New Encyclopedia Entry Highlights Insights from RUL4CLI Research in Tanzania
We are pleased to announce that a new entry, Land Use and the Rural–Urban Dichotomy, has been submitted for publication in the up-coming ‘Elgar Encyclopedia of Land Use: Policy, Planning, Management and Sustainability’. The entry provides an overview of how global urbanization is reshaping landscapes and challenges traditional distinctions between “rural” and “urban.”
A key feature of the entry is a case example from Tanzania, which draws directly on field-based observations and analytical insights generated through our project The role of rural–urban linkages for enhanced climate resilience in rural Tanzania (RUL4CLI). The example illustrates how different global classification systems—such as DEGURBA and Africapolis—produce contrasting interpretations of settlement patterns in Manyara Region. As the entry notes, some densely populated highland areas are labelled “peri-urban” because “the relatively high built-up surface in the rural hinterlands has been extensively labelled as ‘suburban’,” even though these areas are geographically distant from any urban centre.
These findings underscore one of RUL4CLI’s central messages: rural–urban dynamics in Tanzania do not fit neatly into global classification thresholds, many of which were developed for European or Global North contexts. The project’s empirical work helps reveal the complexity of settlement systems, mobility, and land-use change in East African rural regions—insights that are now reflected in this international reference work.
We are proud that RUL4CLI’s research is contributing to global debates on land-use change as part of urbanization, the rural-urban dichotomy leading to challenges of classification, and the central role of rural–urban linkages. The publication strengthens the visibility of RUL4CLI results and highlights the importance of context-sensitive approaches to understanding rural–urban transformation.
Authors: Birch-Thomsen, T.1; van Vliet, J.2; Bech Pilgaard Kristensen, S.1
1 Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources Management, University of Copenhagen
2 Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije University Amsterdam (not part of the RUL4CLI project)