STATUS OF MANAGEMENT FOR INTEGRATED RURAL – URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ITS OUTPUTS IN SOME ARAB COUNTRIES - Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences

The purpose of this study is to investigate and evaluate the status of management for integrated rural – urban development and its outputs in some Arab countries. The concept of ‘integrated rural development’ has been elaborated with more than one meaning. Some scholars regard it as a combination of both central bureaucratic and local heuristic development systems. Others conceive it dealing with all integrated elements of the rural environment. A prominent meaning is that integrated rural development concerns systems of rural-urban interrelationships. There is no doubt the sustainability of rural systems would be well achieved through better interaction between rural and urban systems. This paper adopts an 'action research' approach, seeking a more effective form of management for the integrated rural – urban development through experiences of some chosen Arab states. The study is based on data compiled from international and national resources, and field data related to Egypt gathered by the author. Comparisons are made and explained between the status of the chosen Arab states, relating the existence of and behavioral attributes for integrated rural-urban development. Hoping to reach a touching conclusion, the study discusses the existence of integrated rural-urban development, the types of governance involved, the performance of rural-urban development activities, and it evaluates the outputs of development management, and the perspectives for the future.