Thinking about chronic urban poverty, CPRC Working Paper No. 12
Abstract
This short paper examines the issue of chronic urban poverty for the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC). The aim of the report is twofold: firstly to review the relevant literature and secondly to suggest research topics and ideas for the first two years of what is envisaged as a five-year project. As will become apparent the literature on chronic urban poverty is almost non existent; thus a lot of what follows is an attempt to reconsider more general urban poverty literature through a chronic poverty lens. Finally it is intended as a first attempt to develop some \"working hypothesises\" to guide further ongoing research in what is anticipated as a five year research project.
Over the last few years there has been a growing interest in poverty by the International Development agencies. Unfortunately there has often been a tendency to see poverty as a rural phenomena. The implicit assumption has been that urban areas will benefit from growth. In this analysis framework it becomes almost axiomatic that chronic poverty - being a more extreme version - will be also be a rural phenomena. This paper seeks to directly challenge this view and furthermore to suggest that an study of chronic poverty and by implication the CPRC must have an urban dimension.
Citation
Thinking about chronic urbanpoverty, CPRC Working Paper No. 12, Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), Manchester, UK, ISBN 1-904049-11-7, 20 pp.
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