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A County-Level Measure of Urban Influence

In 1997 Linda Ghelfi and Tim Parker provided research onA County-Level of Measure of

Urban Influence. Linda Ghelif is a senior economist in the Rural Business & evelopment

Polic! Branch and Tim Parker is a sociolo"! in the #ood $ssistance% Povert! & ell Bein"

Branch of the #ood & Rural 'conomics ivision% 'R(. The )r*an Influence +odes ,ere

initiall! released *! them in 1997. The purpose of this article ,as to measure the vast diverseness

of metropolitan% non-metropolitan and surroundin" counties and ho, the! are economicall!

connected. These codes ,ere used to divide all counties in the )nited (tate and the

+ommon,ealth of Puerto Rico. The! encompass nearl! 1%// metro counties and over 1%0//

non-metro counties. 'ach of these counties are su*divided to seven "roups and distin"uished *!

their adacenc! to metro or micro areas and ,hether or not the! are populated *! at least %2//

residents.

Researchers postulated that non-metro counties that are adacent to metro ,ere

increasin"l! "ro,in" at a more rapid pace than non-metro "roups. Based on the 'conomic

Research (ervice 3'R(4 calculation o*tained from the Bureau of the +ensus. The non-metro

"re, nearl! t,ice as much ,ith and ,ithout lar"e cities. The non-metro *enefited more due to

their pro5imit! of counties ,ith lar"e cities. +onversel!% cities that ,ere not adacent to counties

,ith lar"e cities ,ere e5periencin" a decline in their population due to un*alance of

development. +ounties are that are e5periencin" the pli"hts suffered more. 'ducation%

emplo!ment% industr! and if an Institution of 6i"her Learnin" is near% the! ,ill see a decrease in

enrollment as ,ell. Ghelfi and Parker also theoried that earnin" per o* in metro area ,ould

earn a*out 28 in income than that of counties adacent ,ithout cities. This is ,h! non-metro

residents "enerall! commute to metro areas.

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Ghelfi and Parker method in o*tainin" information for their research ,as *ased on the

)r*an Influence +odes ,hich it is *ased on the ffice of :ana"ement and Bud"et;s 3:B4.

This method divides and su*divides the counties and independent cities in the )nited (tates. $

metro count! is su*-divide into metro and micro. $ metropolitan is defined as more than 1

million and micropolitan is adacent to a metro counties% *ut ,ith a population *et,een 2/%/// ation. The )> conducted a stud! that in

//2% 2/8 of the ,orld population ,ould live in ur*an areas.

:! findin"s in $frica% ,here ur*aniation is still considera*l! lo,er than the developed

countries% $frica is e5pected to *e 2A percent ur*an *! /2 3The 'conomist% /1/4. I am sa!in"

that ur*aniation occurred ,ithout makin" the resources and emplo!ment opportunities to

accommodate this tremendous "ro,th in population. The mi"rants into ur*an areas often

stipulate a severit! of ur*an emplo!ment% social% economic and housin" pro*lems. This situation

is due to the fact that increase there is not enou"h emplo!ment opportunities for influ5 of

mi"rants. This ,ill to traffic con"estion% slo,er speed and possi*le lon"er trip time. $n over

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populated me"acit! can lead to a stressful life. La"os and +airo have to find a ,a! to ameliorate

their ur*aniation situation for the *etterment of their citiens.

In summar!% this research concluded that $frica;s me"acities ur*aniation pro*lem can

address *! focusin" on some t!pe of comprehensive plan 3as President *ama ,ould sa!4.

Possi*l! future research can help them improve their facilities and current situation. It;s clear

that povert!% pollution% air and ,ater and housin" shorta"es pla"ue La"os and +airo. The

population of La"os lives on less a dollar per da! in terms of purchasin" po,er. The $frican

"overnment can stren"then their econom! *! utiliin" local resources instead of rel!in" on

imported "oods that is reach of the lo, income and ur*an poor citiens.