CONCEPTUALIZING URBAN POVERTY

This paper explores three issues. It first examines how, and by whom, poverty has been defined and measured, contrasting conventional economic and participatory anthropological approaches. Secondly, it questions the extent to which ''urban poverty'' differs conceptually from poverty in general. How far is analysis of the urban-rural divide helpful in understanding the underlying causes of poverty? Finally, the paper reviews the principal ways in which urban poverty has been understood in South and North, and the policy prescriptions which flow from such an understanding. It concludes by identifying the linkages between alternative definitions of poverty, different urban anti-poverty policy approaches, and the choice of measurement techniques.