Summary of Desakota Terry McGee

(T.G. McGee) The Emergence of  Desakota Regions in Asia: Expanding a Hypothesis

In 2020, at least 57% of the world population is expected to live in urban areas, according to the U.N. entre for !u"an #ettle"ents. $he urbaniation will be higher in developed countries &77%' than in developing countries &5(%'. )ithin developing counties, the urbaniation will differ fro" *(% in +atin "erica to 50% in frica and sia. !owever, sia-s sia-s urban population will account for a ver large a"ount of that of the developing countries. $he perspective fro" the author is that in the sian context the conven tional view of the urban transition, which assu"es that the widel accepted distinction between rural and urban will  persist as the urbaniation process advances, needs to be re/evaluated. $he conventional view of the urban transition is inadeuate in three respects1 ' it is too narrow narrow in its view view that the spatial spatial separati separation on of rural and urban urban activities activities will will  persist as urbaniation continues 2' the assu"ption assu"ption that the urbaniat urbaniation ion transitio transition n is inevitable inevitable because of 3agglo"era 3agglo"eration tion econo"ics- and co"parative advantage, which are supposed to facilitate the concentration of the population in lin4ed urban places. Instead, the relativel cheap transportation technolog enables high "obilit of co""odities, peop le and capital, which creates large "ega/urban regions (' for"er for"er coloniation coloniation created created uneven incorporat incorporation ion of sian sian countries countries into the world world econo"ic sste"  divergent patterns of urbaniation, not co"parable to western urbaniation. #upposed new paradig" would include investigation investigation of1 historical ele"ents, appreciation appreciation of ecological, de"ographic and econo"ic econo "ic foundations, institutional co"ponents &role of the state', transactional co"ponents &transport, co""odit and population flows' and shifts in the labour force &econo"ic change'.  "odel is presented about spatial distribution, see figure . on p. ( of the article. It includes "aor cities, peri/urban regions, desa4otas &6 intense "ixture of agricultural and non/ agricultural activities that often stretch along corridors between large cit cores. an include s"aller cities and towns.', densel populated rural areas and a sparsel populated frontier. $hree tpes of spatial econo" transition in sia in regions with high/densit, high/densit, "ostl rice/growing agroecono"ic niches1 esa4ota tpe 1 "igration to urban centre  decline in rural settle"ent. 8ost of the econo"icall active wor4 is in non/agricultural activities. Increasing inco"e, but rural population "uch poorer than urban. esa4ota tpe 21 rapid econo"ic growth b b  increased productivit in agriculture and industr. esa4ota tpe (1 slow growth of inco"e. lose to secondar urban centres with continuing high  population growth, surplus labour and low productivit. productivit. #ix co""on conditions and processes in the different tpes of desa4otas1 &' large  population engaged in s"all/holder cultivation of rice with good transportation routes fro" fro" pre/ )) II. &2' Increase in diverse non/agricultural activities in previousl agricultural areas. &(' 9xtre"e fluidit and "obilit of population. &:' Intense "ixture of land use1 agriculture, cottage industr, industr, industrial estates, suburban develop"ents etc. &5' Increased participation of fe"ales in non/agricultural labour. &;' $he are 3invisible- or 3gre- ones for the state authorities1 not rural,  but not urban either. Urban Urban regulations "a not appl  encouraging for infor"al sector. entral processes are the dna"ic lin4ages between agriculture and non/agriculture. 9xpansion in agricultural output leads to an expansion in other activities and the other wa  around.