ABSTRACT
Rural development is concerned with the improvement of the living standards of the low-income population living in rural areas on a self-sustaining basis, through transforming the socio-spatial structures of their productive activities. It should be distinguished from agricultural development, which it entails and transcends, for that is concerned with only one aspect of their productive life. In essence, rural development implies a broad-based reorganization and mobilization of the rural masses so as to enhance their capacity to cope effectively with the daily tasks of their lives and with changes consequent upon this. Since land is basic to the viability of rural life, it is the contention of this study that comprehensive spatial reorganization is central to the attainment of this objective and that much of the failure of past attempts at rural development has been due to the relatively scant attention paid to the spatial dimension of rural development planning.
