Active room
In geography and political science, active areas are those sub-areas of - especially, but not exclusively - developing countries in which a disproportionately high proportion of economic activities and value creation are concentrated and in which the most likely impulses for further development of the state can be expected . These areas are now also referred to as poles of growth and development .
Regions / states with below-average development and economic strength , on the other hand, are called passive spaces (or, in more recent specialist studies, “areas with a high degree of marginality”). In the third world there are therefore usually strong migration movements from the passive to the active spaces.
The factual background is the observation that in many Third World countries, even in the post-colonial era, there were considerable spatial disparities between the (usually few) “modern centers” and the numerous “traditional peripheral areas ” (or passive spaces) with an extraordinarily unbalanced Distribution of economic and infrastructural facilities, political power-building and participation as well as social opportunities exist ( Johan Galtung ), which even tend to increase ( Gunnar Myrdal ).
This unbalanced growth can be illustrated quantitatively using the example of Indonesia :
The island of Java as the active area of the country only accounts for 6.9% of the total state area, but already had ...
- 59% of the population
- 52% of foreign investments
- 78% of the commercial enterprises with 86% of the commercial employees
- 71% of the vehicle population
- by far the best doctor-population ratio
Here, as in comparable countries, it can also be stated that there are regional disparities within this active area: the actual “center in the center” is the Jakarta metropolitan region .
The (actual or supposed) attractiveness of these centers leads to a self-reinforcing pull factor , which deprives the already undersupplied ( push factors ) periphery even more potential for development (backwash effects) , at the same time through massive immigration to the But conurbations there also lead to a growing concentration of especially social ( slum formation , crime, shadow economy , strengthening of the informal economy, etc.) and ecological problems.
Examples of such active spaces are the megacities of Cairo , Rio de Janeiro , Mexico City or Mumbai and their respective surrounding areas ( agglomeration ).
literature
- Wolfgang Geiger and Hugo CF Mansilla: Underdevelopment. Theories and strategies for overcoming them. Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Munich 1983, ISBN 3-425-05193-8 .
Notes and sources
- ^ Peter J. Opitz (ed.): The Third World in the Crisis. Basic problems in developing countries. CH Beck, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-406-09285-3 , in particular p. 196ff.
- ^ Dieter Nohlen (ed.): Lexicon Third World. Countries, organizations, theories, concepts, people. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989², ISBN 978-3-49916295-4 , p. 730; Bernhard Keller: The North-South Conflict. Global threat - shared responsibility. Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-425-07533-0 , pp. 88ff.
- ^ Werner Röll: Indonesia. Development problems of a tropical island world. Klett, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-12-928711-6 , pp. 39, 93, 101, 128 and 178
- ↑ Werner Wallert: Geovokabeln. Klett, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-12-409560-X , part 7, p. 21