This report brings together the main findings of case studies conducted since 1998 in Kumasi, Ghana, and Hubli-Dharwad, Karnataka, India and, since 2000, in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The case studies were a major part of the Natural Resources Systems Programme funded by the UK Department for International Development, which examined social, economic and environmental dynamics in the peri-urban interface of these cities. The report draws on individual case studies (for which reports are available at www.nrsp.org.uk [1]) to describe the effects of urbanization on the lives of poor people living in areas where urban influence is rapidly increasingly and where livelihoods undergo a transition from a self-provisioning rural economy to a monetized urban economy. This process perpetuates and deepens existing structural inequalities based on wealth, gender, skills and access to assets. It also increases the vulnerability of certain groups, especially the poor and women, who are least likely to benefit from emerging opportunities. In the final years of the project, the case studies included action-research components such as participatory planning, self-help groups, community information, and training activities that showed potential to reduce some of the constraints faces by marginalized communities.

The report is divided into four main sections. After a brief introduction, Section II describes the ways in which people make a living in the three cities’ peri-urban interfaces, and the different dynamic mixes of farming and trading. Section III explores the factors shaping these livelihood strategies, and how increasing competition for natural resources, combined with limited human capital and the erosion of traditional community and kin structures, makes some groups particularly vulnerable. Section IV describes the various initiatives undertaken in the last years of the project, their impact on livelihood change and the lessons learned.