Over the past decade, the debate relating to rural–urban linkages has focused on:
• The nature of the production, consumption and investment linkages between urban and rural areas, and their recent changes.
• The changing position of smaller towns in migration flows, and how to enhance their role in absorbing rural migrants, in order to stem the flow to large cities.
• How to stimulate local (clusters of) economic activity, containing growth within regional business systems that involve rural as well as urban actors.
• The role of small centres in supplying services to rural areas.
• Further topics include: the demise of rural service-centre planning and its implications; the impact of decentralization policies on local economic development, and the changing nature of urban–rural fringe areas, especially around large cities.