<p>There is a realisation that urbanisation has overstretched the ability and efforts of central governments to serve from the centre, thus, giving rise to the search for a robust decentralisation policy that vests urban local governments with some level of autonomy.1 It is in this context that decentralisation has become critical in order to sufficiently respond to the varied service delivery challenges brought about by increasing urbanisation. However, all efforts to capacitate urban councils through the process of decentralisation are futile if the urban local governments lack the necessary financial means to fulfil their responsibilities.</p>

<p>Following Bryceson&rsquo / s article, &lsquo / De-agrarianisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Acknowledging the Inevitable&rsquo / , and other related writings in the volume Farewell to Farms, rural development has become a contested academic and policy domain. One side of the debate is characterized by &lsquo / agrarian optimism&rsquo / , mirrored in various state policies and advice from the World Bank / the other side is typified by the de-agrarianisation thesis, which is sceptical regarding the agrarian path to rural development, because it doesn&rsquo / t accord with dominant trends. The main reasons given for the trend of de-agrarianisation are: unfavourable climatic trends, economic adjustments, and population growth. While the de-agrarianisation thesis seems to be a sensible proposition, it has failed to attract many disciples, evidenced by the continuation of current policy directions towards the agrarian optimistic path. The purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of the de-agrarianisation thesis in the Gokwe-Kabiyuni area of Zimbabwe, during a time when the nation went through climatic, economic and political crises. The idea was to assess the influence of such an environment to smallholder farmers in terms of livelihood strategies by observing trends in climate, education, occupation, and crop yields over the period. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to establish whether the de-agrarianisation process can be noted in two villages over the period 1990-2008. A comparative analysis of the experiences of smallholder farmers in these two villages revealed the existence of a cultivation culture and differential agrarian resilience depending on natural resource endowment and levels of infrastructural development, notwithstanding the involvement of the villagers in non-farm activities to diversify their livelihood portfolios.</p>

To manage underused urban grassy spaces like transmission lines as tall-grass prairie habitats or other endangered ecosystems, ecologists need to know how mowing, spraying and surrounding urban lands affect species richness and numbers of plants and animals along transmission lines. I conducted surveys along 48 transmission lines in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2007-2009 to answer these questions, and I concluded that mowing and spraying should be reduced, but not eliminated, to increase butterflies and other arthropods, resources for butterflies and other arthropods, and arthropod prey for birds. However, the amount of nearby urban land reduced plant species richness and grassland bird abundance along lines more strongly than mowing or spraying, suggesting that lines with less nearby urban land should be selected for management as grassland bird habitats. Mowing and spraying can then be reduced along these lines to benefit other species, enabling urban lands like transmission lines to contribute to conservation.

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To manage underused urban grassy spaces like transmission lines as tall-grass prairie habitats or other endangered ecosystems, ecologists need to know how mowing, spraying and surrounding urban lands affect species richness and numbers of plants and animals along transmission lines. I conducted surveys along 48 transmission lines in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2007-2009 to answer these questions, and I concluded that mowing and spraying should be reduced, but not eliminated, to increase butterflies and other arthropods, resources for butterflies and other arthropods, and arthropod prey for birds. However, the amount of nearby urban land reduced plant species richness and grassland bird abundance along lines more strongly than mowing or spraying, suggesting that lines with less nearby urban land should be selected for management as grassland bird habitats. Mowing and spraying can then be reduced along these lines to benefit other species, enabling urban lands like transmission lines to contribute to conservation.

Human activities have dramatically altered the functioning of ecosystems through the ages. Urbanization illustrates the effect of anthropogenic activity by the transformation of natural areas to ecologically disturbed regions (development of towns, cities and settlements). The growing need for urban employment in South Africa has led to an increase in the number of informal settlements on the periphery of urban areas. These settlements result in fragmentation and sprawling of cities, which intensifies strain on the natural environment. Fragmentation in urban regions then leads to the formation of 'patches' of land which exhibit different disturbance levels and are generally typified as either urban, suburban or rural areas. These land use types may be ecologically studied along an urbanization gradient, with the intention of obtaining meaningful comparisons. An urbanization gradient contains an urban landscape which consists of a densely built and developed core surrounded by an area of decreasing development and increasing 'naturalness'. The use of urbanization gradients has been proven world-wide as a useful tool for the study of changes in ecological patterns and processes across landscapes. This approach has been used to examine many different impacts of urbanization, namely on invertebrate communities, bird community composition and plant community composition. Using biological indicators to determine the degree of anthropogenic impact on the environment has proven effective in past studies. These indicators can be used to monitor ecological change following habitat disturbance, identify changing trends over time, provide early warning systems of degradation and diagnose the cause of existing problems. Several authors have supported the use of arthropods as suitable indicators of disturbance. The aim of this study was to determine what impact disturbance, due to urbanization, may have had on the diversity and abundances of epigeal (surface roaming) arthropods (focussing on ants, beetles and spiders) following an urbanization gradient approach. In addition, plant and soil data were combined with the arthropod analysis for each site studied, in order to obtain a better picture of how arthropod community composition would change in relation to these factors. The ant group were the numerically dominant group of the arthropods studied, although the beetles did have the highest number of species captured. Spiders were caught in low abundances, but were also represented by a high number of species. Dramatic decreasing trends were observed with respect to the ant abundances and diversity from rural to the more urbanized sites. Quite the opposite, seemed to occur with the beetles and spiders, who were dominant in species and numbers in the urbanized areas. This trend may be explained on account of the occurrence of generalists and opportunistic beetle and spider species, which seem to thrive in these heterogenous urban habitats. When considering environmental components, percentage bare-ground and sand concentration seemed to be the determining factors in the rural sites, around which the ant group aggregated. Sandy habitats with patches of bare-ground provide more favourable micro-habitats for the ant species to roam and scavenge in, and are advantageous for nest building. Clay concentration and abundance of fruit seemed to assist in providing favourable habitats for the opportunistic and generalist beetle species, in the urbanized areas. High clay concentrations in the urban areas provided ideal conditions for abundant organic covering which would favour saprophagous (feed on decaying organic matter) beetle species and support diverse prey for the predatory beetle and spider species to feed on. Abundance of fruit may have attracted numerous herbivorous beetles (frugivorous beetles). Urbanization seemed to have a more pronounced effect on ant diversity and abundances in comparison to the beetles and spiders, and therefore recommended for future utilization as a suitable "Bio-indicator" group for further local disturbance studies. / Thesis (M. Environmental Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The riparian forests are hotspots of biodiversity and serve important roles in maintainingthe water quality. The study and understanding of this ecosystem is basic to know how theriparian zones respond to the threat and the changes produced by the urbanization. Theobjective of this pilot study was to know the species richness and check the status of theriparian vegetation along two different rivers in Halmstad, Nissan and Fylleån. The studywas focus on the status of trees at both rivers to see if the proximity of the city has anyimpact on the biodiversity. In total 9 different species were found, nevertheless only 3 ofthese species were founded on both localizations: Quercus robur, Betula pendula and Pinussylvestris. The Shannon Index showed a higher biodiversity on Nissan riparian zones, whichis the river that present the urban component. The urban area is the one that presentshigher level of biodiversity, tree species and number of individuals but there are notenough to be in a good standard. The result just show that the urban area is in a bettercondition that the natural one. The institutional efforts should be focusing on preserveboth environments with special attention to the natural environment.

The objective of this research is to study peoples’ reasons for rural-urban migration in the Babati district of Tanzania and the outcomes of such a migration on the migrants’ quality of life in Babati town. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. The interviews were performed with poor people in urban Babati town and two villages in rural Babati district. In the last thirty years the population of Babati town has increased more than threefold. The causes of rural-urban migration to Babati town are to be found in economical, social and cultural factors. The economic predominate, with the search for employment mentioned by all the migrants in the study. The migrants in Babati town emphasized adequate housing as a very important factor for a good life in town. This need was in many cases not fulfilled. Many were also still lacking social services and could not afford to buy basic necessities. The greatest asset for the people who have moved to Babati town was the diverse market of employment. The benefits of living in Babati town seem to outnumber the problems for most of the urban migrants. For the villagers of Mutuka the greatest asset was good natural conditions for agriculture and lifestock. In Magugu a great advantage was trade, the affordability of houses, food and necessary things. Due to differences of the dynamics of the two villages the people of Mutuka were more eager to move to Babati town than the inhabitants of Magugu. Small harvests and an insufficient market for farming products were great concerns as well as lack of social services.

Capital movement of foreign direct investment (FDI) as both a causative and consequential feature of economic globalisation has emerged as an influential factor of urban growth. It is also the main vehicle of China's global integration. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of FDI on urban planning and the transformation of large cities in China and elsewhere in the world. / This research is devoted to investigating the urban impact of globalisation, focusing on impact of FDI and using Shanghai for case study. It theoretically integrated the global urban network with the theories of FDI: the 'OLI' and investment development path (IDP) and provided the first empirical insight into the intra-urban location of different forms of FDI and the way that FDI, urban planning and local social-economic factors have together reshaped the city. It advances the current understanding of the urban impact of global forces, previously confined to either the macro-economic level of a city of the micro-economic level of foreign firms, as well as the internal restructuring of China's large cities as a result of global integration. / An historical approach has been applied to discern the relationships between the political and economic context and the urban planning agenda, highlighting the features of socialist urban planning and the strategies adopted to pursue and respond to global integration. / The features that direct the location of FDI are discerned and discussed in terms of the interaction between global and local factors. The location of FDI and the consequential urban transformation of the city is graphically illustrated and discussed. Case studies explain further the interplay between FDI and urban planning as well as the consequential growth patterns. / Shanghai has changed substantially with the growing proliferation of FDI, particularly since the city has become the focus of China adopting an open door policy in the 1990s. The land market and other tertiary industries have been opened to foreign investors. The mega FDI-oriented planning project of Pudong has also been undertaken. The role of FDI as both a developer and consumer has been very influential in directing the physical growth, breaking with previous patterns established by centralised control. The location of service FDI has been shaped by the market and has dramatically concentrated on the inner city. Manufacturing FDI, facilitated by preferential policies, has focused on suburban industrial parks designated by governments. / With the differential concentration of FDI in different areas, the socialist effort to homogenise the social and spatial arrangement of the inner city has been disrupted. The Comprehensive Metropolitan Plan for the city's development between 1982 and 2000 was undermined by conflicting interests between different levels of governments, particularly local government eager for foreign investment. The old CBD, the new planned regions facilitated by preferential policies and areas to facilitate FDI in the inner city have emerged as office centres both to extend China's global links and to cater to foreign interests. In doing so, planning proposals in these regions have often been undermined. The suburbs have been industrialised by increasing foreign and domestic manufacturing activities. The previous expansion of urban districts has replaced by the designation of Special Economic Zone with planned FDI-oriented themed parks in Pudong and newly designated urban districts scattered with industrial parks. / Foreign development interests have often called the tune in the transformation of the city. While foreign investors have sought certainty under the urban planning regime, planning itself has been undermined. Planning innovations have been implemented only to the extent that they are congruent with interests of FDI. The harmonising of global and local interests has become the main objective of urban planning into an increasingly invidious position, as it has more and more been called upon to support development interests of global sectors while remaining a legitimate force in the shaping of the city. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Since the late 1970s internal migration has become a fundamental feature of economic and social change in the People’s Republic of China. So has rapid urbanization as the rural population moves to the cities and towns in search for work. In the process, new urban spaces have been created that not only provide the springboard for economic development but also present challenges for social coherence and stability. Considerable attention has been focussed on the impact of this migration on the larger cities and on the migrants to those cities; processes that inevitably highlight the difficulties of China’s socio-economic transformation. Nonetheless, the experiences of those cities represent but one of the country’s urban realities. In fact, the majority of China’s urban population live in a highly dispersed system formed by thousands of small cities and towns. Through the examination of a county in North China (Hongtong County, Shanxi Province) and its county town (Dahuishu Town) this study suggests that outside the larger cities there may be alternative accounts of urban social change and the integration of rural migrant workers. Empirical findings point to greater openness and flexibility in the incorporation of rural workers. Though shortcomings are still observed, there is also considerable governmental and social awareness of the problems brought by rural -urban migration and urbanization processes; a willingness to act and a capacity to promote and deliver greater social inclusion. Dahuaishu Town’s distinct development experience has allowed for the construction of a more inclusive social environment, one which provides all inhabitants, including rural workers with a platform towards advancing their economic and social well-being. Impossible as it is to be representative of town development throughout China, this study provides an example of and a guide to alternative development processes to those documented in large urban centres. Small town urban development in Hongtong County is not a resolved issue, but it suggests that China’s transformation may not necessarily result in dysfunctional and socially polarized urban environments.