Paper short abstract:

A study of four Emerging Urban Centers (EUCs) in Tanzania present how the intertwinement of rural transformation and urbanization processes form spatial densification in rural areas and suggest that these spatial transformations call for governance that acknowledge the EUCs urban reality.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we aim at understanding how social and spatial transformation of dynamic rural regions is driving spatial concentration and urbanization. We are particularly concerned with the processes of spatial change, verbalized as the emergence of urban centres in rural areas. Emerging Urban Centers (EUCs) are characterized by rapid population growth related to continuous and diverse flows of migrants from rural hinterlands and more detached rural locations. Many of these centers are also characterized by economic dynamics related to agricultural sector activities that have been stimulated by Tanzanian market liberalizations and its long term effects on private enterprise. The paper is based on a study of four EUCs in Tanzania (Ilula, Igowole, Madizini and Kibaigwa) and seeks to answer three research questions: 1) What economic and spatial trends, including national policies, have formed the pathway for rural transformation and early densification towards the emergence of urban centers in Tanzania? 2) What characterize the relationship between value chain dynamics and rural densification? 3) How do migration and investments contribute to the consolidation of EUCs as places of attraction beyond the crop dynamics? This development has been supported by structural changes within the EUCs making them important administrative and service centers. The paper shows how the intertwinement of rural transformation and urbanization processes form spatial densification in rural areas and suggest that these spatial transformations call for adequate governance that acknowledge the EUCs urban reality.

This paper was developed in collaboration with Marianne Nylandsted Larsen.