ABSTRACT
The concept of Urban Functions in Rural Development Project (UFRD) was simple, and was based on the notion that there is a symbiotic relationship between urban centers and rural areas. Cities were the sites of establishments the functions of which were to serve rural areas; rural areas, in turn, provided the products marketed in the towns. Beginning in 1985, modifications were introduced into the UFRD methodology with the intention of making the conceptualization of rural-urban dynamics more operative for feasible programs. This new approach assumes a two-pronged strategy: one focuses upon the smallest towns in the region, the other concentrates on the larger towns. While the term 'regional planning' has a distinctive area connotation, implying that issues of decentralization and deconcentration must be addressed the interest in regions may also be interpreted to mean that coordinating development in smaller areas may be a meaningful approach.
