Urban-rural Dimension Research Articles

Tietoliikenneyhteydet ja kuntien mahdollisuudet hyötyä digitalisaatiosta

High-speed telecommunications have a positive impact on the development of regions and municipalities. A poor digital infrastructure can lead to digital exclusion or a digital divide. In Finland, the strategy has therefore been to ensure that everyone has access to high-speed broadband. This article asks what the digital divide between different kinds of municipalities is, and how this divide affects teleworking and the use of telehealth services, for example. Answers are sought through spatial data and statistical analyses based on open municipal statistics from Traficom and Ookla. The results show that the digital divide is verifiable both in the urban-rural dimension and in the development of the telecommunications infrastructure. In the well-connected municipalities, telework and the use of digital health services were more common. Without policy measures, the digital divide would probably be even larger, as Finland has promoted the deployment of fixed broadband as part of regional and rural policy.

Interregional migration of human capital in Spain

ABSTRACT While levels of internal mobility have been trending down in many advanced economies, the interregional migration rates of Spanish young adults have increased. This paper analyses the internal movements of the Spanish-born population aged 25–39 between NUTS-2 regions from 1992 to 2018, including sub-periods linked to the Spanish economic context. The analysis incorporates the urban–rural dimension within each region and the educational level of migrants, a variable that has not been included in Spanish internal migration studies. We used flow register data of migration and sociodemographic information from the Labor Force Survey. The results show that migrations between regions have become more unbalanced over time, especially since the 2008 crisis. In addition, a new trend of out-migration from cities in peripheral regions has been detected, which contrasts with the former high level of rural out-migration. A great educational selectivity of out-migrants and a growing internal brain drain have also been found. Moreover, qualified human capital accumulation has been increasing in Madrid.

Rural-urban differentials in the relationship between household wealth index and maternal anaemia status in Nigeria

Anaemia - a condition of low haemoglobin level in the blood is prevalent among women in Nigeria despite years of interventions. Wealth status have implications for this prevalence but there is a dearth of research examining this relationship and residential dimensions in it. The social determinant of health framework was employed to understand the rural-urban dimension of this relationship. Chi-square test and multivariate logit regression models were used to analyse data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (n=13,575). We found that anaemia status is higher among rural women (66%). The odds of being anaemic is higher with decreasing wealth status irrespective of place of residence but the odds are higher for poor women in urban areas compared to poor women in rural areas after adjusting for covariates. Maternal health interventions should be more innovative in their design of programs by being sensitive of residential dimension.

Urban-Rural Dimension of Falls and Associated Risk Factors among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in West Java, Indonesia.

Falls are one of the common problems among older adults; it is estimated that 684,000 fatal cases of falls occur every year. Furthermore, falls constitute one of the leading causes of mortality due to accidental injury. This study aims to identify the risk factors for falls in the older adults who live in the community, according to the dimensions of the living area: in urban and rural. The proportional sampling method was used to identify the rural and urban areas in West Java Prefecture; meanwhile, the incidence of fall in the last 12 months was selected as the outcome variable. Furthermore, sociodemographic background, chronic medical condition, fear of falling, visual and hearing impairments, Activity of Daily Living (ADL), Barthel index, physical performance (Short Performance Physical Battery (SPPB)), and living environment were analyzed to identify the risk factors that contribute to the incidence of falls. A total of 611 older adults participated in this study: 62% of them are living in rural area and 38% of them are living urban areas. More than 70% of study participants were aged 60–69 years, while 73% were females. There is no significant difference in fall prevalence in rural (16.5%) and urban (10.7%) areas (p value = 0.228). Furthermore, the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the male gender (OR = 0.29, 95%CI [0.09–0.88]), chronic illness (OR = 3.25, 95%CI [1.24–8.53]), and visual impairment (OR = 3.6, 95%CI [1.52–8.54]) were associated with fall among older adults in urban areas. Meanwhile, visual impairment (OR = 1.81, 95%CI [1.03–3.18]) and living environment (OR = 3.36, 95% CI [1.14–9.93]) were significantly associated with falls in rural areas. Based on the associated risk factors identified in this study, a different approach is needed to reduce the falling risk among older adults in urban and rural areas in Indonesia.

Social Vulnerability across the Great Lakes Basin: A County-Level Comparative and Spatial Analysis

Social vulnerability refers to how social positions affect the ability to access resources during a disaster or disturbance, but there is limited empirical examination of its spatial patterns in the Great Lakes Basin (GLB) region of North America. In this study, we map four themes of social vulnerability for the GLB by using the Center for Disease Control’s Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI) for every county in the basin and compare mean scores for each sub-basin to assess inter-basin differences. Additionally, we map LISA results to identify clusters of high and low social vulnerability along with the outliers across the region. Results show the spatial patterns depend on the social vulnerability theme selected, with some overlapping clusters of high vulnerability existing in Northern and Central Michigan, and clusters of low vulnerability in Eastern Wisconsin along with outliers across the basins. Differences in these patterns also indicate the existence of an urban–rural dimension to the variance in social vulnerabilities measured in this study. Understanding regional patterns of social vulnerability help identify the most vulnerable people, and this paper presents a framework for policymakers and researchers to address the unique social vulnerabilities across heterogeneous regions.

The role of P2P platforms in enhancing financial inclusion in the United States: An analysis of peer‐to‐peer lending across the rural–urban divide

AbstractIn this paper, we examine the role of peer‐to‐peer (P2P) platforms in enhancing financial inclusion from the borrowers’ point of view across the rural–urban dimension. We show that when number of bank branches decrease in a rural community, the P2P loan requests increase if there is at least one bank branch in the community allowing people to participate in the P2P market. We also find that the number of P2P loan requests from urban areas is higher when such areas have fewer pawnshops per capita. Our results suggest that P2P enhances financial inclusion of those lacking traditional institutions in rural communities and offers an alternative to those with fewer fringe banks in urban communities.

The Role of P2P Platforms in Enhancing Financial Inclusion in US – An Analysis of Peer-to-Peer Lending Across the Rural-Urban Divide

In this paper, we examine the role of P2P platforms in enhancing financial inclusion from the borrowers’ point of view across the rural-urban dimension. We show that when number of bank branches decrease in a rural community, the P2P loan requests increase if there is at least one bank branch in the community allowing people to participate in the P2P market. We also find that the number of P2P loan requests from urban areas are higher when such areas have fewer pawnshops per capita. Our results suggest that P2P enhances financial inclusion of those lacking traditional institutions in rural communities and offers an alternative to those with fewer fringe banks in urban communities.

The combined effects of centralization and carnivore management on sheep farmers and sheep farming in Norway

ABSTRACT Sheep farmers in areas with large carnivores experience economic loss, psychological stress, and perceived alienation from political processes. This can result in decisions that differ from those made by farmers in areas without large carnivores, possibly influencing the whole farming system. We used applications for farming subsidies to examine changes in sheep farming in Norway 1999 to 2017. Along the urban-rural dimension, we found a stronger decline in increasingly rural areas. The decline was furthermore larger inside regions used for the reintroduction of large carnivores than outside these regions. The observed decline in some regions was compensated by growth in central regions, outside carnivore prone areas, and on managed land where the sheep was protected from carnivores. The result complements studies of mental dispositions and decision processes aiming to explain how large carnivores and the carnivore management policy influence the farmers' attitudes and decisions, resulting in behaviors that effect larger social systems.

Hunger in Madagascar: A Case Study

This paper is a continuation of a larger study which assesses hunger in African countries. The purpose of these papers in this is to look at the scope of hunger in countries and then to identify the factors that predict hunger in each individual country. This is the 5th paper in the series and is concerned with hunger in Madagascar, one of Africa’s and the world’s hungriest countries. The paper is important for several reasons. One is the fact that it, like all the country level papers, is based on a national probability sample, something the literature stresses is lacking and needed to improve hunger research. A second is that all the papers in the series, including this one, found that the literature’s suggestion that gender and the rural-urban dimension are significant predictors of hunger. These studies have provided a consistent list of significant hunger predictors. Employment in the country’s agricultural sector, wealth as measured by asset ownership, education and age were consistent significant predictors, .The surprising findings were related to respondent perception of the role of government in addressing hunger, questions like the way the government was handling whether people had enough to eat or addressing the living standards of the poor. The major policy implication of this and earlier papers is that governments need to reach out to citizens, presenting them with their food related plans and assuring them that the government is doing everything within its power to address hunger in their countries.

Is Maratha Demand for Reservation Tenable?: Evidence from India Human Development Survey

Year 2016 witnessed massive agitations by ‘dominant’ castes such as Marathas in Maharashtra, Jats in Haryana and Patidars in Gujarat demanding reservation in education and government jobs. Though several commentaries have attempted to identify factors contributing to such demands, there has been lack of evidence on what exactly is current status of these communities relative to the rest of the caste groups in respective states. This paper fills that gap by presenting descriptive findings on economic and educational status of Marathas in Maharashtra by utilising India Human Development Survey. The paper finds that on an average, Maratha households have higher incomes and lower poverty relative to the others with the exception of Brahman households. They are also over-represented in government and public sector jobs and in white collar or professional occupations when compared with their share in the sample. Hence, demand for inclusion of Marathas among ‘Other Backward Classes’ is untenable. But at the same time, a large section of Marathas are in the two bottom income quintiles and engaged in occupations that are not well-paying. Further, a substantial proportion of them are in rural areas and in some instances, rural-urban dimension turns out to be more important than the caste dimension. Thus, caste alone is unlikely to capture various ways in which households are deprived. How does one move beyond caste and incorporate other dimension leading to deprivation is an important policy question that needs urgent attention.

Are suburbs perceived as rural villages? Landscape-related residential preferences in Switzerland

The current land use planning discourse in Switzerland highlights the need for urban redensification and the limitation of sprawl. However, little is known of the population's residential choice and preference related to urban or rural surroundings and how sub- and peri-urban residential environments are judged. We therefore analyse preferred and perceived residence, focusing on the urban-rural dimension and related urban-rural residential preference to landscape features, amenities, and the availability of public services in the immediate living environment, controlling for socio-economic, lifestyle, and life stage characteristics.The analyses of a 2014 representative online survey (N=1208) show that a majority of the population prefers living in “rural villages”, even though, from a more functional point of view, most of the places in which these people live could be considered suburbs at the fringes of metropolitan regions. “Suburbs”, however, are among the least preferred residential environments. Moreover, an additional expert survey (N=53) reveals a discrepancy between planning professionals and the population: experts in the fields of urban planning, nature conservancy, and monument preservation show a higher urban preference. The findings of our analyses are discussed in light of the literature on landscape and residential preferences and lead to conclusions regarding spatial planning practice.

Financial Burden Associated with Ill-Health: Evidence from the Elderly Population in Nigeria

This study investigated the financial burden associated with ill-health among the elderly in Nigeria. Data were drawn from the 2010 National Living standard survey covering the six geopolitical zones with rural-urban dimension. The World Health Organization capacity to pay single threshold approach was adopted. The results showed that there is a huge financial burden associated with out-of-pocket health expenditure among the elderly in Nigeria and this financial burden increases with increase in income. This was attributed to the wide disparities in healthcare utilization between the rich and the poor, in favour of the rich. Also, more than 50% of elderly people in Nigeria have unmet healthcare needs due to poverty hence, there is need to protect them from the financial burden associated with ill-health. The study also showed that the National Health Insurance Scheme is not popular and does not make any provision for the elderly hence, there is need to establish centres for elderly care throughout the country. This can have substantial positive effect on healthcare utilization among elderly people in the country.

Regionalne zróżnicowanie poziomu starości i dynamiki procesu starzenia się ludności Kuby w kontekście przemian społeczno-gospodarczych

This article presents the origins and the impact of demographic and socio-economic factors on the process of demographic ageing of the population of Cuba. The main aim of the study was to show the dynamics and regional differences in population ageing based on the WSD dynamic ageing index, as well as the WSE economic ageing index. It was shown that the ageing process reveals moderate diversity of the investigated phenomenon both in the urban-rural dimension as well as at the regional level. The process of population ageing is progressing throughout the whole country and its fastest pace was recorded in the outermost provinces. However, spatial differences in the ageing process may change fundamentally in the years to come, which will result from internal regulations concerning the mobility of the population, and new business investments. As a result, spatial differences are likely to increase and the spatial image of the ageing process will probably change.

Das Einstimmen-Mischwahlsystem bei baden-württembergischen Landtagswahlen: Wie fehlende Listen zur ungleichen deskriptiven Repräsentation von Stadt und Land in den Fraktionen beitragen

State-level elections in Baden-Wurttemberg are run under an unusual mixed-member electoral system, which gives citizens just one vote, but does not use party lists - allocating seats in the second tier to the “best losers” from the plurality tier instead. Several aspects of this system have already been criticized. This article presents a novel systematic analysis of how the lack of party lists affects the descriptive representation of urban and rural constituencies. For this purpose the distribution of votes and seats within parties is compared, since bias caused by the electoral system is likely to appear at this level, where it also particularly matters due to the key political role of parliamentary party groups. There is a considerable seats-votes-disproportionality along the urban-rural dimension within all parties. A counterfactual analysis of the results of the state-level election in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 corroborates the argument that the electoral system drives this pattern. The reform of the Baden-Wurttemberg electoral system announced in the 2016 coalition agreement is therefore overdue also from the perspective of adequate representation of urban and rural areas.

Effect of education on migration decisions in Ghana: a rural-urban perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of education on migration decisions focusing on rural and urban in-migrants by comparing the 2005/2006 and 2012/2013 rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS5 and GLSS6). After correcting for selectivity bias, the authors observed that anticipated welfare gain and socio-economic variables such as sector of employment, sex, experience, age, educational level and marital status significantly affect an individual’s migration decision. Design/methodology/approach – The authors made use of Sjaastad’s (1962) human capital framework as a basis for examining the impact of education on migration. The migration decision equation was based on the Heckman two stage procedure. Findings – While educational attainment is observed to have a positive effect on migration decision in the period 2005/2006, the authors find a negative effect of educational attainment on migration decision in the period 2012/2013. The effect of educational attainment on migration decision in 2005/2006 for urban in-migrant is higher than the effect for rural in-migrant, with its significance varying for the different stages of educational attainment. In absolute terms, whereas the effect of secondary educational attainment on migration decisions for urban in-migrant is higher than that of rural in-migrant, the reverse holds for higher educational attainment during the period 2012/2013. Social implications – Based on the mixed effect of education on migration decision as evident from the study, policies to enhance the educational system in Ghana should be complemented with job creations in the entire country. Moreover, special attention should be given to the rural sector in such a way that the jobs to be created in the sector do not require skilled workers. With quality education and job creation, the welfare of individuals living in urban and rural areas will be enhanced. Originality/value – In spite of the importance of education in migration decisions, there is scanty literature on the rural-urban dimension. To the best of the author’s knowledge there is no literature in the Ghanaian context which examines the rural and urban perspective of the impact of education on migration with a much recent data. Further, the author consider how the determinants of migration decision have changed over time focusing on rural and urban perspectives.

Urban-rural exploitation: An underappreciated dimension of environmental injustice

Relationships in which populations benefit from practices that harm other populations are environmentally unjust. Environmental injustice commonly occurs due to disparities in economic and political power, and it is typically analyzed along dimensions of race and class. However, an urban-rural dimension of environmental injustice exists, one that intersects with race and class. Rural environmental injustice can be characterized as a parasitic relationship between urban and rural communities because urban populations obtain most of their food and energy from rural areas and return their wastes to rural areas. We explore the negative consequences of agricultural and energy production in rural areas through two examples: industrial hog production in eastern North Carolina and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan. The negative public health impacts of urban-rural environmental injustice come from human exposure to specific pollutants, degradation of the built environment, limits on popular democracy, and ultimately, suppression of the feedback between consumption and production that could lessen global environmental problems. Pressure to control the effects of industrial energy and agriculture systems is lessened because the urban majority does not experience environmental degradation that affects rural populations. A basic step towards reducing rural environmental injustice is to develop the scientific framework needed to monitor pollutants and health outcomes in rural places through partnerships between researchers and rural community members that promote broader goals of economic, racial and social justice.

Contextualizing small family firms: How does the urban–rural context affect firm employment growth?

This paper studies the effects of family governance and ownership on firm employment growth, extending existing knowledge by including in the analysis the regional context in which firms are located. We create a regional taxonomy to capture the urban–rural dimension and combine this with the corporate governance structure of the firm. Our results show that, being a family firm per se does not influence employment growth. However, when corporate governance structure and regional context are combined, the urban–rural context influences family firm and nonfamily firm employment growth differently, with family firms exhibiting greater employment growth, compared with nonfamily firms, in rural areas.

Continuities in the HIV/AIDS Policy Debate in South Africa.

Wouters et al. (2010) critiqued the prospects of success for South Africa's new National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV/AIDS; they stressed the need to mobilize people living with HIV/AIDS and their communities in order to implement the comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy. Utilizing the South African sample from the Fourth Round of the Afrobarometer survey, this paper identifies the factors which predicted respondent selection of HIV/AIDS as an important issue for the government to address. The identification of HIV/AIDS as an important governmental problem became the study's dependent variable. Other possible important factors were whether respondents had personal knowledge of HIV/AIDS, meaning they knew someone who died of AIDS, poverty, and their assessments of the way the government was handling the HIV/AIDS crisis. Respondent background and demographic characteristics were also included in a logistic regression analysis. The results identified three factors that predicted respondent choice of HIV/AIDS: race, especially being a Black South African, the choice of health as a governmental priority, and the rural-urban dimension. The conclusion was that HIV/AIDS, as opposed to health, should be the focus of campaigns designed to mobilize public support of comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategies in South Africa.

Smartness, culture and local authority ICT awareness: an empirical enquiry for a province in Poland

The paper reports on a sequence of analyses of the local self-governmental authority website-related features in conjunction with the socio-economic characteristics of the respective administrative units (counties and municipalities). These analyses had two objectives: (a) assessment of the local authority websites, their content and functionality, also in a dynamic perspective, and (b) inquiry into the potential interrelations between the specific features of the websites and the nature of the local unit, with special emphasis on the local development in the rural areas and its forward path. The study has been carried out for the capital province of Mazowsze in Poland, but some hints as to a quasi-comparative international study are also provided. First of all, substantial progress between 2003 and 2008 in the quality of the local authority websites is shown. Further, the conclusions from the study imply a rather loose connection between the characteristics of these websites and the socio-economic profile of the unit, including the characterisation along the urban-rural dimension. At the same time, though, an important role becomes apparent, played by the broadly conceived local culture, including the ‘smartness’ aspect, as perceived by the present authors. This role of culture and ‘smartness’ is visible in the very clear divergences from the general regularities observed, and is partly also associated with the socio-economic function of the respective local unit, as distinguished from the, say, income and education level characteristics of the local population.

Smartness, culture and local authority ICT awareness: an empirical enquiry for a province in Poland

The paper reports on a sequence of analyses of the local self-governmental authority website-related features in conjunction with the socio-economic characteristics of the respective administrative units (counties and municipalities). These analyses had two objectives: (a) assessment of the local authority websites, their content and functionality, also in a dynamic perspective, and (b) inquiry into the potential interrelations between the specific features of the websites and the nature of the local unit, with special emphasis on the local development in the rural areas and its forward path. The study has been carried out for the capital province of Mazowsze in Poland, but some hints as to a quasi-comparative international study are also provided. First of all, substantial progress between 2003 and 2008 in the quality of the local authority websites is shown. Further, the conclusions from the study imply a rather loose connection between the characteristics of these websites and the socio-economic profile of the unit, including the characterisation along the urban-rural dimension. At the same time, though, an important role becomes apparent, played by the broadly conceived local culture, including the ‘smartness’ aspect, as perceived by the present authors. This role of culture and ‘smartness’ is visible in the very clear divergences from the general regularities observed, and is partly also associated with the socio-economic function of the respective local unit, as distinguished from the, say, income and education level characteristics of the local population.