cropping pattern, which means labor shortage in some households. At the same time, owing to surplus labor in the villages, the peasants utilize a series of means to offset the negative impacts of labor migration on grain output, such as cropland transfer, labor exchange in the busy seasons, and the substitution of capital and technology for labor. The econometric analysis also shows that labor migration boosts grain production. This study provides a reasonable explanation of grain output growth under rural-urban migration.

Double Exposure Impacts in Urban Area (A Case Study on Dhaka City)

The principal objective of this paper is to identify the double exposure impact in Dhaka city. Double exposure is the simultaneous impact of global climate change and economic globalization. Double exposure refers to the negative impacts of both global changes. A particular region or sector or group of people can be impacted for climate change and globalization. From this base, double exposure has impacts in Dhaka city. For these negative impacts, Dhaka city is becoming vulnerable. Globalization has given the opportunity to earn, but for rapid unplanned urbanization, rural-urban migration, population growth and lack of utility services making city dwellers vulnerable. In addition, global climate change has direct impact on Dhaka city. For this both impact, city living standard is becoming low or poor. That is why; city dwellers are suffering for livelihoods loss and different diseases. Also city life is becoming more vulnerable for the lack of utility services and demand. In addition, double exposure introduced winner and loser. A loser for the impacts of climate change in rural Bangladesh becomes the partial winner for globalization in Dhaka city. Partial winners are winners just in the sense of cash income but from other perspective; these partial winners might be more loser than they were before in rural area. Considering both impacts of climate change and globalization, Dhaka city may be in a critical situation. Only an advanced double exposure impact measurement can generate the true intensity of Dhaka city’s vulnerability.

Urban air pollution, poverty, violence and health – Neurological and immunological aspects as mediating factors

Rapid rural–urban migration has created overcrowded areas characterized by concentrated poverty and increases in indoor and outdoor air pollutants. These “hotspots” constitute an increased risk of violence and disease outbreaks. We hypothesize that the effects of poverty and associated air pollution-related stress on impaired cognitive skills are mediated by inflammatory cytokines. A research framework is proposed, encompassing (i) an epidemiological investigation of associations between poverty, high concentrations of air pollutants, violence and health, (ii) a longitudinal follow-up of working memory capacities and inflammatory markers, and (iii) intervention programs aiming to strengthen employability and decreased exposures to toxic air pollutants.

The roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in the context of population growth and land use intensification in Africa

This article reviews the past and potential future roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as responses to population growth in the process of land use intensification and livelihood transformation. The farm size distribution and the existence of an inverse relationship (IR) between farm size and land productivity in SSA and the implications of this relationship for efficiency and equity are investigated. More secure property rights and removal of restrictions on land markets have the potential to create both efficiency and equity benefits, but there are high risks of elite capture of large land areas with inefficient and inequitable outcomes. This situation is the case not only in land-abundant areas but also in urban and peri-urban areas where increasingly larger proportions of people will make their living. Increasing population pressure in densely populated rural areas contributes to more rapid rural–urban migration, and creating alternative livelihood opportunities for the migrating youth population is essential to achieving economic development with social stability.

농촌마을 정주환경분석을 통한 과소마을 임계규모 결정지표 개발

ABSTRACT : The rapid rural urban migration and aging has generated an over-depopulation problems in rural areas since the 1980s. The purpose of this study constructs the marginal size of rural over-depopulated village through the analysis of the residential disparities such as farmer’s ratio, basic life service accessibility, and levels of social and economic factors for each village community. This marginal scale could support evaluating diverse rural policies, which have been planned to apply to the rural development programs at the village level. The major challenges for over-depopulated villages are the lack of basic facilities, production infrastructures and inactive communities in the village. Therefore, the quantitative analysis of rural residential disparities according to rural village scale can provide the criteria for rural over-depopulated villages. We utilized Korea Agricultural Survey Data(2010) including specific residential condition of village level. The present study adopt multinomial-logit model for quantitative analysis of different village scales and decomposition techniques to separate the direct effect by the village scale factor from the endowment effects by regional or area characteristics, and residual effect by unknown factors. The present study found that the minimum scale of a rural over-depopulated village was 40 and 60 houses for the respective conditions of farmer’s ratios less than 50% and greater than 75%. It was concluded based on the study findings that threshold scale could support evaluating the diverse rural policies, which have been planned to apply to the rural development programs at the village level.

Dyslipidaemia, Atherogenic Index and Urbanization in Central Nigeria: Associations, Impact, and a Call for Concerted Action

Dyslipidaemia, Atherogenic Index and Urbanization in Central Nigeria: Associations, Impact, and a Call for Concerted Action Dyslipidaemia is a major cardiovascular risk factor. It was earlier said to be infrequent among Blacks due to dietary and possibly genetic influences. However, Nigeria is experiencing rapid urbanization with increasing rapid rural-urban migration. The aim was to describe the pattern of dyslipidaemia in a typical rural population and genetically related urban dwellers in a way to highlight the impact of urbanization on dyslipidaemia in central Nigeria.

Changing poverty distribution in Bolivia: the role of rural–urban migration and urban services

Bolivia is a country with high levels of poverty and inequality among its peoples and regions. For the nation and its urban and rural areas, trends in the social and spatial distribution of poverty (and extreme poverty) are identified from 1976 to 2003 using UBN data with minor support where appropriate from poverty lines. The main survey between 1992 and 2001 uses composite and selected UBN to track detailed poverty change for the country’s nine departments, its ten largest cities and a selection of other smaller urban and rural municipalities. Because of rising background increases in population in the various surveyed administrative units, many instances of relative reductions in poverty are accompanied by rising absolute increases. Marked spatial variations in poverty and development in the country over the last several decades are identified as the main driver for the country’s quickening pace of rural–urban migration. As a result, the paper concludes by assessing two different but closely related views. One investigation tests the notion that because more poor people have been living in Bolivia’s cities than in its rural areas since the mid to late 1990s, rapid rural–urban migration has simply shifted the locus of poverty from the countryside to the cities in a process called, the ‘urbanisation of poverty.’ A second, more challenging, investigation assesses the view that the flow of poor rural people to the better serviced urban areas of Bolivia has actually acted to alleviate national poverty levels.

Peri-urban transformation in South Africa: Experiences from Limpopo Province

Notwithstanding the problem of defining, and attaching meanings to, peri-urban, a great deal of work has attempted to capture the processes that underpin peri-urban dynamics; the focus being to measure peri-urban change and their outcomes. What seems to be common among peri-urban studies is the realisation that peri-urban areas are zones of rapid change. That change is often ascribed to processes of peripheral urban expansion rather than those that underpin rural change. That is to say that notions of peri-urban are premised on urban change. The question that arises from that premise is how rural change impact on the peri-urban. At the level of abstraction, this translates into whether rural change is a response to urban processes. In South Africa, the development of peri-urban peripheries is ascribed to black in-migration to former white areas and the failure of the state to police peri-urban boundaries. In contrast to the association of the emergence of peri-urban zones with the black immigrant, Cross (2001) argued that the end of influx control legislative measures that aimed to curb black urban migration did lead to rapid rural-urban migration, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal. This raises the question of the kinds of processes that account for peri-urban changes in post-apartheid South Africa. The present paper analyses local government transformation and its impact on the periurban of Louis Trichardt in Limpopo Province. The first part of the paper presents an overview of peri-urbanism in the context of South Africa. This is followed by discussion of local government transformation and the attendant re-conceptualisation of rural-urban boundaries. In the third part we present case study material to capture the impact of peri-urban changes on the ground. While endorsing the view that peri-urban transformation processes are associated with contradictions and unintended results, the paper seeks to locate the causes of those contradictions.