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A district is not only a system of functionally diversified
settlements but also a network of social and economic and physical
interactions. The processes and interactions are shaped by roads among
settlements and villages in- and outside the district. Roads allow
people living in an area to obtain access to the economic activities,
infrastructure and social and administrative facilities. The road
network determines the access of the urban traders and entrepreneurs to
rural resources and raw materials. Within this system of interdependent
interactions, the urban sector may become dominant to the disadvantage
of the rural sector.
Within settlement patterns prices may differ. In general,
prices increase with increasing rank of an urban place within the
settlement hierarchy. As transportation costs do not explain the whole
price difference the income situation of villagers can be improved
through better rural-urban linkages, access to information on market
prices etc.
There are a number of methods that help to study rural-urban
linkages. They range from time budgets to market and transportation
studies and from trading to social interaction and migration studies.
The degree of functional integration can be measured in the following
way:
- Distance Matrix: identifies those locations from which all
other locations can be supplied with goods and services at minimum
transportation costs.
- Next Opportunity Matrix: combine two methods namely the functional matrix and the distance matrix.
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