Urbanisation along the roads
View(s):The current urban-rural classification problem is, at least partially, a result of the Provincial Council system, introduced in 1987. Sri Lanka’s urban population share, which was already 21.5 per cent in the last Population Census in 1981 prior to Provincial Council system, fell down to lower shares in the subsequent estimates. As per the last Population Census in 2012, Sri Lanka’s urban population share is 18.2 per cent.
A city neighbourhood in London, UK
As a country that has already entered the ‘middle-income’ category, Sri Lanka’s urban population share must be much higher than what is presented by the official figures. As many believe, demarcating the ‘urban sector’ should be based on ‘urban environments’ rather than the administrative boundaries of the local government bodies.
Because everyone knows that Sri Lanka’s urban-rural population shares are flawed figures, there have been various attempts by various other parties to present alternative estimates. They count the urban population share of the country to be somewhere in the range of 40-50 per cent.
People along the road
After reading through a news of such an estimated figure, I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who was a rural development specialist.
“It cannot be true”, he responded. “Those figures must have been made up by counting the people living on either side of the main roads”.
It reminded me of another notable incident many years ago. My doctoral research supervisor, late Prof. Peter Kloos, once travelled with me to Nuwara Eliya, when he was in Sri Lanka. Our journey along the Colombo – Kandy Road and, then from Peradeniya to Nuwara Eliya intermittently slowed down due to congestion on the road. The congestion was due to both traffic jams and people’s businesses and other activities on either side of the road. Apparently, the congestion got worse when we passed through the towns on the way.
“People’s gathering along the main roads is not urbanisation”, Prof. Kloos commented, while observing the congestion along the A1 Road from Colombo.
Having come from a European country and knowing fairly well about Sri Lanka too, he knew exactly what he meant. We may not grasp the difference as he did, because after living it and experiencing it, we Sri Lankans are quite used to it. However, if you travelled along the main roads in European countries, you don’t find people coming to the roads for living, working and doing business.
Urban settlements
In the European Union (EU) with 447 million people in 27 countries, 75 per cent of people live in the urban areas, leaving 25 per cent in the rural sector. Urban population shares are even higher than that in the more developed EU countries such as Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In the UK too, 84 per cent of its 67 million people live in the urban sector.
Urban settlements and main roads are, however, distinctively separated from each other. Strict laws and regulations are implemented in maintaining the main roads for smooth traffic flows keeping them free from people’s infiltration. By laws and regulations, urban dwelling and business activities are located away from the main roads. Even if the land by the road may be yours, it doesn’t mean that you have the right to put up your residential house or start your business there.
By definition, an urban area is a settlement of people with high population density with built environments and facilities. Different countries use their own definitions suited for their national conditions to demarcate urban areas. However, a common definition of a location called ‘urban area’ includes population size, population density, type of economic activities which are ‘non-agriculture’ activities, travel distance and time, physical characteristics, types of infrastructure, and other features.
An urban area consists of urban amenities to facilitate comfortable living for the urban dwellers. These amenities include public transport systems for mass transit, housing schemes for dwelling, public services such as police, emergency services and administration, diverse healthcare facilities, educational institutes, cultural centres, sports and recreation facilities, shopping and dining places, parks and green spaces, utility supply, infrastructure and even urban technologies.
Land consolidation
Probably Sri Lanka too must have had laws and regulations for land utilisation passed by the British government before Independence. An example is the demarcation of reserved areas on either side of roads, railways, canals, forests and green spaces for common purposes.
We have gradually moved away from enforcing laws and regulations and introduced corrupt practices through our political and bureaucratic systems. Accordingly, the country’s reserved areas were encroached by the squatters who have put up their residential houses and business premises.
An inevitable outcome of urbanisation in Europe is the creation of large-scale farms in the rural sector. In relatively large, advanced countries such as the UK, Germany and France, average farm size is more than 100 acres; in some of the smaller countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, it is around 50 acres.
Compared with Europe, the average farm size is much smaller in Asia. Sri Lanka presents an exceptional case in this regard: it is one of the few countries with the smallest average farm size of 1.2 acres. Over the years, Sri Lanka has experienced land fragmentation, not consolidation, because in 1960 the average farm size was 1.6 acres.
It is not a surprise that about one-fourth of Sri Lanka’s labour force is still imprisoned within the rural agriculture sector. Limited urbanisation is one of the important factors. Inadequate development in the urban-based, non-agricultural sector has retarded the absorption of excess labour from the rural sector into urban sector on the one hand and to the non-agriculture sector on the other hand.
True urbanisation
Allowing people to gather on either side of the main roads is not ‘urbanisation’ because such locations do not make most of the ‘urban amenities’ available to the people. These areas without planned infrastructure development, do not present a wide range of infrastructure facilities as in a true urban environment. Urban infrastructure is needed to provide urban services and amenities such as utilities, communication, waste disposal, health care, education, recreation and cultural facilities.
While they are essential elements of urban living, the urban sectors are typically characterised by diverse non-agricultural economic activities as well as the infrastructure, utilities and services required by them. Effective urbanisation includes the provision of social services such as law enforcement, fire services, and local governance structures. These are usually absent in mere roadside concentrations.
There are no arrangements for environmental sustainability along the roadside because natural environment is at risk as people gather. Urban areas are designed to manage environmental impacts through waste management, green spaces, and pollution control. Roadside concentrations often lead to environmental degradation due to the lack of such systems.
Urbanisation aims to improve the quality of life for residents through better housing, sanitation, emergency services and public health services. Roadside concentrations often suffer from poor living conditions and inadequate access to basic services. True urbanisation is a multifaceted process involving comprehensive planning, infrastructure, and services, which are not typically present in simple roadside concentrations.
Two-way causation
Accordingly, Sri Lanka’s actual urbanisation appears to be limited to a couple of municipality areas in the country. However, if you consider mere people’s concentration and disregard many of the urban facilities and services, statistically you may be able to see a higher share of ‘urban sector’ population.
Urbanisation and development present a two-way relationship. Urbanisation is an inevitable outcome of the development process itself, while in turn, it contributes to development as well.
The laws and regulations as well as reforms and incentives can expedite the urbanisation process in reducing the excess population pressure in the rural sector. It is expected to promote economic efficiency through land consolidation by amalgamating and enlarging the farm plots and improving agricultural modernisation and productivity. It also promotes environmental sustainability through widening the forest cover, enhancing the space for wildlife, and conservating biodiversity.
(The writer is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Colombo and can be reached at sirimal@econ.cmb.ac.lk and
follow on Twitter @SirimalAshoka).
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