This course is offered as the third course in the second term of the Master of Science Programme in International Development and Management (LUMID) at Lund University.

This course offers students from different academic backgrounds a summary of concepts, theories and frameworks for understanding and examining urban and rural development in developing countries. The rural part of the course provides a critical analysis of the processes of agrarian change in developing countries and gives students an opportunity to explore and reflect upon current theoretical and policy-oriented debates related to issues such as rural livelihood diversification, including the sustainable rural livelihoods approach and rural-urban interactions. The part of the course focusing on urban development analyses past and possible future patterns and trends of urbanisation in developing countries and offers students a chance to focus on several of the current challenges facing urban settlements such as climate change, water and sanitation issues, urban poverty and marginalisation, urban food systems and consumption patterns. In both parts of the course, gender-related questions will receive attention.

Through individual as well as group based course work students will acquire a critical social-science approach to urban and rural development in developing countries. Students will acquire the knowledge and concrete skills necessary to understand, assess and work in urban and rural development-related fields, whether in direct poverty reduction or in other aspects of social and institutional development