Is there anything different about the management of natural resources in the peri-urban interface (the zone around major towns or cities where rural and urban economies interact) that warrants special treatment in terms of research and policymaking? Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Wales have been working with counterparts from India's University of Agricultural Sciences and Karnatak University, Dharwad, in the state of Karnataka, to examine the use and management of natural resources within the peri-urban interface of the twin city of Hubli-Dharwad. They assessed the practical worth of treating such zones as distinctive socio-economic environments fitting neither town nor country stereotypes.

The research adopted a systems perspective, analysing the productivity of the peri-urban interface in terms of its dynamic and changing nature. This approach emphasises a move away from a simple geographic definition of the interface, to an understanding based on intensive linkages and flows of, for example, commodities, wastes and labour.

The first phase of the research was completed in late 1997, its outcome a natural resources profile of the peri-urban interface under study and a set of recommendations for longer-term research activities. The aim will be to provide policy recommendations that can be applied to similar situations around South Asia, regarding ways to increase productivity and sustainability in the peri-urban interface. Ongoing research is being guided by a participatory approach in a bid to find out more about community concerns as urban development impinges on former rural ways.

The research scrutinises three particular areas of interaction: environmental management, farming systems and the utilisation of urban wastes. One query the researchers will pursue is: can urban wastes can be more effectively utilised to address soil fertility problems? The research programme as a whole is also intended to result in information useful to developing environmental management planning blueprints for the city and its region in the longer term. Findings to date regarding the merit of the concept of the 'peri-urban interface' suggest the following positive indications:

• Such a concept can contribute an extra dimension to understanding rural-urban interactions.
• It emphasises flows of commodities, labour, waste, pollution and energy, so lends a new perspective to issues.
• It demonstrates the area's dynamism in respect of socio-economic, institutional and environmental change.
• It challenges the more traditional rural-urban divide idea, prevalent in academic and local government circles.

More directly policy-relevant findings include the following:

• The dynamic nature of the peri-urban interface makes it hard for institutions to adapt to the impacts of change.
• Planning approaches need revision to take account of this dynamism and the swift rate of change it engenders.
• Labour markets are influenced by proximity to urban areas: farming practices must adapt to labour shortages.
• There is scope for further enabling action by governments to reduce bottlenecks in local commodity markets.

Source(s):
"Baseline Study and Introductory Workshop for Hubli-Dharwad City-region, Karnataka, India" edited by the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Wales at Bangor, UK, under the Peri-Urban Production System Research of the Natural Resources Systems Programme of DFID.

Funded by: DFID, Natural Resources Systems Programme R6825 (1997)

id21 Research Highlight: 1998-Feb-16

Further Information:
F. Nunan and A. Shepherd
International Development Department
School of Public Policy
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 121 414 4965
Fax: +44 (0) 121 414 4989
Contact the contributor: f.s.nunan@bham.ac.uk

International Development Department, UK