Growth Poles and Regional Policy in Open Dualistic Economies: Western Theory and Asian Reality

The integration of the formal and informal urban sectors in South Africa

“…Optimism about the potential of the development centre as an instrument to initiate economic development in underdeveloped areas, especially developing countries with marked core-peripheral differences, has given way to pessimism and even a total rejection of the concept as a development instrument (Nichols, 1969;Conroy, 1973;Moseley, 1973;Lo & Salih, 1978;Friedmann & Weaver, 1979;and Weaver, 1981).…”

“…Controversy over the advantages and the distinct inherent developmental disadvantages of the basic needs approach, especially its apparent inability to sustain the high levels of GNP growth which are necessary for the provision of certain capital-intensive basic services (Dell, 1979: 296, 306) has led to suggestions of a possible reconciliation of the top-down and bottom-up approaches in developing countries to overcome development problems typical of such countries (Lo & Salih, 1978;Penouil, 1981;and Lee, 1983).…”

“…Subsequently, pessimism about the potential of the development approach from the 'top downwards' as an instrument to improve substantially the material well-being of the poor in less developed countries (LDCs) has been replaced by optimism over the past decade and a half about the promising 'basic needs' approach (ILO, 1976;Lo & Salih, 1978;and Stohr & Taylor, 1981), also in Southern Africa (Coetzee, 1986). Controversy over the advantages and the distinct inherent developmental disadvantages of the basic needs approach, especially its apparent inability to sustain the high levels of GNP growth which are necessary for the provision of certain capital-intensive basic services (Dell, 1979: 296, 306) has led to suggestions of a possible reconciliation of the top-down and bottom-up approaches in developing countries to overcome development problems typical of such countries (Lo & Salih, 1978;Penouil, 1981;and Lee, 1983).…”

“…While some attention has been given to the possible effects the basic needs and centre down approaches might have on; such divergent issues of development as the attainment of self-sustaining poor communities, urbanisation, the creation of employment opportunities, and on technological modernisation of industries and commerce in developing countries (ILO, 1976;Lo & Salih, 1978;and Stöhr & Taylor, 1981a), relatively little attention has been paid to possible mechanisms through which these two approaches could be reconciled within the urban environment It is the aim of this paper: -to recapture the most prominent deficiencies of both the centre down and basic needs development concepts -to suggest a model (structure) for the integration of the formal and informal urban sectors in the Southern African development area in view of these deficiencies -to illustrate the possible advantages of this model as part of a 'reciprocally supportive' development approach for urban areas in Southern Africa.…”

The Geography of the Elderly Em a Modernizing Society: The Hong Kong Case

“…This explains the much lower mobility of the elderly in comparison with their counterpart in the developed countries. As most of the developing countries today are so preoccupied with regional economic development policies such as the creation of growth poles (Lo & Salih, 1978), the role of the elderly has been largely ignored. Any movement of the elderly to the new towns (growth poles) in Hong Kong is largely passive, i.e.…”