Spatial analysis of rural-urban linkages in Nashik district

Abstract

The rapid urbanization taking place in Asia since 1970 has exhibited a process different from that of the developed countries in the West (Daniel Z. Sui, 2000).Giving rise to small towns and urban growth centres. The population is increasing in the urban areas at a rapid pace, if it continues to grow in the same pattern soon rural and urban population will be equal in number. In different parts of the world the definitions of urban areas differs for e.g. in Europe and Latin America has population threshold of 2000-2500 inhabitants whereas it is higher in the other nations (Satterthwaite, et al., 2002). If the same criteria is applied in Asia, most of the settlements will be classified as urban. In India settlement having a population of 50,000 can also be called as a small town. Though there are no universal definitions of rural and urban areas, the urban status plays an important role as it has huge impacts on developments policies, public-private investments, resource allocation and decision making of the Government. Discussions and studies on the relations of the rural and urban areas hold a prominent positions among theories in planning, some of them being growth pole theory, spatial core periphery and spatial polarisation models generally explaining that most of the economic benefits of any region are concentrated in the core areas. The attempts to organise rural areas according to the needs of urban areas mostly leads to exploitation of rural resources for the benefit of urban areas. The aim to reduce disparities among the rural and urban seldom gets fulfilled. The interactions between rural and urban areas have intensified, one of the major reasons being that there is huge exposure to world markets in the urban areas which increases the demand in the food production, which is the primary activity of the rural areas. This triggers the crop export and market becomes agriculture oriented. The exposure to market with the relevant tools and techniques to expand the business generally lies with the people residing in the urban areas. Thus these settlement patterns are influenced by these urban markets and mostly densities are seen to increase along these market routes. The flow from rural to urban areas in terms of goods, population, and produce is strong but the vice- versa is weak. This is due to the following reasons 1) the increased diversification of rural production which directly meets the rural demands, 2) Insufficient production for the rural areas – huge profits gains and availability of means for exporting the produce outside the region lies within urban areas (Haan & Quarles, 2004). These reasons have also resulted in the increase in the mobility of the population. Attempts of regional development by planners, policy makers have mostly resulted in spatial inequality, which has given rise to unjust and unsustainable development. This thesis is an attempt to understand the rural - urban relations in the form of the linkages that exist between them by taking a case study area of Nashik District. Study is done at two levels, Macro – district level and Micro – Village level wherein two villages in the most urbanised tehsil are studied. By selecting certain parameters, it tries to understand the various ways of interaction and dependencies between both areas which would help in understanding the role these rural urban linkages play in achieving sustainable development that would reduce the regional iii disparities and trigger economic growth. The challenge lies in integrating these two areas in a way that they mutually benefit from each other and foster. It is seen in the analysis, that rapid urbanisation is happening in selected tehsils due to the concentration of facilities leading to depletion of rural resources and transformations of surrounding rural areas. The study of economic linkages was able identify the poor areas which are having weak linkages resulting in poor socioeconomic conditions. comparative study of two villages at different distances from the urban centre was able to identify the similarities and differences in the intensities of the different relations. Various aspects such as spatial transformations, occupation pattern, social interactions and infrastructure dependencies were studied. The analysis helped in finding the missing important factors and actions areas in the existing system of planning. Recommendations are made with the view to promote integrated development of the region. Policy recommendations and implementation strategies are suggested based upon the findings of the intensity of these relations which play an important role in the development of a region as a whole.