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.

Since the end of the mining boom in the aftermath of the subprime crisis, and enforced by the fact that at least 25 major mines in the Global South were already scheduled for closure before the mining boom started in the early 2000s, mine closure has become an increasingly important issue. Research in Guinea, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso revealed the particularly critical situation in the mining towns of Fria, Obuasi, Morila and Kalsaka whose mines closed recently. Since then, social services and infrastructure collapsed and the cities experienced a profound economic downturn. This situation is similar to a least a dozen other African mining towns. Based on my own research in Ghana and on the research of colleagues in West Africa (Johannes Knierzinger, Tongnoma Zongo and Edith Sawadogo) I will present a critical approach towards mine closure.

Almost all of the existing literature on mine closure focuses on the so-called "business case", underlining the economic viability of "proper mine closure" for companies and governments (World Bank/ IMF 2002). This includes crucial demands such as the "de-enclaving" of infrastructure or the creation of restoration funds already when founding mining towns.

However, a critical analysis has to go beyond these "technical" recommendations in order to question the "political sustainability" of mining towns in the wake of a new ("light") paternalism based on CSR and shareholder capitalism as well as the rise of investors from newly industrializing countries. The notion of "infrastructural power" (Mann 1984; Agnew 2005) will provide a starting point for the analysis of these new configurations.

Following its long term agenda of a transition towards a 100% urban society, the Rwandan government is promoting the growth of secondary cities and organizing selected rural service centres to become active development nodes. Driven by a strong developmental agenda, this urbanization is tightly controlled through 'Master Planning'. Even though the state takes the most powerful role in managing and directing urban development, a major challenge is the multitude of factors and actors driving urban growth which rigid and static blueprint planning cannot anticipate. Small towns are usually very dynamic and fast growing urban centres, blurry settlements with a rather fluid and heterogeneous population with corresponding diversification of livelihoods and lifestyles. They challenge the urban hierarchy and recompose the urban landscape, reshaping the relationship between the rural and the urban creating a hybrid "rurban" space. This paper wants to analyse the role of small towns in Rwanda's process of rural transformation and its implications for local development. More specifically, it aims to show how these emerging centres are composed of and shaped by mobility flows of both rural and urban actors constituting a complex and fragmented process of in and outflow of people, goods, money, etc. While investigating the physical and virtual expansion of people's functional space, the article will further zoom in on how different actors are anticipating the changing functions and conditions of these towns. As such I want to bring back a focus on the role of peoples agency in the shaping of Rwanda's transforming countryside.

Africa is in the midst of rural-urban transformations; more people come to live urban lives economically, socially and culturally - but not necessarily detached from rural dynamics. However, what qualifies the rural-urban transformations is the close interaction between these processes and the formation of new urban spaces. In this respect, small urban centres make up central arenas for the transformations, and the main objective of this paper is to present the academic and policy landscapes of how they are perceived. In doing it is our aim to draw a line to the 'old' scholarship on rural-urban linkages, and further discuss how a new research agenda for rural-urban transformations and the positions of small towns can be sketched. Small town development, peri-urban development, migration and multi-local livelihood arrangements were at the fore of the rural-urban linkages scholarship, which developed during the 1990s and early 2000's. The paper will open with a presentation of how small towns were outlined and projected as places of development at the rural-urban continuum. Next, the paper will explore how more recent academic analyses, e.g. Structural Transformation, Rural-urban Food Security, Rural Transformation and Territorial Development, characterize the importance of rural-urban connections and small town development. The paper will draw on the critical readings of the 'old' and 'new' research foci and empirical case studies in order to sketch a new research agenda for studies of rural-urban transformation and small town development.

The interlinked relationships between urban settlements and their rural hinterlands in Sub-Saharan Africa are perceived crucial in enhancing possibilities for livelihood diversification and poverty reduction. Urban settlements provide opportunities for investment in more remunerative economic activities, job/employment opportunities that retain potential migrants in the area, and access to services for the rural hinterlands. This paper examines the role of emerging urban centres (EUCs) as 'drivers' of rural development based on a study of two EUCs and their rural hinterlands in Tanzania. Findings are based on data from multiple sources, including a survey of 695 households and interviews with 35 businesses in the rural hinterlands of the two EUCs. The EUCs have experienced rapid population growth and attracted new investments in businesses by both migrants and the indigenous population in an effort to exploit new opportunities in the centres. The number of shops and new types of business enterprises has increased substantially along with an increasing number of service functions located in the EUCs. The paper investigates how, and the extent to which, villages in the rural hinterlands are connected to the EUCs. This is done through an analysis of linkages and interactions between businesses and households in the villages and the EUCs. The paper ends by discussing the role of direct and indirect 'spatial connections' and their importance for local patterns of socio-economic development, rural livelihoods and poverty reduction.

Rural towns and small urban centers are important locations when examining urban growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as the majority of urban growth in SSA is forecasted to happen here. However, research on small urban centers is scarce, and even less is known about how these centers emerge as spaces of urbanity. The term urbanity is used to cover ways of living which are thought unique to urban places and qualitatively different from rural lifestyles. The aim of this paper is to present how the transitioning from rural to urban locations materializes in a sense of urbanity, reflected through residents' everyday practices and place-making. Through an exploration of livelihood practices and how these are interlinked with the physical environment, the study shows how certain urbanities are created in the mixture of rural and urban positioning's. The paper further highlights how these urbanities are materialized differently along an axis of gender and generation. The paper seeks to demonstrate how the ways and means of being urban are not uniform between genders, and to highlight how gender and generation are important factors to include when examining and understanding the development processes of new urban spaces.

The development of commercial agriculture is associated with the development of secondary towns. The dynamic rural areas of the Moungo corridor indeed booster important changes in the secondary cities. They have become not only labor pools, but also centers that structure agricultural innovation through their capacity to supply inputs, and to structure transport platforms for metropolises. The development of agricultural sectors such as pineapples, potatoes, vegetables, etc. is supported by the labor of the small towns surrounding the production basins.

On the other hand, the investment of rural incomes in the improvement of livelihood obliges the adoption of urban consumption patterns. This adoption is thus measured by the regular stay in town and the nature of their shopping in the secondary towns. The development of large-scale distribution in secondary towns is therefore not only for urban dwellers, but also for rural residents.

Finally, secondary towns are increasingly experiencing the effects of environmental perturbations of ecosystems production basins. Between the crisis of water supply and the recurrence of floods, these cities gradually accumulate the disfunctioning that are found in the larger cities.

The study is based on a synthesis of the interactions between production basins and secondary towns in the Moungo corridor.

Keywords: Rural development, secondary cities, Moungo corridor, Cameroon

The role of small towns in regional development has been discussed in the general development framework; however, the actual interactions between economic actors residing in both urban and rural areas have been overlooked. This paper aims to shed light on this topic through empirical analysis of urbanization in Siavonga, a small town in Southern Zambia, and its impact on rural livelihoods. It is based on long-term fieldwork both in Siavonga and a rural village located 50km from the town. It was found that economic actors in Siavonga began to diversify, especially after 2000. Retired people from the formal sector, entrepreneurs residing in other larger cities, foreign investors, and rural people came to start their own business for different reasons. These people increased job opportunities and triggered a population influx. Thus, the town functioned as an economic niche and/or alternative economic space for both urban and rural dwellers. Urbanization in Siavonga affected mobility patterns in the study village. Many villagers preferred to work in Siavonga because of proximity, low costs, and the comfort of social networks. The phenomenon also promoted the development of commercial activities, such as management of shops and bars. Importantly, the social network and mobility between rural villages and towns, including Siavonga, seem to be essential for sustaining and expanding these businesses. Results show that small towns could play a key role in rural transformation. Finally, this paper demonstrates the importance of understanding multidimensional interactions and dynamic networks of people and capital between small towns and rural areas.

Dynamic rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa tend to develop more direct relations with metropolises without the intermediary of secondary cities as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s. Their role as centrality that structure rural development has not changed. Only the form of control has changed and requires a renegotiation of functions in an evolving relationship of complementarity. Four variables underlie the loss of control:

- Nature and the configuration of the road network between metropolises-secondary town-rural areas. It determine the level of accessibility and therefore the number of transit to reach the metropolis.

- Place of residence of actors involved in the development of the rural areas. It is not only the villagers who make up the rural labor force. Some dynamic workers come from secondary towns on a daily or weekly mobility route.

- Origin of the capital and its transit through the secondary town. Beyond the labor force, if the capital invested in the rural areas come from the cities, they will develop the secondary town as much as the beneficiary countryside. We are witnessing the development of microfinance institutions in secondary towns in order to support the flow of exchanges between rural areas and metropolises.

- Nature and quality of control by the services provided by the secondary town. If services such as hotels, supermarkets and stores are developed in the secondary town, it will control more its periphery by an attracting effects both on villagers and on metropolitans when transited to the rural areas.