The Urban-Rural Linkages Guiding Principles (URL-GP) and Framework for Action are the product of over a year of global consultation of over 130 stakeholders who engaged in a participatory consultation process of meetings and a drafting process convened by UN-Habitat that resulted in ten principles.
The goal of the Guiding Principles is to inform pragmatic strategies and propose a Framework for Action to build an enabling environment for more inclusive and functional urban-rural linkages. A collection of seven case studies of urban-rural linkages demonstrates the application of both the guiding principles and framework for action at national and subnational levels. All seven cases are from work done prior to the development of the URL-GP.
The case of Tlokweng, Bostwana focuses on the urban-rural fringe of a rapidly urbanizing district outside the city of Gaborone and the comparison of different growth models that would balance the preservation of cultural and environmental assets of the peri-urban and rural villages while taking advantage of the economic and social opportunities of urbanization. Criteria for consideration of options included values of biodiversity and cultural heritage, health and food access and economic opportunity. The final Tloweng Development Plan was the product of participatory community engagement in mapping complex urban-rural systems and integrates social, economic and environmental dimensions in a planning approach based on resilience to benefit of households, smallholder farmers and small settlements in the urban-rural fringe.
Although integrated territorial planning across the urban-rural continuum was the primary focus, other principles and actions of the URL-GP can also be seen at work including principles such as Locally Grounded Interventions, Integrated governance, Financially Inclusive, and Environmentally Sensitive, Participatory Engagement. Other fields of action addressed in the Tlokweng planning process include: Investment and finance for inclusive urban-rural development, Territorial economic development and employment, Integrated approaches for food security, nutrition and public health, Environmental impact and natural resource and land management.