ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the environmental linkages between urban and rural areas, in terms of both the positive element of this relationship, resources, and the negative element, the constraints and hazards. When considering natural resources, there are two key aspects to urban-rural interactions. These focus first on the issue of resources produced by rural areas and wanted in urban areas. Second, these relate to the way in which urban environmental management can impact on the rural areas. A cursory examination of these relations would suggest that the cities obtain the best of the arrangement,
disposing of pollutants to the rural areas. Hardoy et al. list the following main ways in which the inhabitants and the environment are affected by the development of a city:
Cities require high absolute volumes of resources (especially water, energy resources, land, food and raw materials). For example, Rees (1997), the person credited with the development of the ecological footprint approach (see Box 3.1 and later discussion), found that Vancouver, Canada, required the productive output of 180 times its own land area. O’Meara (1999) argues that available data at a global scale suggest that 78 per cent of industrial carbon emissions and 76 per cent of industrial wood use occur in cities. Some 60 per cent of the planet’s water resources goes directly to cities or is used to irrigate food crops and by industry. This latter is referred to by Allen (2001) as ‘virtual water’ – it is not directly consumed by urban residents, but is ultimately consumed by them in the form of foodstuffs or consumer goods that have been produced using this
3 41 5 6 7 8 91 10 1 2 31 4 5 6 7111 8111 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 40
the greater the demand for resources. However, the literature suggests that this relationship is not necessarily a direct one. There are researchers who have argued that cities also have beneficial environmental effects (see later discussion), though the net environmental effects may be more important in the population-environment relationship.
