The Concept of Development

and the Case for Regional

Planning
The Meaning of Development and Its Core
Values
The Meaning and Origin of Development
I suppose you have heard of the word development before.
Development is a word that is widely used by many people and
also understood differently by the different users of the term.

Development is generally the progress of society towards a better

quality humane life. The modern development process is linked to
the speech of President Truman of USA in 1949 in which he
expressed displeasure at how Africa and other developing
countries were lagging behind. To him it was the duty of the West
to bring development to the least developed countries. He
employed the term underdeveloped areas to describe the area
which later was designated as the Third World. Within the context
of modernism, development was conceived to mean the
transformation of traditional societies into modern Westernised
nations. In conceiving development in this way, little recognition
was given to the fact that, many traditional societies might have
been content with their ways of life. How will you view this attitude
of the early proponents of development? Bias towards the west
with colonial mentality, you could be right. So anything that was
different from that of Europe and America was seen as
characteristics of underdevelopment.

It has been argued that, the teleological origin of development is

traced back to the rationalism and humanism of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries respectively, when development simply
defined as change, experienced a more focused and logical
transformation and evolution. The enlightenment period saw the
growth of the belief that, by applying rational, scientific thought, you
 could achieve more ordered, predictable and valuable change. In
this respect, those who adapted to this new viewpoint were
regarded as developed and those who could not adapt were
regarded as traditional and backward. Modern science was to
deliver man from backwardness imposed by religion, that is, the
church.

The Three Core Values of Development

In the expression of the UNDP (1970), development has meaning

only if it increases opportunities for every member of society
to lead a long, healthy, productive and satisfying life. In this
view, the true measure of development is not just the size or
rate of growth of the economy, nor the average income per
person, but the degree to which increases in social production
and wealth draw from, and benefit, all members of society.
Development has since been conceptualized to mean a
sustained elevation of an entire society and social system
toward a better or more humane life. You will agree with me that,
what constitute good life is not easily definable. The three core
values of development include sustenance, self-esteem, and
freedom. These values are considered common goals that all
individuals and societies desire to have as they relate to the
fundamental human needs of every society. What then is contained
in each of these values?

Sustenance
This involves the ability to meet one’s life sustaining basic needs.
These include: food, shelter, health, and protection. Sustenance
also involves the realization of human potential through the
provision of conditions necessary for the expansion of people’s
capabilities. The elimination of absolute poverty, creation of jobs,
and ensuring less inequality are all necessary but not sufficient
conditions for development. A recognition is given to wealth as
important for human life but not as necessary for the fulfilment of
some important human choices. Against this background,
development goes beyond life sustaining economic elements to
include intangible needs of man.

Self-esteem
To be a person relates to a sense of worth and self respect. All
societies and individuals seek to be recognized and not to be used
as a tool by others for their own ends/gains. It is unfortunate that,
the current importance attached to material possession has
resulted in the disrespect for the materially-deprived in society. Are

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
you currently a slave to a big short? If so you are not developed
and must assert your independence by relating with mutual respect
to that person. This means you should at least meet your basic
needs and be guaranteed basic rights by the state.

Freedom from Servitude

This involves the ability to choose and the sense of emancipation
from alienating material conditions of life and from social servitude
to nature, ignorance and other people, misery, institutions, and
dogmatic beliefs. It involves an expanded range of choices for
societies, and the minimisation of external constraints in pursuit of
development. The concept of human freedom encompasses
political freedom and participation, the rule of law, personal
security, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity.

The Three Objectives of Development

From the discussions so far, one may argue that, development is
both a physical reality and a state of mind in which society has,
through some combination of social, economic, and institutional
processes, secured the means for obtaining a better life. The aims
of development in all societies therefore are related to the
following:

• To increase the availability and widen the distribution of basic

life-sustaining goods such as food, shelter, health and
protection.

• To raise levels of living by way of higher incomes, the provision

of more jobs, better education, and greater attention to cultural
and humanistic values, all of which will serve not only to
enhance material well-being but also to generate greater
individual and societal self-esteem

• To expand the range of economic and social choices available

to individuals and nations by freeing them from servitude and
dependence not only in relation to other people and nation-
states but also to the forces of ignorance and human misery.

What Then Is Development?

Development is an historical process of change which occurs over
a very long period but it can be and usually is manipulated by
human agency. Culture plays an important role in characterising

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 national and local development strategies. Development is not a
unidirectional process. Improvements in human living conditions
have many different dimensions and the speed of change may vary
enormously for any individual or community. Is development
positive change or positive progress or a combination of the two?
Change is good but can be mistaken as seen in current
understanding of development whereby developing countries need
to change and be like the advanced world. Progress on the other
hand should be related to a set of desirable goals and ideals, but
who defines these goals and ideals? The rich and politicians or the
poor and destitute? Change and progress should relate to
improvements in the living conditions (not only material) of
everyone. Development should therefore be conceived from below
and not from above. Local people should define their own goals
and ideals in line with the universal core values which may be
given different interpretations. The principal goal of development
policy is to create sustainable improvements in the quality of life for
all people. Raising per capita income and consumption is
important, but others such as reducing poverty, expanding access
to health services, and increasing educational levels and generally
opening up choices for people are also important. Good
governance therefore becomes an important ingredient for
achieving broad-based development.

Development is therefore ‘a sustained elevation of an entire society

and social system toward a better and humane life

Development as Economic Growth

Development as economic growth is seen as ‘a rapid and
sustained rise in real output per head and attendant shift in the
technological, economic and demographic characteristics of
society. According to this view, development involves the capacity
of a national economy whose initial economic condition has been
more or less static for a long time, to generate and sustain an
annual increase in its Gross National Product (GNP) at rates of
perhaps 5% and 7% or more. Given this definition, the Kuffour
administration has achieved development during its second term in
government. An alternative measure is to use per capita income
which measures the ability of a nation to grow its output at a rate
faster than the growth rate of its population. By narrowing
development to economic development, the levels of growth of real
per capita GNP are used to measure the economic well-being of
the population. Development in this regard is achieved by planned
transformation of the structure of production and employment, thus
more industries and less agricultural activities. The strategy of the
economic theory of development involves changing from
subsistence production to commercial production, and

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
industrialisation. It is assumed in this respect that, development will
be achieved through a trickle-down effect whereby economic
growth benefits the masses through jobs and other economic
opportunities.

As you can see, development here incorporates the views of the

enlightenment and the ideas of W. W. Rostow. It involves the
transformation from traditional ways of life to a modern ordered and
predictable one. It involves transformation from traditional
agricultural production to scientific ones where industry dominates.
A traditional society has agriculture while a modern one has
industry. Agriculture provides less value compared to industry, so
industrialised nations are richer and more developed than
traditional agriculturally dependent societies. These are the basic
assumptions and assertions of the modernist view of the
development process.

Criticisms against the use of GNP and Per Capita

Income as Indicators of Development
Per capita income has been used to measure development
because politicians find it a comprehensive way of measuring
economic growth. Economists are provided with a variable which
can be quantified, measured, and can be analysed. However, the
following failures of GNP and Per Capita Income cannot be over
looked:

• For per capita income, wealth may only be concentrated in the

hands of few people thereby using it presents a deceptive
picture about the population. This is because it is an average
figure which represents two bags of maize produced by Kwame
and 1000 bags produced by Yaro. The two people are given a
per capita of 501 bags, which is false measurement of the
welfare and performance of both.

• It does not also give a clear picture of the other aspects of life
which cannot be quantified mathematically. Humans do not
derive all satisfaction from goods, but also from essential
services such as quality of health, education, social care and
interaction. You may have a high income and be unhappy in
life. Development connotes happiness.

• It has also been argued that, priority is given to commodities

produced and not human beings hence the real objective of
interest is not measured.

• This approach relegates agriculture and rural development to

the background as the focus is on the services and

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 manufacturing industry. Agriculture is always undervalued as
reflected in the prices paid for its products compared to
manufactured goods and services.

• It is also argued that, the use of GNP and Per Capita Income for
measuring development result in the creation of dual economies
where you have modern and traditional sectors.

The Dual Economy Model (Arthur Lewis)

The Dual Sector Model or dual economy model is a theory of
development in which surplus labor from traditional agricultural
sector is transferred to the modern industrial sector whose growth
over time absorbs the surplus labor, promotes industrialization and
stimulates sustained development.

In the model, the traditional agricultural sector is typically

characterized by low wages, an abundance of labour, and low
productivity using a labour intensive production process. In
contrast, the modern manufacturing sector is defined by higher
wage rates than the agricultural sector, higher marginal
productivity, and a demand for more workers initially. Also, the
manufacturing sector is assumed to use a production process that
is capital intensive, so investment and capital formation in the
manufacturing sector are possible over time as capitalists' profits
are reinvested in the capital stock. Improvement in the marginal
productivity of labour in the agricultural sector is assumed to be a
low priority as the hypothetical developing nation's investment is
going towards the physical capital stock in the manufacturing
sector.

Therefore, due to the wage differentials between the agricultural

and manufacturing sectors, workers will tend to transition from the
agricultural to the manufacturing sector over time to reap the
reward of higher wages. If a quantity of workers moves from the
agricultural to the manufacturing sector equal to the quantity of
surplus labour in the agricultural sector, regardless of who actually
transfers, general welfare and productivity will improve. The end
result of this transition process is that the agricultural wage equals
the manufacturing wage, the agricultural marginal product of labour
equals the manufacturing marginal product of labour, and no
further manufacturing sector enlargement takes place as workers
no longer have a monetary incentive to transition.

The model assumes rationality, perfect information and unlimited

capital formation in industry. These do not exist in practical
situations and so the full extent of the model is rarely realised.
However, the model does provide a good general theory on labour
transitioning in developing economies. This model is an illustration

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
of theory that proposes a strategy for the economic conception of
development.

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 Development as Distributive Justice
The developments of the 1950s and 1960s, when a good number
of developing nations recorded a great deal of economic growth
without any change in the quality of life of the masses of their
people pointed to the fact that, there was something fundamentally
wrong with the narrow definition of development as economic
growth. The result of this experience was the call for a wider
confrontation on widespread absolute poverty, increasing
inequitable income distributions, and rising unemployment.

The dethronement of GNP and Per Capita Income indexes as

measures of development was informed by the impressive growth
that occurred at a point when there was a substantial increase in
poor people. According to Griffin (1980) there has been a
substantial increase in inequality between and within countries. The
UNDP, (1996) indicated that, since 1960, disparities in global
wealth distribution have doubled with the wealthiest quintile of the
world population controlling 83% of global income, compared to
less than 2% of the lowest quintile. With this evidence of growing
inequality in the midst of a high level of economic growth, new
ideas emerged to question the status quo. So how can economic
growth be tailored to produce benefits for all?

The 1970s therefore saw economic development redefined in

terms of the reduction or elimination of poverty, inequality and
unemployment within the context of a growing economy. It was
during this era that a popular slogan Redistribution with growth
emerged. Dudley Seers (1973) in attempting to explain the concept
of development at a time of massive economic growth and
relatively high rate of per capita income, with little or no
improvement or even an actual decline in employment, equality,
and the real incomes of many people, posed some basic questions:

• What has been happening to poverty?

• What has been happening to unemployment?

• What has been happening to inequality?

If all three of these have declined from high levels, then to him
there is no doubt development has occurred. If there is a growth in
any of the above, especially if all the three increase, the result he
said, cannot be development. According to Currey (1973),
development is that process of change through which a
society evolves the values, political leadership and other

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
forms of social organisation necessary to mobilise and utilise
resources in such a way as to maximise the opportunities
available to the majority of its members, for realisation to the
fullest possible extent of their potential as human beings. In
line with this thinking, underdevelopment is not just a quantitative
statistic of income, employment and inequality but the reality of life
that involves squalor, disease, unnecessary deaths and
hopelessness.

Development has been moved from the idea of commodities to that

of human beings. Development should therefore improve the
quality of life of people through; higher incomes, education, health
and nutrition, less poverty, clean environment, equality of
opportunity, freedom and a rich cultural life (World Bank World
Development Report, 1991).

Development is seen as a multidimensional process involving

major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and national
institutions as well as accelerated economic growth, reduction in
inequality and eradication of poverty. Ensuring that there is
development in this context for everybody is ensuring a distributive
justice. It is justice because people have the rights to these
milestones in life. Making it a legal entitlement forces governments
to deliver their best for the development of their people.

The new conception of development called for the need to

engender changes of a social, psychological and political nature.
The call was for a social change as a transformation in perceiving
and achieving a wealth-oriented behaviour by changing values
such as power, respect, rectitude, affection, well-being, skill and
generally enlightenment. There was a call for the concentration of
attention on basic needs such as education, health and
employment. The ILO argued in 1977 that focusing on employment
to create jobs which is seen as important in attacking world poverty
and furthering social progress should be the new goal of
development. Basic needs constitute the minimum objective of
society, not the full range of desirable attributes, many of which will
inevitably take longer to attain.

Education was seen as necessary in enlightening the people so

that they will accept modern ways of production, acquire skills and
change from traditional ways of life to westernised ways. It is easier
for an educated African to accept family planning than an illiterate.
You all know the relationship between population growth and
development, do we? Also, the provision of other basic needs such
as hospitals, sanitary facilities and infrastructure such as roads
were conceived as important in unleashing the potential of people
to take part and benefit from the development process. This led to
the basic needs approach to development which assumed that

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 9

 provided with the basic necessities of life, society was ready for
take-off into a stage of high production. Basic needs is laden with
equity values as economic growth is invested in basic necessities
of life for the benefit of all and especially the very poor.

Critique of the Resultant Basic Needs Approaches

• These approaches were based on Eurocentric values which
resulted in distorted development. Development is still seen in
evolutionary terms with the modern sector providing more jobs
than the traditional sector. Social change was to transform
traditional man to a modern one by providing modern facilities
and a new thinking.

• Development is not linear and universal in character. Different

historical latitudes have their own measurement of development

• These approaches led to the poor distribution patterns of basic

needs such as urban versus rural, resource rich versus resource
poor societies. This is because the urban is considered more
modern and deserved more attention than the rural which is
traditional and is used to propel urban industrial growth.

Development as Freedom
My dear, do you enjoy being free and do you think you have the
freedom to do what you want? In the view of Amartya Sen,
development is all about the expansion of freedoms that individuals
enjoy. He sees development as the process of expanding the real
freedoms that people enjoy. To him, the growth of GNP, incomes,
industry and many other economic indicators are important as
means to expanding freedoms or development. Even Seers (1972)
pointed out that, to see GNP and per capita income as
inappropriate measures of a nation’s development is to weaken the
significance of the growing GNP per capita gap between rich and
poor nations. The fact of their argument is that, these indicators are
means to freedom or development. They call for us to focus on the
end which is freedom and not the means which involve GNP and
per capita income. Sen also concedes that, freedoms depend also
on other determinants such as social and economic arrangements,
and political and civil rights.

According to Sen, development requires the removal of major

sources of unfreedom such as poverty, tyranny, poor economic
opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of
public facilities as well as intolerance of repressive states. To him,
what people can achieve is influenced by economic opportunities,
political liberties, social powers, and enabling conditions of good
health, basic education and the encouragement and cultivation of

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
initiatives. He recognized the importance of economic growth in the
achievement of development, but emphasized that, economic
growth in terms of GNP and per capita income are only the means
to achieving the end (freedom) and therefore, instead of spending
energy on the means, we should rather focus on the end. People
should be free from hunger and starvation, squalor, disease,
illiteracy and repression in order to be classified as developed.

He argues that to bring development to the doorsteps of people

means increasing the entitlements of people in society. This
requires that institutions that control the means of production are
streamlined to enable everybody the opportunity to a livelihood.
Politically, people should be protected by constitutions enabled by
democratic norms of non-repression or else their economic
progression is meaningless. Public facilities are important
components in propelling development which the state must
provide and maintain. In essence, Sen stresses that the role of the
private sector is important but dependent on the conditions created
by the state for people to exercise their productivity. But of great
importance is the state’s relations with the people which is one that
builds their capacity and encourages participation rather than
repression and non-tolerance.

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 11

 The Concept of Human
Development
The Concept of Human Development
The concept of human development was born out of the
recognition that development has meaning only if it increases
opportunities for every member of society to lead a long, healthy,
productive and satisfying life. In view of this, the true measure of
development is not just the size or rate of growth of the economy,
nor the average income per person, but the degree to which
increases in social production and wealth draw from, and benefit all
members of society. It is the recognition that, development goes
beyond economic production that underlies the concept of human
development. Its introduction into the international development
debate has altered the terms of that debate by challenging the
prevailing orthodoxy, which focussed on economic growth as the
prime indicator of development.

It was evident that, the consistently positive growth recorded in the

economies of nations did not reflect in increased employment
opportunities, in rising real wages, in tangible improvements in the
lives of ordinary peoples. Instead, there were steep falls in formal
employment, stagnation of real incomes, the persistence of high
infant, child and maternal mortality rates, high level of illiteracy, and
widespread poverty.

In view of enormous economic growth not reflecting in improved

living conditions for substantial segments of the society as
contained in the UNDP’s Human Development Report (1997)
culminated in two basic questions being asked. The first question is
what to make of economic growth that does not reflect in positive
gains in the material and social conditions of ordinary people. In
other words can one consider as development a situation in which
economic growth brings vast wealth to a small class of people
while the majority remain poor or get even poorer? And the second
question concerns sustainability, that is, the prospects of sustaining
a pattern of economic growth that neither increases the capabilities
and life chances of the majority through enhanced skills and the
expansion of remunerative employment, nor improves their living
conditions by the extension of improved social services to larger
numbers of people.

The introduction of the concept of human development into the

policy debate through the regular publication of National Human
Development Report in countries including Ghana creates
conditions within which national development could be appraised
from a perspective not dominated by concern with economic
growth. The National Human Development Report will complement

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
and challenge the conventional sources of information and
perspective on development issues. These sources include, the
bulletins and digests of government departments, the banks and
international agencies, state of the Ghanaian Economy by ISSER,
Ghana Quarterly Macroeconomic Review by Centre for Policy
Analysis (CEPA) etc. The human development report will fill a
critical gap created by the concentration of these other efforts on
economic growth issues by bringing on board the non-economic
aspect of development.

Reasons for the Emergence of the Human

Development Concept
As elaborated in the Human Development Report (1997), human
development is the end - economic growth a means. So, the
purpose of growth should be to enrich people’s lives. But far too
often it does not. The recent decades show all too clearly that there
is no automatic link between growth and human development.

The human-centredness of the concept of human development

highlights its relevance for development policy. The human
development concept rejects the prevailing orthodoxy which
measures national development in terms of the level and rate of
growth of the economy, particularly the gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita on the grounds that the relationship between
economic growth and human well-being is seriously contingent
and in the face of evidence that economic growth can occur
alongside persistent shortfalls in people’s health, nutritional
status and educational attainment, pollution, degradation of
the environment and the erosion of supportive social
institutions (Anand and Sen, 1996). Also important in this new
paradigm is the paradox of the failure of strong economic growth
such as occurred in some countries in the 1980s to produce
across-the-board improvement in human well-being even within
those countries. Others relate to the immorality of the continued
existence of grinding poverty alongside dazzling affluence within
and between countries, in a world where the material and technical
means for poverty alleviation on a global scale lie readily to hand,
the economic and social inefficiency of holding back increases in
social productivity by allowing a substantial segment of society to
remain uneducated, unwell and poor; and the fundamental
irresponsibility of degrading the natural environment in the quest for
profit.

The human development concept seeks sustained improvements

in material, social, cultural and other conditions of life for all, both
as an end in itself and as a means of increasing social productivity
and creating the conditions for sustained future growth.

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 The Key Features of the Human Development
Concept
In the first place, this new concept of development makes
sustained improvement in the quality of life of people the central
object and the measure of success of development policy,
therefore, growth whose benefits are not felt by the people is not
development.

Secondly, the improvements sought in the life conditions and

opportunities are not just for a privileged minority-by whatever
criteria selected-but for all members of society, male and female,
young and old, mentally or physically handicapped or not, wherever
they live and whatever their situation in life. This strong concern
with equity means that assessments of human development must
seek to reveal and report unacceptable disparities, and policy must
address them. To this end, gender and locational equity call for
special attention in any assessment of national development.

The human development concept equally recognises the cardinal

importance of economic growth in the sense of an expansion of
material production-and this is the third feature. National income
growth is an important condition for the long-term improvement of
living conditions, especially in underdeveloped countries. When
there is significant economic growth the enlargement of the
resource base makes easier the allocation of increased resources
to human priority goals without alienating vested interests.
Furthermore the expansion of opportunities that results from
economic growth increases the possibilities for gainful employment
and the further development of human capabilities thereby creating
conditions for further growth.

The fourth feature of human development involve education in its

broad sense, good health, and an adequate livelihood all of which
have the intrinsic value of increasing the chances of people living
longer and more fulfilling lives. At the same time, they possess the
instrumental character of enhancing the capacity of the individual to
contribute to the growth and enrichment of social production,
thereby increasing his or her human capital value.

The Human Development Index (HDI)

With human wellbeing at the centre of concern in development, it is
argued that, ranking by reference to GDP per capita is of no value
as GDP per capita does not directly measure, nor does it
necessarily provide an adequate proxy for the quality of life of

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
people. There is therefore the need for indicators that take into
account factors more directly related to the real life situation and
prospects of people. The development index therefore attempts to
capture the central features of development while simplifying its
complexities. The HDI is a composite index of achievements in
basic human capabilities in three fundamental dimensions -
long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of
living (Human Development Report, 1997). The HDI value of a
country indicates where the country stands and how much farther it
has to go to attain goals set in respect of each of the variables of
life expectancy, educational attainment and income. The goals are
an average life expectancy of 85 years, access to education and a
decent standard of living for all.

The introduction of the HDI has had the intended effect of bringing
into fore the non-economic dimension of development. As a
composite of averages, a national HDI over simplifies the national
picture where there are disparities in social and economic
conditions within a country. The critique against the index relates to
how to determine the threshold and choosing the most relevant
indicators and of assigning weights. How to cater for such factors
as unpaid household work, environmental impact, political
participation, freedom and security is problematic. There is also the
problem of data availability and reliability for the selected indicators
especially in developing countries

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 Regional Development and the
Case for Regional Planning
The Concept of Regional Development
Development as we discussed earlier has come to be considered
in line with qualitative improvement in the life of people. In this
respect, the growth of economic indicators as GNP and per capita
income only makes sense by the contribution they make towards
achieving good quality life for people. The issue of regional
development is about explaining how regions grow, and what this
growth means to different people and groups in terms of levels of
income and enhanced human well-being. It is against this
background that regional development theories are expected to be
of sufficient explanatory power to enable it account for
development issues at the regional level. Regional development
has been described as the process by which the productive
capacities of all regions are mobilized by linking them in both
a structural and an organizational sense to the mainstream of
the national economy.

The need to reduce inequality and polarization thereby ensuring

greater national progress through collective use of the resources of
all areas in the country provide the bases for regional development.

To achieve regional development requires taking deliberate

measures that will ensure effective and efficient allocation of
national resources in such a way as to achieve relative equity
among all regions and social groupings. Regional planning which
concerned itself with the where of development is therefore of great
importance in achieving reasonable level of regional development.
The technical basis for making decisions about where resources
should be allocated and where projects are located, where urban
growth should occur and where particular types of agricultural land
use be encouraged, lies within the purview of regional
development. A strategic approach to regional development
requires a complete overhaul of the spatial structure of the national
economy with the aim of providing the economy with an organic
base for domestic capital accumulation.

To achieve regional development demands good knowledge of

how to bring about economic growth and also how to distribute this
growth with participation of all in society. That is the essence of
examining theories of regional development.

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The Concept of Regional Planning and

Development
National development planning is one of those activities that have
grown to a larger extent because of the success of economics in
showing how economic development can be brought about.
National development planning has been a central concern to the
state as it seeks to ensure that, where there is little or too much
development, the state tries to stabilize it. In cases of imbalance,
the state seeks to bring balance. Development must serve the
interests of the majority; but since no society is perfectly
homogenous, and therefore are composed of competing interests,
social change must benefit some and harm others. But on the
balance, it must be the interests of the majority that are advanced
(Currey 1973, Drewnoswski 1976). Development which
emphasizes equality in the distribution of wealth spatially because
social groups and human activities do have a spatial location is the
goal of development planning. This brings to the light, the crucial
role regional development planning has to play in the fair
distribution of wealth.

To achieve structural transformation requires the fostering of

activities in which a region has comparative advantage, and hence
directed towards productivity. This will require the breaking down of
spatial, economic and institutional barriers that limit a society’s
capacity for growth and development (Logan, 1972).

Regional development planning came about because of the need

to reduce inequality and polarization and ensure greater national
progress through collective use of the resources of all areas in the
country.

The locational programming of investments within a sector, for

example plans to promote industrial development away from the
capital, or plans to co-ordinate the location of roads, markets
centres and credit facilities all fall within the purview of regional
planning.

Regional planning is planning concerned with the where of

development. The technical basis for making decisions about
where resources should be allocated and where projects are
located, where urban growth should occur and where particular
types of agricultural land use be encouraged.

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 17

 The Need for Regional Planning: Regional
Imbalance as a Policy Problem
In spite of several development strategies adopted in many
developing nations, there still remain some common policy
problems bedevilling those nations. These problems include;
regional disparities in development, the excessive size of the
national metropolis, and rural-urban inequalities. These areas form
major policy areas of concern to many developing countries as they
struggle to reduce interregional and rural-urban disparities as well
as control the growth of the national metropolis. There is a focus on
regional economic disparities regarded as a policy problem
because they represent a condition of disequilibrium. They
constitute a condition of regional imbalance, representing a state of
spatial disequilibrium which requires government intervention. The
underlying causes of regional imbalance in most Third World
countries is attributable to the dependent capitalist nature of their
economies, and therefore, for regional theory to become more
realistic it must be considered within the system in which regional
problems occur (Songsore, 1979).

Regional balance as a public policy objective require the

transformation of a region’s social structure, and the need to design
measures to change the patterns of control over communication,
production and output flows at the regional and interregional levels.
These processes should be based on interdependency and
reciprocity rather than dependence and exploitation in order to
achieve spatially organized economies (Friedmann, 1975).

There are three common policy problems of regional development,

including:

• Regional disparities in development,

• The excessive size of the capital city/national metropolis and

• Rural-urban inequality

The objective of regional policy through regional planning is to

reduce interregional and rural urban inequalities/disparities and to
curb the growth of the national metropolis.

This implies trying to achieve some regional balance in

development. Regional balance as a public policy goal involves:

• transformation of a region’s social structure

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
• changing patterns of control over communication, production
and output flows

• Making the process to be based on interdependence and

reciprocity other than dependence and exploitation.

Regional planning takes into account economic, social and

environmental issues at the local level. The need for regional
planning is born out of the realisation that, most development plans
formulated only at the central level are usually only on sectoral
bases and have important implication for regions and localities and
that; central coordination at the regional level is indispensible to
effective implementation. The imposition of plans and projects
adapted to local conditions may produce opposition strong enough
to oppose their implementation. As noted by Durston (1972),
effective regional socio-economic development planning involves
not only attempts to integrate outlying areas into the dynamic
economy of “the centre” through investment in the areas
concerned, but it also involves measures designed to change
patterns of control over communications production and output
flows at the regional and interregional levels of social structure.

Furthermore, the process of regional planning strives to achieve a

better integration of spatially organized economies on a basis of
interdependence and reciprocity rather than dependence and
exploitation (Friedmann, 1975).

Regional development planning also involves a search for a new

spatial structure for national development designed to achieve an
auto-centred national space economy. It also takes into
consideration the need to reduce rural-urban disparities as well as
involving civil society in planning.

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 19

 Forms of National Planning and
Policy Areas in Planning
•

Types of National Planning

According to conventional practice, national planning is divided into
two main parts. These are global planning and sectoral
planning.

Global Planning
Global planning is undertaken normally by the Ministry of Finance
in most countries. This type of planning seeks to search a balance
between consumption and investment, exports and imports and
establish a balance between supply and demand. It is at the level
of global planning that national priority for resource allocation for
development is established. It is interesting to note that, global
planning is concerned with establishing overall balance among
variables such as consumption, exports and imports and the supply
and demand of employment opportunities. Global planning also
establishes national priorities for resource allocation to broad
functional sectors of the economy such as agriculture, transport,
health and education. Global planning involves developing a
broader outlook of the national economy, from which specific
details can then be developed.

Sectoral Planning
Sectoral planning means the spatial planning under consideration
of only one planning criteria (e.g. traffic, environmental, housing,
agriculture etc.) It is concerned with setting specific targets and
combining them into more comprehensive programmes. To a
greater extent, the major sectors of the economy corresponds to
the administrative structure of national governments with its
ministries and independent agencies each of which is devoted to
specialised functions.

Sectoral planning remains incomplete so far as it lacks spatial

dimension. Regionalisation for national planning has been
compared to a translation of centralised set of objectives into down
to earth action. In showing that sub national planning is more than
the aggregation of local plans and disaggregation of national and
sectoral plans, one can make further observations regarding
regional planning. Both national and sectoral plans needs regional
counter parts with equal specialist expertise. Where urban and
regional planning has been introduced at the national level, they

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
are frequently seen as efforts parallel to sectoral planning with
global planning providing overall integration. This is incorrect
because urban and regional planning allows certain levels of
synthesis. One can conclude by saying that, at a lower level of
synthesis, regional development helps bring the abstract thinking at
global and sectoral plans into reality.

The Relevance of Urban Regional Planning

In the first place, the urban regional frame focuses the attention of
planners on projects and programmes to an even greater extent
than in sectoral planning, thereby contributing to the
implementation of national objectives. Furthermore, it emphasizes
coordinative relationships among projects and programmes in
particular localities by drawing the attention of planners to linkages,
multipliers, and efficiency consideration in public investments.
Again, planners within this framework are led to the discovery of
new combinations of resources which, if properly exploited will
result in an expansion of the total productive capacity of the
economy. Moreover, the urban-regional frame reveals a set of
entirely new issues for policy planning, such as settlement patterns,
the territorial division of powers, and problems of community
participation.

It is important to note that, urban-regional planning deals with

matters that are closer to the immediate concerns of people than
either of the other two approaches mentioned earlier. Its concern is
with the point of impact of investment decisions, and this intimate
connection with the problems that move people to action is of great
interest to urban-regional planning which is to offer new
perspectives and an objective frame for ordering the preferences of
local communities within a context of national requirements.

One can conclude by saying that, at a lower level of synthesis,

regional development planning helps bring the abstract thinking at
global and sectoral plans into fruition.

Policy Areas in National Planning

There are a number of policy areas that lie in the purview of
general planning. Some identifiable different policy areas in
planning include:

Regional Economic Policy: This is concerned with the what and

where of investment, possible division of labour and what
comparative advantage a place has. It is important to note that, the
overriding objective in most developing countries is to strengthen
the national economy through a closer integration of its several
regional economies. This involve territorial specialisation, increased

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 21

 interregional trade, the diminution of regional differences in per
capita income, and the transfer of labour from low productivity to
high productivity regions.

Urban Development Policy: This is concerned with settlement

system, structure and form of urban, metropolitan and regional
communities and also, the internal communication system and
national location patterns of services and the extent to which these
act as a unit for living. This situation combines both social and
economic considerations to build an appropriate home for man. It
takes into consideration; job locations, internal road network of the
city, linkages between city’s economy with other urban centres,
community facilities such as schools, water, hospitals, commercial
areas, recreation spots etc. and the direction of growth of the city
among others.

Administrative and Political Development Policy: This involves

strengthening of the district, municipal and metropolitan
governments. It is concerned with policies on decentralisation and
mass participation of people in government. It is about new
patterns of political relations, characterised by reduced central
dominance, a wider sharing in political power by governmental
units, greater diversity of political opinion and attitudes, greater
responsiveness of government to local interest, and greater
flexibility of action. This area concerns the nature of administrative
arrangement appropriate for regional development, carving of
geographic units suitable for administration of development and the
organisation of political power below the level of central
government, and the degree of participation by provincial and
municipal governments in development decisions.

Social Development Policy: This policy area involves measures

that target the elimination of social marginalities and active
involvement of all social sectors in the affairs that are vital to their
interest. The poor, illiterate masses anywhere in the world are for
the most part marginal to the dominant society. They are not
organised, not informed, lack material means to defend and even
to express their interests. There is the effective nation which
includes a small class of aristocrats, professional, businessmen,
and clerics, and there are the inarticulate and vaguely structured
masses who belong to the nation in a legal sense, but who are
excluded from the actual management of public affairs. Social
development policy is therefore about the principles and
formulation of programmes designed to take the needs of the
masses into account so as to gradually raise them from the
obscurity of poverty to a new level of dignity. Such programmes
must include providing for expanded economic opportunities of the
marginal population, an explicit redistribution of real income in their
favour through subsidised social services, and a system of
organised representation of their interest.

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 GEOG 401 Regional Development Unit 1 The Concept of Development and the Case for Regional
Planning
Migration and Settlement Policy: This involves policy on
movement of people and spatial distribution of people and social
amenities. It is concerned with guiding both the volume and
direction of internal population movements. The over concentration
of economic activities in the principal cities of a country, brings
about slow national development by draining the periphery of its
productive resources. The migration and settlement policy is aimed
at opening up of new frontier regions to colonisation and in moving
populations from unpromising areas to zones of greater economic
opportunity through information, subsidies, and action programmes
of various kinds.

Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, (ICDE) University of Ghana, Legon 23