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Research
Where City Meets Country, is the Peri-Urban
Interface a Concept that Counts?
F Nunan and A W Shepherd
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 policy making?
Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Wales have been
working with counterparts with 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 periurban 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 intereface 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. On-going research is being
guided by a participatory approach in a bid to find out more about community concerns
as urban development impines 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: how can urban wastes 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:
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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:
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The dynamic nature of the peri-urban interface makes it hard for institutitions 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: 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)
Further information:
F Nunan and A W Shepherd
School of Public Policy
University of Birmingham
Birmingham
B15 2TT, UK
Tel. +44 (0)121 414 4965
Fax. +44 (0)121 414 4989
Email. [email protected]
Academic staff and publications
Fiona NUNAN Curriculum Vitae
Profession: Lecturer in Environmental Policy and Management
Nationality: British
D of B: 1968
Qualifications
1990: B.Sc. (Chemistry with Management Science) University of Kent
1993: MA (Environment, Development and Policy) University of Sussex
1998: PhD Environmental Policy-Making in the UK, University of Birmingham
Research
1999: Project leader on research to develop a decision framework for valuing peri-urban
natural resource productivity - part of the Peri-Urban Interface Production System
Research programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID)
Economic Valuation of Environmental Renovation: The River Tame Corridor. A research
project funded by the University of Birmingham.
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1998-99: Project leader on research looking at urban waste and soil fertility in HubliDharwad, India - part of the Peri-Urban Interface Production System Research
programme funded by DFID
Research into urban environmental issues in Southern countries as part of a DFID
funded project on Urban Governance, Partnership and Poverty
1997: Peri-urban interface research on natural resource management issues in HubliDharwad, India (DFID funded)
1996: Scoping Study in South Asia (Bangladesh, India and Pakistan), (DFID funded)
1996: Consultation on Sustainability Indicators - project funded by Birmingham City
Council
1994-95: Valuing the environmental impacts of landfilling and recycling solid waste in
Bangkok. Project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, as part of the
Global Environmental Change programme
Publications:
"Improved Utilisation of Urban Waste by Near-Urban Farmers in the Hubli-Dharwad CityRegion: Inception Report", School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham (with
Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Wales, Bangor and University of Agricultural
Sciences and SDM College of Engineering and Technology, Dharwad, India), May 1998.
"Local Agenda 21: Developing Sustainability Indicators" Report on a study commissioned
by Birmingham City Council, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham, February
1997.
"Public Opinion and Solid Waste in Bangkok", Local Environment, 1, 2, 1996.
"Public Valuation of Solid Waste Impacts: a case study in Bangkok" (with Ian Blore), in
"Sustainable Development in a Developing World" edited by Colin Kirkpatrick and
Norman Lee (Edward Elgar), 1997.
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