This paper will look at the consequences of rapid urbanisation on rural development with particular reference to the squatter problem in Lusaka. The major underlying assumption is that interventions to alter the conditions of the urban poor have excerbated the deteriorating lifestyle of rural dwellers. Urbanisation is seen as having occurred obversely to rural development and, to some extent, reflecting the same effect as that depicted in dependency theories which seek to explain the relationship between developed and undeveloped countries. Accordingly, the under-development that exists in some parts of the world is the creation of Western industrial growth which could not have occurred without the conditioning of a periphery from which economic surplus was extracted and necessary raw materials secured. As depicted in the relationship of undeveloped areas of the world with developed countries, urban development has been based on an exploitative relationship with the rural countryside. Human resources, rural production and national finance have been used to sustain cities and towns. Dependency theories do not adequately portray the relationship between the development of urban areas and the the underdeveloped rural countryside within a national boundary. An historical understanding of events is also nececessary to comprehend the relationship between national needs and demands, and the ensuing social response. This paper will also look at the underdeveloped process within a historical context.
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