Geographies of development an introduction to development studies, 4th edition

ROUTLEDGE


I


Geographies of
Development
Now in its fourth edition, Geographies of Development: An Introduction to Development Studies remains a core,
balanced and comprehensive introductory textbook for students of development studies, development geography
and related fields. This clear and concise text encourages critical engagement by integrating theory alongside
practice and related key topics throughout. It demonstrates informatively that ideas concerning development have
been many and varied and highly contested - varying from time to time and from place to place.
Clearly written and accessible for students who have no prior knowledge of development, the book provides the
basics in terms of a geographical approach to development: what the situation is, where, when and why. Over 200
maps, charts, tables, textboxes and pictures break up the text and offer alternative ways of showing the information.
The text is further enhanced by a range of pedagogical features: chapter outlines, case studies, key thinkers, critical
reflections, key points and summaries, discussion topics and further reading.
Geographies of Development continues to be an invaluable introductory text not only for geography students, but
also anyone in area studies, international studies and development studies.
Robert Potter was Professor of Human Geography at the University of Reading, UK.
Tony Binns is Professor of Geography at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
Jennifer A. Elliott is Visiting Researcher in Geography at the University of Brighton, UK.
Etienne Nel is a Professor of Geography at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
David W. Smith was Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Liverpool, UK.



A n In tro d u c tio n to D e v e lo p m e n t S tu d ie s
F o u rth E dition

R o b e rt P o tte r, T o n y Binns,
J e n n ife r A . E lliott, E tienne Nel
an d D avid W. S m ith

Routledge
Ta ylo r & Francis C ro u p
L O N D O N A N D N EW YORK


Fourth edition published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X 14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint o f the Taylor <6 Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Robert Potter, Tony Binns, Jennifer A. Elliott, Etienne Nel and
David W. Smith
The right o f Robert Potter, Tony Binns, Jennifer A. Elliott, Etienne Nel and
David W. Smith to be identified as authors o f this work has been asserted
by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 o f the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part o f this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Pearson Education Limited 1999

Third edition published by Routledge 2008
British Library’ Calaloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library>o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Potter, Robert B., author.
Title: Geographies o f development: an introduction to development
studies / Robert Potter, [and four others].
Description: Fourth edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, N Y :
Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023637| ISBN 9781138794290
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138794306 (p b k .: alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781315759319 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Economic development. | Economic geography. | Human
geography.
Classification: LCC HD82 .G387 2018 | DDC 338.9—dc23
LC record available at />ISBN: 978-1-138-79429-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-79430-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75931-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Minion
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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This book is dedicated to
Rob Potter
An inspirational colleague and a great friend
(1950- 2014)

' X —^


©DtrOaHJife
L is t o f p la te s ix
L is ts o f fig u re s xi
L is t o f ta b le s xv
P r e fa c e to th e fo u r th e d itio n xvii
In tro d u c tio n xix
P a rt I

C o n c e p tu a lis in g d e v e lo p m e n t: c h a n g in g m e a n in g s o f d e v e lo p m e n t 1

1

Questioning development 3

2

Understanding colonialism 51

3

Theories and strategies of development 87

4

Globalisation, development and underdevelopment 141

P a r t II

D e v e lo p m e n t in p ra c tic e : c o m p o n e n ts o f d e v e lo p m e n t 1 9 5

5

People in the development process 197

6

Resources and the environment 251

7

Institutions of development 313

P a r t III

S p a c e s o f d e v e lo p m e n t: p la c e s a n d d e v e lo p m e n t 3 6 7

8

Movements and flows 369

9

Urban spaces 433

1 0 Rural spaces 501

C o n c lu s io n 551
B ib lio g ra p h y 557
In d e x 609



.P O g fil©

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
3.1
3.2

AmartyaSen 20
Mahatma Gandhi 24
Rural hawker and child in Guyana 25
People making a living, Old Delhi 39
Nepal rebuild 45
Brighton Royal Pavilion 59
Tents for the colonies 60
Portuguese Church: Macao 65

Cape Dutch house 66
Cecil Rhodes 70
Grand French architecture, Dakar 82
Walt Rostow 99
Part of an industrial estate in Bridgetown,
Barbados 102
3.3 US-owned baseball factory in Port au Prince,
Haiti 102
3.4 Johannesburg - Urban-based
modernisation 106
3.5 Fernando Cardoso 118
3.6 Andre Gunder Frank 118
3.7 ‘Organisation for Rural Development’ poster,
St. Vincent 121
3.8 Environmental costs of development: Anshan,
China 128
3.9 (a) Hong Kong 133
(b) Havana 134
3.10 Resonances of postmodernity: tourists and
members of a traditional ‘Tuk’ band in
Barbados 135
3.11 Images of development ideology in Cuba:
‘Revolution Yes!’ 137
4.1 A380 Airbus‘double-decker’ aircraft 149
4.2 Import substitution industrialisation in Burkina
Faso: the Brakina brewery 158
4.3 Shanghai Free Trade Zone 160
4.4 A world city - Cape Town 178
4.5 McDonald’s, Shanghai 184
4.6 James Tobin 189

5.1
5.2

Thomas Malthus 199
‘One-child’ poster, Guangzhou, south-eastern
China 204
5.3 Children in The Gambia 214
5.4 Supporting older people in Hong Kong 218
5.5 Women farmers harvesting rice in The
Gambia 220
5.6 Nursery school in Nepal 223
5.7 Roadside HIV/AIDS poster in South Africa 241
5.8 Children using a computer in Tunisia 243
6.1 Accessing water in the absence of piped
supplies
(a) Kathmandu, Nepal 272
(b) Shaanxi Province, China 272
(c) Sirajgani district, Northern Bangladesh 272
6.2 Coal fired power station, China 279
6.3 Wind energy development, China 280
6.4 Diamond mining, South Africa 281
6.5 Gully erosion, Zimbabwe 291
6.6 Dune planting to address desertification,
Northern Nigeria 292
6.7 Mechanical approaches to flood protection,
Bangladesh 300
6.8 Biological approaches to coastal protection:
planting mangroves on Ambon Island,
Indonesia 300

6.9 Smog enveloping Mexico City 304
6.10 Biodiversity in New South Wales 308
7.1 Repatriation of Cambodians from refugee
camps in Thailand under UN protection 321
7.2 World Bank headquarters in Washington 329
7.3 Institutional partnerships for conservation 338
7.4 Corporations committing to environmental
responsibility 350
7.5 Promoting good governance in Botswana 354
7.6 Contesting airport expansion, UK 359
8.1 Tourist hotel, The Gambia 380
8.2 Refugee camp, Bangladesh 384

IX


Plates

8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
8.8
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6

9.7
9.8
9.9
9.10
9.11
9.12
9.13
9.14
9.15

x

Cyclists in Kunming, China 391
Crowded street, Freetown 392
Mobile phone hub, Botswana 393
Container port, Kowloon, Hong Kong 404
Regional TNC HQ in Nairobi 412
Rose-growing for export, south of Nairobi,
Kenya 415
Ulan Bator, Mongolia 436
Mathare Valley Slum, Nairobi 449
Traditional Hausa village 462
Boy with donkey conveying waste, Kano 464
Terry McGee 465
Tricycle taxi, Sri Lanka 481
Furniture production, St Lucia 482
Hawkers in Georgetown 482
Street barber, western China 483
Street traders, Johannesburg 484
Urban agriculture, Zambia 486

Kuala Lumpur housing 487
Low-income settlements, Cape Town 488
Self-help housing in Caracas 489
Low-cost housing Eastern Cape,
South Africa 490

10.1

10.2

10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7

Diversifying rural livelihoods
(a) ‘Non-farm’ self-employment in mountain
tourism, Imlil, Morocco 502
(b) ‘Off-farm’ wage employment, brick making,
India 503
(c) ‘Off-farm’ wage employment, forest
clearance for oil palm production,
Indonesia 503
Ecosystem services in rural livelihoods
(a) Fishing, Kisumu, Kenya 510
(b) Date harvesting, Tunisia 510
(c) Timber production, Guyana 510
(d) Rain-fed crop production,
Zimbabwe 511

Cattle being taken to Ballyera market,
Niger 516
Drying cow-dung for use as fuel,
India 521
Solar energy, Botswana 522
Collecting firewood, Eastern Cape, South
Africa 523
Women’s handicraft project, Kathmandu,
Nepal 524


[pgpJK ig
o.i
1.1

Book structure xx
Global divisions: The North and South 5
1.2
Post-colonial growth theory 11
1.3 Global unevenness: Gross National Income per
capita, 2010 12
1.4 Variation in market size: Gross National
Income, 2010 13
1.5 How the Human Development Index (HDI) is
calculated 15
Global differences in Human Development
1.6
Index (HDI) scores, 2014 16
1.7 Changing Human Development Index scores,
1990-2014 17

1.8
Development as economic growth and
development as enhancing freedoms 27
1.9 Falling Poverty Rates over time 31
1.10 Global differences in the reduction of extreme
poverty 33
1.11 Buchanan’s Third World in the 1950s 40
2.1
Principal processes of colonialism 55
2.2 Long and short waves of colonialism 56
2.3 Phases of colonialism and imperialism 62
2.4 Regional colonialism 63
2.5 The scramble for Africa 68
3.1 Scientific revolutions: picturing Kuhns model
of their structure 90
3.2 Development theory: a framework for this
chapter 91
3.3 The modernisation surface for Malaya,
1895-1969 94
3.4 Tanzania in the 1970s: settlements and the
modernisation surface 95
3.5 The spread of modernisation: hypothetical
examples
(a) down through the settlement system from
the largest places to the smallest places 97
(b) over the national territory 97
3.6 Rostow’s five-stage model of development 100

3.7
3.8

3.9
3.10

3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
4.1

4.2
4.3

4.4
4.5
4.6

Oxfams campaign against IMF policies
including SAPs 105
An overview of Friedmanns core-periphery
model 108
Vances mercantile model: a simplified
version 110
The Taaffe, Morrill and Gould model of
transport development and its application to
East Africa 112
The foundations of the earliest towns in Brazil,

1500-1750 113
The plantopolis model and its extension to the
modern era 114
An overview of Marxist development
theory 116
Dependent relations according to the New
Internationalist 120
Dependency theory: a graphical depiction 121
The Iceberg Model 132
Modernism destroying the urban fabric 134
A graphical depiction of some common ideas
about modernity and postmodernity 136
Contrasting views of globalisation as:
(a) the homogenisation of the whole world or at least its cities 144
(b) the conflagration of the South by the
North 144
The shrinking world 148
Time-space convergence and divergence:
(a) the conventional projection of the
Pacific 150
(b) time-space map of the Pacific based on
travel times by scheduled airline in 1975 150
Global air traffic flows 151
Mobile phone and internet uptake,
1995-2015 153
(a) Global mobile phone access by region 155
(b) Global internet access by region 155

XI

Figures

4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
4.15

4.16
4.17
4.18
4.19
4.20
4.21
4.22
4.23
4.24
4.25
5.1
5.2
5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7
5.8

XII

The digital divide 155
The world’s submarine cable system 156
The principal maquiladora centres on the
United States-Mexico border 160
The distribution of the main Special Economic
Zones in China 161
Reductions in transport and communications
costs over time 162
Global hourly wage rate differentials between
selected countries 163
The global production network of the
iPhone 5 164
The global distribution of manufacturing
production, 2013 166
The world’s leading manufacturing nations
(% of world total Manufacturing Value
Added) 167
Network of world trade by region 168
FDI inflows by region 169
Map of inward and outward FDI 170
Global service production, 2014 171
The major service providing nations 172
The world’s largest TNCs, 2010 174

Toyota’s global production network, 2015 177
The contemporary system of world cities 180
Globalisation and Third World societies: Rip
Kirby airs the stereotypical argument 182
Trends in global convergence and
divergence 186
World population density, 2014 202
Demographic transition model 208
(a) Shrinking family sizes 212
(b) European countries where population is
falling 213
(c) The 6 most populous countries 213
Population pyramids for:
(a) Ghana 216
(b) UK 216
Multiple roles of women 221
(a) Levels of obesity in selected countries 232
(b) Overweight and obesity in women by
region 232
Impact of AIDS on life expectancy in five
African countries 236
(a) Population pyramid Botswana 237
(b) Population pyramid Morocco 238

6.1
6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5
6.6
6.7

6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11
6.12
6.13
6.14
6.15

6.16
6.17
6.18
6.19
7.1
7.2

Carbon transfers in world trade,
"
1990-2010 255
Virtual water balances and direction of
gross virtual waters flows related to trade in
agricultural and industrial products,
1960-2005 256
(a) The nine Planetary Boundaries of the
Earth 262
(b) A safe and just space for humanity 263

The linkages between ecosystem services and
human wellbeing 264
Global water withdrawals 267
The global distribution of transboundary river
and lake systems 269
Persistent gaps in water and sanitation coverage
by region, 2015
(a) Population without access to improved
water 271
(b) Population without access to improved
sanitation 271
Global physical and economic water
scarcity 275
Energy intensity versus time 277
China’s imports of ores, metals and precious
stones 278
Change in energy intensity worldwide and
selected countries 279
Global mineral extraction in the twentieth
century 281
Areas under cultivation for selected crops in
tropical countries, 1960-2010 289
Debate continues over the direction of global
climate change 293
Global anthropogenic carbon dioxide
emissions 294
(a) Annual carbon dioxide emissions 294
(b) Cumulative carbon dioxide emissions 294
The direct and indirect health impacts of
climate change 296

The inundation of Bangladesh under proposed
sea level change 299
Cumulative C 0 2 emissions, 1850-2011 301
PM10levels for selected cities by region,
2008-12 306
The UN system 318
The top ten contributors to the UN budget 319


Figures

7.3
7.4

The World Bank Group 330
World Bank lending in 2015 by
(a) geographical region 331
(b) theme 331
7.5 Targeted finances for the environment and
natural resource management 2001-2011
(a) Lending commitments 337
(b) Lending by theme 337
(c) Commitments in non-environment
sectors 337
7.6 The structure of the World Trade
Organisation 347
7.7 The WTO rules against India 351
8.1 Map of Ethiopia in the 1980s 387
8.2 Estimated percentage annual growth in exports,
1965-1989 403

8.3 Province level administrative divisions
China 406
8.4 Major cities of Guangdong 407
8.5 (a) ODA to developing countries 425
(b) ODA by donor country 426
9.1
Urbanisation and economic development,
2015 435
9.2 The worlds urban and rural populations,
1950-2050 437
9.3 Percentage of the world’s population living in
urban areas, 1950-2050 438
9.4 The rate of urbanisation by major world
region, 1950-2050 439
9.5 Regional shares of the world urban population,
2010 441
9.6 Chinas urban and rural populations 442
9.7 The world’s cities by size classes: 1990,2014 and
2030 444
9.8 Urban growth rates according to city classes,
2014 445
9.9 Megaslums by 2025 448
9.10 Causes of slum formation 449
9.11 Gini-coefficient for selected cities in the
South 451
9.12 Deprivations associated with urban poverty and
their causes 452

9.13 Urban settlement distributions:
(a) primate 457

(b) rank-size 457
(c) log-normal 457
9.14 The cycle of urbanisation and the
demographic transition for the North
(developed) and the South (developing
countries) 459
9.15 Examples of urbanisation curves for the North
and South 460
9.16 Current influences on the character of city
systems 461
9.17 Main horticultural production sites, Kano 463
9.18 A simplified depiction of desakota
regions within a national space-economy 466
9.19 The distribution of different types of desakota
regions in Asia 467
9.20 Key cities in the global economy 469
9.21 The principal cities and manufacturing zone of
Nigeria 475
9.22 The main components of sustainable
urbanisation 477
9.23 The scale of informal sector employment in
selected cities in the South 479
9.24 The informal-formal sector continuum 481
9.25 Different types of low-income housing in cities
of the Global South 488
10.1 The average rural livelihood in sub-Saharan
Africa 506
10.2 The sustainable livelihoods framework 513
10.3 The impacts of malnutrition through the life
cycle 519

10.4 Population in rural areas and employment in
agriculture 520
10.5 Persistent urban-rural gaps in access to water
and sanitation 521
10.6 Average farm sizes worldwide, 1960-2000 528
10.7 Average distribution of farms and farmland
areas by land size class in Latin America and
the Caribbean 529
10.8 The global area of biotech crops, 1996-2014
(million hectares) 539

XIII



Wi

1.1
1.2
1.3

Alternative interpretations of development 8
Human Development Index 17
International comparison based on HDI
ranking, 2014 18
1.4 Global differences: economic and employment
indicators 18
1.5 Global differences: population indicators 18
1.6 Eurocentricity: some principal points of
criticism 21

1.7 The MDG scorecard, 2000-2015 32
1.8 Income ratios between the richest and poorest
countries, 1820-2013 35
3.1 Stohr’s criteria for the enactment of
‘development from below’ 127
3.2 Diverse economies 132
3.3 Some polar differences between modernism
and postmodernism that have relevance to
development 135
4.1
Busiest airports by flight movement, 2014 152
4.2 Busiest airports by passenger numbers,
2014 152
4.3 Digital use and growth rates, 2015 154
4.4 Telephone and internet subscriptions by
type 154
4.5 Internet users (by %) by region, 2015 154
4.6 Types of Special Economic Zones 159
4.7 Changes in the global distribution of industrial
production in selected regions, 1948-2010 165
4.8 Changing geography of manufacturing
employment 1980-2010 in key manufacturing
regions (in millions of people) 167
4.9 The world’s 20 largest non-financial TNCs and
the top 8 TNCs in the South, 2014: ranked
according to assets 175
4.10 The world’s largest financial TNCs, 2011 176
4.11 A comparison of the world’ largest TNCs and
six middle-ranking economies, 2010 176
5.1 World population growth, 1900-2100 203

5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11
6.12
6.13
7.1
7.2
7.3

Population statistics for selected low-, middleand high-income countries, 2012 207
Proportion of the population under 18 years old
in selected countries, 2009 214
Commitment to health: access, services and
resources 226

Regional HIV/AIDS statistics and features,
December 2012 234
Incidence of HIV in selected countries and
regions, 2010 and 2013 235
HIV/AIDS, prevalence and mortality in
selected countries 235
Primary school enrolment and literacy for
selected countries, 2012 242
The ethical challenges of global environmental
change 253
The shared principles of the concept of
sustainability 253
The global status of key ecosystems services 265
Major diseases attributable to environmental
factors 273
The importance of mineral production in the
economies of the Global South 282
Trends in forest area, 1990 to 2015, by subregion 285
Key facts on desertification 291
Observed changes in the climate system 294
The predicted impacts of global warming 295
Key terms in responding to climate change 299
Community based adaptations in coastal and
low lying regions 302
Flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto
protocol 303
The significance of species variability 307
Debating the future of the United Nations 317
The value o f‘Delivering as One’ 324
Selected multi-lateral environmental

agreements (MEAs) 327

xv


Tables

7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9

7.10
7.11
7.12
7.13
7.14
7.15
7.16
7.17
8.1

8.2
8.3

9.1
9.2
9.3

9.4

XVI

The aims of the High Level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development 328
Changes in voting power within the World
Bank (shareholding in percentage) 333
New challenges and partnerships for sustainable
development 334
The Green, Clean and Resilient vision of the
World Bank Environment strategy 335
The four-fold environmental agenda of the
World Bank, 1994 336
The World Bank proposed Environmental
and Social Framework: the constituent
standards 340
The principal instruments of structural
adjustment programmes 341
Explaining environmentally blind SAPs 342
Core principles of the PRSP approach 343
Competing ideologies on trade and the
environment 349
The World Bank dimension of good
governance’ 355
Government’s role in environmental
outcomes 357
NGOs come in all stripes 360
The role of NGOs in promoting democratic
development 363

International tourism receipts and tourist
arrivals in selected countries (with large or
fast-growing tourist industries) 378
Leading world exporters and importers,
2013 404
Countries that have qualified for, or are eligible,
or potentially eligible, and may wish to receive
HIPC Initiative assistance (March 2015) 423
Urban population as a percentage of regional
populations, 2014-50 440
Relative shifts in the percentage of the global
urban population, 1950-2050 440
Number of major cities by size classes: 1990,
2014 and 2030 443
The fifteen biggest cities in the world,
2014-2030 446

9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
9.9
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6

10.7

10.8

10.9
10.10
10.11
10.12
10.13
10.14
10.15
10.16

Richardson’s categorisation of national urban'
development strategies 473
Characteristics of the two circuits of the urban
economy 480
Urban household strategies for coping with
worsening poverty 485
The brown and green agenda for urban
environmental improvement 496
Spatial dimensions of the brown agenda 497
Broad processes and trends in the rural
South 504
Sources of rural livelihood 505
Dominant concepts in rural development 507
How scientists’ and farmers’ priorities may
diverge 509
Strengths and weaknesses of the livelihood
approach in development 514
Most prevalent livelihood activities in the

Somali region, Ethiopia (ranked by numbers of
households engaging) 517
Poverty rates in urban and rural areas by world
region (1990-2008). Share of the population
below $1.25/day 520
Access to electricity in rural and urban areas
(percentage of population served) in selected
countries 522
The sixteen decisions of the Grameen
Bank 527
Summary of the debate about the role of
agriculture in development 535
Rural development: technology and its impacts
on women 538
Interacting drivers of the global land grab 541
Types of forest ecosystem services 542
The multiple economic uses of wood in
Zimbabwe 543
Characteristics of outsider and insider forestry
compared 544
Perception of women’s participation in villagelevel decision making (share of women agreeing
and disagreeing within focus groups averaged
across villages and sites) 547


IFtr®fife@© S3 IMfo©■Ssonjaffl @°M§ifO
From its first publication in 1999, the intention of Geographies of Development was to provide an up-to-date and
innovative approach to teaching and learning in the broad interdisciplinary fields of development geography and
development studies. From the outset, we were keen to get away from the sector-by-sector approach that had been
so typical of earlier texts, together often with a distinctly regional orientation. As with the earlier editions, this

fourth edition uses a threefold structure, broadly dealing respectively with: (i) conceptualising development,
(ii) development in practice and (iii) spaces of development.
We have, of course, been delighted that the three previous editions have all been welcomed in both critical and
commercial terms, and that the general tenor of the comments we have received has been very positive, whether in
the form of written reviews or general comments and reactions received from those who are using the book. It
seems therefore that, as intended, Geographies of Development has generally been well received as an innovative and
comprehensive text for undergraduates, as well as for some taught postgraduates, who are studying development in
a variety of fields, not just geography.
As well as those reviews appearing in journals, running up to the fourth edition, the publishers commissioned a
number of detailed reviews of the third edition. We should like to thank those involved in this process for their
constructive and generally highly positive responses, as these greatly helped us in shaping this fourth edition. In
embarking on this fourth edition of Geographies of Development, once again we did not feel that the structure of the
book needed to be changed in any significant fashion. Inevitably, it was clear that the text should be improved by
means of general and specific updates and revisions, and this is what we have done. In fact, quite substantial revi­
sions have been made to the material in light of the significantly changed global context since the previous edition.
And this time round, the publishers were enthusiastic about upgrading the overall presentation of the book.
In the third edition the publishers were keen that as authors we should make every effort to provide more entry
points into the text. We responded to this by increasing the number of sections and subsections throughout the
book, and we have maintained this strategy in the fourth edition.
In order to further aid the reader in accessing the text, short statements concerning the aims and content are
provided right at the start of each chapter and these are then fleshed out by means of more detailed bullet-point
summaries. In addition, a listing of key points is provided at the end of each chapter.
Further, in this fourth edition, a new ‘hierarchy’ of boxed materials has been introduced to support the text.
Thus, the substantive boxed Case studies presented in the earlier editions are still to be found, and we have included
Key idea and Key thinker boxes where these are likely to inform and further assist the reader. This Edition also
includes Critical reflections, which seek to engage the reader with key issues and debating points. It is our intention
that groups in a classroom or tutorial setting can use these just as easily as the individual reader.
The biggest change in putting together this fourth edition has been in the composition of the writing team. Since
the first edition was launched in 1999, we have unfortunately lost two good friends and co-authors. David Smith
sadly died in December 1999, and then in April 2014 we lost Rob Potter. David made an important intellectual input

to the first edition, whilst Rob was the ‘driving force’ behind the whole project through the first, second and third
editions. In light of their valuable contributions, we had no hesitation in retaining David’s and Rob’s names on the
cover of the fourth edition. The successful completion of the fourth edition is due in no small measure to Etienne
Nel, who kindly agreed to join Jennifer and Tony at a crucial stage in the project.

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Preface to the fo u rth edition

As with the earlier editions, we look forward to receiving the reactions of students, lecturers and general readers
who use this fourth edition, in the form of reviews, the passing of comments as mentioned previously and, of
course, as is more likely these days, via e-mail messages sent to us in our respective institutions. All of these will
help us to shape the next edition of Geographies of Development.
Finally we are extremely grateful to Andrew Mould at Routledge, who from the outset showed genuine and sus­
tained enthusiasm for the Fourth Edition to be produced in a timely fashion. No publisher could have shown more
interest in the project or provided more support: thank you Andrew from us all. A little further into the process,
Egle Zigaite helped substantially in all manner of ways and we extend our warm thanks to her for this support. Chris
Garden deserves special mention for the drawing or redrawing the majority of the Figures. His cartographic skill is
clearly reflected in the excellent standard of the diagrams.
Tony Binns, Jenny Elliott and Etienne Nel
August 2016

X V II I


Introduction
The fourth edition of Geographies of Development aims to build on the contribution made by the previous three
editions in providing a comprehensive introductory textbook for students, primarily those taking courses in the
field of development geography and the interdisciplinary area of development studies. The feedback on all previous

editions has shown that, although the text is mainly directed at the second-year undergraduate market, given the
global importance of the subject matter, the book is just as appropriate for first-year students taking broader
courses, along with those reading for more specialist options in the final year of their degree programmes. Indeed,
we are directly aware that the book is also recommended as a key text on a number of taught Masters programmes.
At the outset, the distinctive aim of Geographies of Development was to move away from what had at that time become
the traditional structure of geography and development textbooks, which all too frequently started with definitions of the
Third World and colonialism, and then proceeded to consider, step by step, topics such as population and demography,
agriculture and rural landscapes, mining, manufacturing, transport, urbanisation, development planning and so on.
Having provided detailed accounts on such topics, many texts unfortunately terminated at that juncture, but those that
endeavoured to provide a broader picture generally went on to present a selection of country- or region-based case studies.
In Geographies of Development, we have endeavoured to break this mould of development-oriented textbooks in
a manner that reflects the rapidly changing concerns about development itself. In this sense, its raison d’etre is to
provide a text for learning and teaching about development in the early twenty-first century. As such, the structure
of this fourth edition remains broadly the same as the first three editions, with a division into three relatively equal
parts, dealing respectively with conceptualising development (Part I), development in practice (Part II) and the
spaces of development (Part III). This structure is shown diagrammatically in the figure.
Part I (Chapters 1,2,3 and 4) provides a detailed overview of the concepts, ideas and ideologies that have under­
pinned writings about the nature of development, as well as pragmatic attempts to promote development in the
global arena. It also addresses how ‘development’ has been conceptualised and measured, and gives detailed consid­
eration to important topics such as the histories, meanings and strategies of development, the emergence of the
Third World (the term commonly used before ‘Global South’ became the more accepted descriptor of the developing world), the nature of imperialism and colonialism and its various stages of mercantile, industrial and late
colonialism, together with key concepts such as the new international division of labour and the new international
X IX


Introduction

Figure 0.1 Book structure

economic order. Part I also provides thorough reviews of relevant and related topics such as modernity, enlighten­

ment thinking, the relevance of postmodernity, anti-developmentalism, global shifts and time-space convergence.
Updated sections emphasise important topics such as anti-development, global poverty and inequalities, the
neo-liberalisation of development, gender-related issues, the digital divide, global shifts, the legacies of colonialism,
post-colonialism, decolonisation, participatory and ‘bottom-up development strategies, and progress from the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As with the other parts of the book, these early chapters exemplify the title and the overarching theme of the
volume. Part I makes it clear that ideas concerning development have been many and varied, and have been highly
contested through time. Thus, definitions of, and approaches to, development have varied from place to place, from
time to time, from country to country, region to region, and group to group within the general populace. It is essen­
tially this plural nature of development that Geographies of Development seeks both to examine and exemplify.
Furthermore, this part of the book demonstrates that current global processes are not leading to the homogenisa­
tion of the worlds regions. Far from it, the evidence shows all too clearly that contemporary global processes are
leading to increasing differences between places and regions and rising social inequality within and between coun­
tries, and thus to the generation of progressively more unequal patterns of development and change, and associated
social, economic and environmental conflict. This is evidenced in a range of dimensions including the continuing
‘digital divide, the selective benefits of the MDGs, the differential effects of the Global Financial Crisis, the varying
effects of climate change impacts, and the playing out of political tensions, particularly in the Middle East. Hence,
the emphasis is on multiple geographies of development.
Part II (Chapters 5,6 and 7) covers what may be regarded as the basic components of the development equation people, environments, resources, institutions and communities - together with the increasingly complex and
multifaceted interconnections that exist between them. New sections have been included on the effects of the HIV/
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Introduction

AIDS pandemic, gender, the position of children in conflict situations and the effects of ageing populations on
development processes. In considering resources and environment, this edition gives further attention to issues of
resource scarcity and global environmental changes, including climate change, but also to concerns that Planetary
Boundaries may have been crossed and the services’ provided by ecosystems for human well-being irreversibly
degraded. Greater attention is given to the equity and justice challenges of moving to lower carbon and more sus­

tainable development paths in future. The inclusion of a chapter specifically dealing with institutions in the
development process serves to exemplify the utility of the overall approach adopted in Geographies of Development.
The organisations considered extend from the agents of global governance - the United Nations, World Bank,
International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation - via the country level, involving the role of the state,
but also transnational business, through to civil society, community participation and the empowerment of the
individual, embracing non-governmental and community-based organisations. This account serves to stress the
plurality of decision makers and the complexity of alliances between and amongst them that are shaping contem­
porary geographies of development, just as the detailed expositions on population, resources, environment
and development exemplify the diversity of opinion that exists on how wealth and well-being should be created and
distributed, including in ways that respect the environmental limits of the Earth and the future rights of people
and non-human species.
Part III (Chapters 8, 9 and 10) focuses on what development means in relation to particular places and people.
This is achieved by consideration of the flows and movements that occur between geographically separate locales,
and in terms of the distinctive issues raised by development and change in both urban and rural spaces. Once again,
notwithstanding the difference in focus, the theme is the diversity and complexities of the movements and flows of
people, finance and technologies, along with the diverse realities of transport and communications and spatially
diverse outcomes. Pressing topics of current significance, such as patterns of international development assistance,
energy security, pro-poor tourism, world trade and responses to the Global Financial Crisis, the recent internation­
alisation of land markets, the persistent challenges of poverty and womens empowerment, receive detailed attention
in this part of Geographies of Development. The nature and scale of urbanisation in countries of the Global South,
evolving urban systems and the incidence of unequal development, the need for urban and regional planning, the
salience of basic needs and human rights, and the quest for sustainable cities in relation to the ‘brown agenda’, are
prominent topics reviewed in relation to urban spaces and development imperatives. Consideration of the impor­
tance of urban-rural relations is an additional feature. Rural spaces are analysed with particular reference to diverse
rural livelihood systems (particularly the importance of flexibility in coping with and adapting to social, economic
and environmental change) and the examination of the multiple meanings and outcomes of approaches to rural
development, such as land reform, the green’ and ‘gene’ revolutions in agriculture, and the challenges of managing
forests to deliver both global environmental benefits and local livelihood objectives. Forming the last major part
of the book, these chapters draw heavily on earlier accounts presented in Parts I and II, and they make frequent
reference to the realities of globalisation, urban bias, rights to resources, industrialisation and sustainable development,

as well as other topics.
The thematic structure and orientation of Geographies of Development means that important contemporary
development issues are considered such as civil society, NGOs, anti-development, neo-liberalism, governance,
resilience, globalisation, gender mainstreaming, structural adjustment, poverty reduction programmes, climate
change, sustainable development, human rights, empowerment and participatory democracy. These issues are
not dealt with in standalone chapters, but rather are treated as appropriate at various points in the text, and
sometimes from a variety of different perspectives. This approach reflects the complexity of these issues in the
context of multiple geographies of development. A case in point is the relationship between tourism and devel­
opment, which brings both benefits and costs to host countries. This is first identified in Part I in considering
processes of globalisation. International tourism then reappears when Chapter 8 in Part III considers global
movements and flows, and in Chapter 10 as a factor in the widespread purchases of land in the Global South,
so-called ‘land grabbing’.
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Introduction

Geographies of Development focuses on the processes that are leading to change, whether for better or worse.'
In this sense, the book follows Brookfield’s (1975) simple and straightforward definition of development as
change, whether positive or negative. Thus, although the primary remit of the book is the Global South, the
focus of the book is very much on development as change, regardless of where or how it is occurring. As in
previous editions, every effort has been made in the fourth edition of Geographies of Development to elucidate
clear and cogent examples of the issues under discussion, in the form of diagrams, maps, tables, photographs,
boxed materials and critical reflections. Many new illustrations are included in this edition, and updated boxed
case studies and examples are presented throughout the chapters. These seek either to extend definitions of
basic concepts, or to provide detailed illustrations of the generic topics under consideration, or to promote
critical reflection and discussion. In Part I of Geographies of Development, the nature and definition of terms
such as ‘Third World’, ‘developing countries’, ‘less-developed countries’ and the ‘Global South’ are the subject of
detailed discussion. In this fourth edition, whilst we recognise that none of these terms are perfect, we have
decided to use the ‘Global South’ throughout the book. Some might suggest that in the contemporary context

the term ‘poor countries’ is a more indicative and more useful one, reflecting the need to implement progressive
and effective poverty reduction strategies.
As authors we have embarked on this fourth edition with the firm belief that teaching, learning and researching
about places and communities other than the ones in which we live, and of which we have direct experience, are
demanding, but vitally important tasks (Unwin and Potter, 1992). The amount of media attention given to develop­
ment issues in poor countries seems to have declined steadily in recent years. John Vidal (2002) cited the results of
a survey carried out by the Third World and Environment Broadcasting Trust (3WE), funded by Oxfam, Christian
Aid, Comic Relief and other charities. The survey provided a detailed analysis of programming on British television
during 2001, revealing that only four programmes dealing with the politics of developing countries were shown
during that year. Further, in 2001 three of the five major channels broadcast no programmes at all in this category.
Not only was it found that the serious international documentary is virtually dead, but when the developing world
was depicted on television it was usually in the context of travel programmes, or in providing exotic’ backgrounds
for holiday challenges’, reality television and ‘docusoaps’ featuring celebrities (Vidal, 2002).
We believe that the post-war development of geography as a discipline has, for most of its history pivoted too
strongly around a UK/Europe/North America ‘core’ focus, leading to a relative neglect of the ‘study of distant
places’, and also the existence of little empathy among the broad academic community for the relatively few col­
leagues who have directed their research activities towards an investigation of patterns and processes in the
Global South. Such issues have been the subject of a lively debate in the pages of academic geography journals
such as Area (R.B. Potter, 2001a, 2002a; A. Smith, 2002). These notions are now being challenged by the rise of
new powers in the Global South, globalisation of the economy and the nature and effects of global crises.
We would advocate a reshaped vision of geography, in which both theories and empirical studies travel in all
directions, recognising the porosity of boundaries in this era of increasing transnationality and globalisation.
Furthermore, it seems important that geography and geographers should show greater responsibility to distant
‘others’ at a time when increasing interdependence is occurring alongside progressively greater inequality between
the worlds ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ (D.W. Smith, 1994). It is the ultimate aim of Geographies of Development to
assist students and teachers alike in structuring their observations and discussions of the multiple meanings of
development in this increasingly complex and interdependent contemporary world.

Further reading
Vidal, J. (2002) Britons grow dull on trivia as TV ignores developing world. Guardian Weekly, 18 July. Accessed 28 July

2016. />
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