DEVELOPMENT

THEORIES AND
PRACTICES IN RURAL
PLANNING
BY:
JEVERLYN C. LUDER
 DEVELOPMENT
THEORIES IN RURAL
PLANNING
 Systems theories of rural development (ecological
theory, functionalist theory)
 Decision-making theories of rural development (theory
of elasticity, input-output relationship theory)
 Structural theories of rural development( social
structure and conflict theory, commoditisation theory)
 Systems Theories of Rural
Development
 Ecological Theory-These include the relationships
between ecosystem functions, ecosystems services, and
sustainability, the concept of loose connectivity.
 Functionalist Theory- sees society as a complex system whose
parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This
approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation and
broadly focuses on the social structures that shape society as a
whole.
 Decision-making theories

 Theory of elasticity-In economics, the income elasticity

of demand is the responsiveness of the quantity demanded
for a good to a change in consumer income. It is measured
as the ratio of the percentage change in quantity demanded
to the percentage change in income. If a 10% increase in Mr.
Ruskin Smith's income causes him to buy 20% more bacon,
Smith's income elasticity of demand for bacon is 20%/10%
= 2.
 Decision-Making Theories
 Theory of In particular, an understanding of elasticity is fundamental in
understanding the response of supply and demand in a market.
Some common uses of elasticity include:
Effect of changing price on firm revenue. Analysis of incidence of the tax
burden and other government policies. 
Income elasticity of demand, used as an indicator of industry health, future
consumption patterns and as a guide to firms' investment decisions. Effect of
international trade and terms of trade effects. Analysis of consumption and 
saving behavior. 
Analysis of advertising on consumer demand for particular goods. 
 Decision-Making Theories
 Input-output relationship theory-Input–output analysis is the
study of quantitative relations between the output levels of the
various sectors of an economy, a practical tool for national
accounting and planning. Neoclassical economics focusses on the
pure theory of the price mechanism, equilibrating supply and
demand in free market economies. The relationships among the
individual organizations to show the nature of transfer of
knowledge, material and information.
 Structural Theories
 Conflict theory-The conflict theory states that society is
in a constant state of conflict due to competition for
limited resources.

 Commoditisation theory-commoditization is defined as

the process by which goods that have economic value and
are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or
brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes
of the market or consumers.
 RURAL DEVELOPMENT
 Growth Pole/Center PRACTICES
Strategy. The concept of growth pole was introduced in
1949 by a French economist named Francois Perroux. According to Darwent
(1979) Perroux’s work created deep and serious confusion, partly because of the
ambiguity of Perroux’s initial formulation, partly because of mistranslation from
French to English and vice versa, and partly because the semantic confusion of
later authors. The original concept of a growth pole was actually independent of a
spatial context or a geonomic (or geographic) space. Rather, growth pole relates
“only” and “specifically” to abstract economic space18. He, then, defines growth
poles as: “….centers (poles or focii) from which centrifugal forces emanate and to
which centripetal forces are attracted. Each center being a center of attraction and
repulsion has its proper field which is set in the field of all other centers.”
 Balanced Agro-Industrial Development Strategy (BAIDS) The BAIDS took its
origins from the agriculture and industry debate and the balanced versus
unbalanced growth contentions. In its broadest sense, it is a strategy of support for
both agriculture and industry. Sutcliffe (1971)31 put it into two basic
propositions:1) the rise in agricultural incomes above subsistence level stimulates
the demand for outputs of manufacturing industries; and 2) the expansion of
incomes in the industrial sector results in an expansion of agricultural production
through increased demand for food and agro-based industrial inputs. Thus,
BAIDS takes the following specific objectives for each sector: In agriculture,
emphasis is on increased production, marketing improvement, land-tenure
changes, rural income improvement and disparity reduction, among others. In
industry, promotion of labor-intensive industries using locally available
agricultural inputs is undertaken and that small scale manufacturing is directed for
rural consumption.
 Integrated Area Development (IAD) This paper termed the former as the “old
IAD” while the latter as the “new IAD”. The Old IAD The Integrated Area
Development or IAD approach evolved from traditional rural development
strategies such as community development, comprehensive planning and
integrated rural (agriculture) development. It is also one of the tools whereby
decentralized planning can be operationalized. Through this approach the
population in 17 the area can be involved in identifying projects beneficial to
them and would be able to discuss and plan the projects together with planners,
technicians and politicians. 32 The basic idea for an IAD is to build a “planning
region” or a “community region” that has a common interest in some
development projects or set of projects. The general principle is that these units
should be small enough to be “seen steadily and seen whole”, possessing some
kind of cohesion and homogeneity but big enough to be of some significance in
the overall national development scene.
 The New IAD The IAD concept has seen transformations and has
taken new terminologies in the process. This study classifies these new
or emerging IAD approaches into two general categories according to
the nature of the approach -- their objectives and the setting in which it
is applied: Traditional Strategy as “growth cluster” and Inter-Regional
or Inter-Local Approach Clustering. The use of the term cluster has
been popularized with the introduction of Porter (1998)33 of the term
in the context of competition of firms and locations. A growth cluster
has a center which offers more diversified and higher level of services
than what is present in the influence areas which can perform any of
the following roles: industrial center, trading center, administrative
center, educational center, recreational center and other functional
roles.
 Inter-country Approach
The creation of transborder regions or cross-border regions as exemplified by
growth triangles and similar kind of integration of sub-national areas across
national boundaries have been very prominent in Asia especially in the 1990s.
Currently, there are six of these government-sponsored regions that are in
operation: 1) Tumen River Area Development Program (Russia, China, North
Korea, South Korea, Japan); 2) Southern China Growth Triangle (Hong Kong,
Taipei, China and Southern China manily parts of Guangdong and Fujian
provinces); 3) Greater Mekong Subregion (or GMS including areas in Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, Thailand); 4) Singapore-JohorRiau Growth Triangle
(Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia); and 5) the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-
Malaysia-Philippines (BIMP) East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA).
 The success of cross-border regions had been attributed to three
factors: economic complementarity (significant differentials in
factor endowments), geographical proximity (to reduce transaction
and transport costs and seize cultural and linguistic similarities),
political commitment (willingness of member countries for
compromises in sovereignty), policy coordination (tariffs,
employment regulation, real estate, finance, foreign investment and
foreign exchange) and infrastructure development (ports and
harbors).
 Decentralization under the principle of subsidiarity has been
adopted as an important strategy particularly in regional
development administration. The principle of subsidiarity
posits that the decision-making powers, development
responsibilities and control over resources must be relegated
to the lowest possible level in order to broaden public sector
legitimacy, transparency and accountability and thus
contribute to effective governance and service delivery.
 Thank you for listening.
You may have a great day ahead.