ABSTRACT
The types of interaction occurring between urban and rural areas in developing countries, and their relative magnitudes, are predicated upon the degree of socio-economic disparity which exists between these ostensibly contrasting portions of the national space. Expressed in the simplest terms, the greater the spatial disparities, the larger the flows and interactions which serve to promote and maintain them. Discussion of the empirical character of rural-urban interactions, linkages and flows in Third World countries merges with the theoretical considerations which surround the issues of development planning, in both its territorial and sectoral forms. Cities in the Third World may increasingly be seen as the centers from which the norms of global capitalist consumption are diffused to surrounding populations. The main elements involved in the change were an emphasis on production rather than consumption, and efforts to integrate town and country. The argument serves to emphasize once more the salience of the territorial dimension to development planning in Third World countries.
