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This paper provides a policy-oriented review of those environmental burdens in lowand middle-income countries that cross rural–urban boundaries but are not national or global in scale. Many of the most intense pollution and resource pressures originate in urban centres, and have their major impacts on the surrounding regions. Peri-urban zones are often far more environmentally unstable than either urban or rural settings. Rural–urban burdens can be especially difficult to accommodate within existing administrative systems/boundaries, particularly in countries where public authorities face severe financial difficulties.

Section 1 seeks to put these rural–urban burdens in context, both conceptually and empirically. Ever since the first urban centres developed, they have placed environmental pressures on the surrounding regions, and the ability of rural systems to respond to these pressures has been critical to the success of urban systems. When urban areas grow or become more affluent, however, their environmental relations with the surrounding rural areas tend to change. This section describes some of these tendencies and also describes some of the potential advantages that urban development provides for rural environments, before ending with a simple classification of factors that can make rural–urban burdens particularly serious.