Rural and Urban Settlements

Abstract

Today it is often no longer possible to make a clear distinction between rural and urban settlements (Borsdorf and Bender in Allgemeine Siedlungsgeographie. Wien. Köln and Weimar, pp 77–78, 2010). Even in the economically less developed regions of the global South, the distinctive characteristics of city and countryside are becoming blurred. This is particularly true for urban agglomerations and for regions with predominantly non-agricultural functions. As a result of ever intensifying links of rural regions with urban centres, various elements of the material and non-material culture penetrate even peripheral areas. The almost ubiquitous access to information distributed by different electronic media and devices, the greatly enhanced contact of rural people with cities and the influx of external individuals, e.g. tourists, missionaries, business people, scientists and representatives of governmental and non-governmental institutions and agencies, have brought the rural regions into close contact with cities and the outside world in general.