Rural–Urban Dynamics: Livelihoods, Mobility and Markets in African and Asian Frontiers

This edited collection brings together case studies conducted in Ghana, Vietnam, Thailand and Tanzania as part of a research programme funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consultative Research Committee for Development Research. The book explores how changes in local livelihoods in relation to economic globalization are articulated as spatial transformations and new forms of rural–urban dynamics in specific “frontiers”, particularly dynamics spaces where economic, demographic and social change converge and interact. The different case studies examine agricultural frontiers, handicraft and manufacturing frontiers, and mining frontiers that have all been deeply affected by global market dynamics. The editors’ introduction defines the concept of “frontier” as regions with high levels of production specialization (coffee, cocoa, gold, handicraft and fresh fruit) that, through large volumes of exports, are heavily linked to world market dynamics. This, in turn, shapes local livelihoods with the emergence of new employment opportunities and new sectors of activity. Economic growth also attracts migrants and transforms the shapes and functions of settlements, although with great variations and trajectories between and within the case study regions. Chapter 2 summarizes the conceptual background to the case study chapters, with a critical review of current thinking on rural–urban dynamics, markets (with specific attention to global value chains and global production networks), livelihoods and mobility. Since the case studies are part of a larger multi-country research project, it also provides information on the common methodology used.

Chapters 3 to 7 are dedicated to the agricultural frontier. Chapter 3 by Michael Helt Knudsen explores the cocoa frontier in Ghana’s Western province, and through the description of the contrasting fortunes of two small towns warns against generalizations in analyzing settlement development. In Chapter 4, Jytte Agergaard describes the impact of the dramatic collapse of world coffee prices on settlements and livelihoods in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Chapter 5, by Katherine Gough and Niels Fold, explores how the rapid transformations in global demand for pineapples has eroded the livelihoods of smallholders in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region, but at the same time point to the importance of the local dimension, in this case the additional constraints of customary land tenure systems. Chapter 6, by Hoag Xuan Thanh and Cecilia Tacoli, describes the multiple impacts of urbanization and industrialization on fruit-producing rural settlements in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, where growing prosperity has also resulted in widening income inequalities and social polarization. Chapter 7, by Niels Fold and Cecilia Tacoli, concludes this section by identifying and discussing the key factors that affect livelihoods, markets and settlement trajectories in the four agricultural frontiers.

Chapters 8 to 11 explore the handicraft and manufacturing frontier in Vietnam and Thailand. Chapter 8, by Katherine Gough and Dang Nguyen Anh, describes how handicrafts’ role in the livelihoods of residents of Vietnam’s Red River Delta depends to a large extent on its nature and on the production process, and not only on access to global markets. Chapters 9 and 10, by Jonathan Rigg, Suriya Veeravongs, Piyawadee Rohitarachoon and Lalida Veeravongs, examine how handicraft production and the development of factories affect rural development and livelihoods in northern Thailand and in Ayuthaya province, respectively, and describe how in the process, Thai rural economies are remade, with increased mobility and a decline in the role of farming. Chapter 11, by Katherine Gough and Jonathan Rigg, concludes this section by reflecting on the wider implications of these transformations and on the importance of policy interventions to support positive rural–urban dynamics. Chapters 12 to 14 discuss the mining frontier. In Chapter 12