Jackson Kago

杰克逊·卡戈

Peter K. Kamau

彼得·K. 卡马乌

摘要｜Abstract

关键词｜Key words

Territorial development debates increasingly recognize that economic transformation, livelihood improvement, and spatial change unfold across interconnected rural and urban spaces (OECD, 2013, 2016; UN-Habitat, 2020; Tacoli et al., 2025). Contemporary urban regeneration scholarship has moved beyond site-based redevelopment toward relational and systems-based approaches that emphasize flows, networks, and functional integration across territories (Roberts et al., 2017; Turok & McGranahan, 2013). However, in many rapidly urbanizing regions, development practice remains fragmented, sectoral, and compartmentalized, limiting the capacity to harness rural–urban complementarities as engines of territorial transformation. Responding to this gap, this article provides practice-based evidence that an agro-industrial intervention anchored in a rural setting generated broader territorial development outcomes across both rural and urban contexts.

随着区域发展研究的不断深化，人们逐渐认识到，经济转型、民生改善与空间转型是在相互联系、相互依存的城乡空间中同时展开的^[1-4]。与此同时，当代城市更新研究逐渐突破以单一场地再开发为核心的传统范式，转向强调跨地域流动、网络联系和功能整合的关系导向与系统导向研究路径[5-6]。然而，在许多快速城市化地区，发展实践仍然呈现碎片化、部门化和条块分割的特征，难以充分发挥城乡互补优势并释放其推动地域转型的潜力。针对这一问题，本文通过一个实践案例表明，一项扎根于农村地区的农工产业干预不仅促进了农村发展，还在城、乡两个维度产生了更广泛的区域发展效应。

Drawing on a case study from Lari Constituency in Kiambu County, Kenya, the article examines how a dairy processing investment reorganized local value chains, stabilized livelihoods, expanded access to finance, and stimulated functional urban regeneration in the nearby market centre of Kagwe. Rather than repeatedly juxtaposing rural and urban development agendas, the paper synthesizes observed outcomes to show how integrated territorial processes emerge through functional linkages, spatial flows, and institutional partnerships. The article examines how agro-industrial value chain development can contribute to broader territorial transformation in contexts characterized by strong rural–urban interdependence.

本文以肯尼亚基安布郡拉里选区的案例为研究对象，探讨一项乳制品加工投资如何重构地方价值链体系、稳定农户生计、扩展融资渠道以及增强金融包容性，并推动邻近的卡格韦市场中心进行功能性城市更新。相较于将乡村发展与城市发展视为彼此独立的政策议题，本文更注重对实践成效的综合分析，进而揭示综合性地域发展过程如何通过功能联系、空间流动和制度伙伴关系的相互作用逐步形成。本研究进一步探讨在城乡高度相互依赖的背景下，农工产业价值链的发展如何成为推动更广泛地域转型的重要动力。

1 Conceptual Framing and Methodological Approach

1 概念框架与研究方法

Rural revitalization is increasingly understood as a multidimensional, territorial process that goes beyond agricultural production to encompass livelihood diversification, value addition, service provision, and institutional strengthening (OECD, 2016; Forster et al., 2021). Urban regeneration has similarly evolved from a narrow focus on physical renewal toward integrated approaches that prioritize economic reactivation, social inclusion, and functional improvement, particularly in small towns and secondary centres (Roberts et al., 2017; UN-Habitat, 2020). Together, these bodies of literature converge around a systems-oriented understanding of development that situates productive capacity and spatial functionality at the centre of regeneration processes.

乡村振兴正逐渐被认为是一个多维度的区域发展过程，其内涵已超越单纯的农业生产，涵盖生计多元化、价值增值、服务供给及制度能力建设等多个方面^[2,7]。与此同时，城市更新研究也逐步突破以物质空间更新为核心的传统范式，转向强调经济复苏、社会包容与功能提升的综合性路径，尤其关注小城镇和次级中心的发展转型^[3,5]。这些研究逐渐表现出一种系统导向的发展理念，即将生产能力与空间功能性置于更新过程的核心位置。

Urban–rural linkages provide a unifying analytical lens to examine how these processes interact through spatial, economic, and institutional connections, including flows of goods, people, capital, and information across territories (UN-Habitat, 2020). This article applies the Urban–Rural Linkages Guiding Principles (URL-GP) as a framework to interpret development outcomes across rural and urban communities and landscapes.

城乡联系为理解上述过程提供了一个整合性的分析视角，用以考察空间联系、经济联系和制度联结间的作用关系，以及如何通过商品、人口、资本和信息等要素在不同区域间的流动推动发展进程。本文以《城乡联系指导原则》为分析框架，对城乡社区及地域景观的发展成效进行阐释。

Lari Constituency located approximately 40 kilometres north of Nairobi, within the metropolitan sphere of influence, has historically been characterized by smallholder agriculture, cattle rearing, and subsistence farming. Dairy farming is a central livelihood activity for many households in the area. Prior to the intervention examined in this study, farmers faced significant challenges in marketing their milk due to the collapse of small cooperative societies and reliance on informal vendors offering low and unstable prices, suppressing productivity incentives. Payments were typically made on a daily or weekly basis, undermining cash flow and limiting farmers’ ability to plan or invest. Productivity levels were low, averaging around five litres per cow per day, despite the area’s proximity to a major market within the Nairobi metropolitan region.

拉里选区位于内罗毕以北约40千米，处于内罗毕大都市圈的辐射范围内，长期以来，该地以小规模自给农业和养牛业为主。其中，奶牛养殖是当地许多家庭重要的生计来源。在本文所探究的干预措施实施之前，当地奶农在牛奶销售方面面临诸多困难。小型合作社相继解体使农户不得不依赖非正规收购商销售牛奶，而这些收购商往往提供较低且波动较大的收购价格，削弱了农户扩大生产和提升生产效率的积极性。此外，牛奶销售收入通常按日或按周结算，这导致农户现金流不稳定，难以进行长期生产规划和投资安排。虽然该地区毗邻内罗毕大都市区这一重要消费市场，但奶牛生产效率总体仍然较低，平均每头奶牛日产奶量约5升。

2 Agro-Industrial Development and Territorial Transformation

2 农工业发展与区域转型

The structural constraints outlined above, in the form of market instability, weak cooperative institutions, and limited value addition, created an opportunity for territorial reorganization through integrated value chain development. From a regeneration perspective, this represents a shift from fragmented subsistence production toward coordinated productive restructuring. It is within this context that, in October 2014 Uplands Premium Dairies, a private limited company registered in Kenya, began operations in the area. The company established a milk collection, processing, and marketing facility, distributing dairy products under the “Pascha” brand to markets across the country. The intervention fundamentally restructured the local dairy value chain by securing stable procurement systems, introducing local value addition, and providing a reliable market outlet for smallholder producers. This enhanced territorial economic circulation rather than facilitating raw commodity outflows.

上述结构性困境，包括市场不稳定、合作机构实力薄弱和自身增值能力有限，为区域价值链一体化重组创造了契机。从区域更新视角来看，这一过程体现了农工业从零散化、自给性的生产模式向协调化、系统化生产体系的转变。正是在这一背景下，2014年10月，在肯尼亚注册的私营企业Uplands Premium Dairies开始在该地区开展业务。该公司建立了集牛奶收购、加工和营销于一体的生产体系，并以Pascha为品牌名向全国市场销售乳制品。该措施通过建立稳定的原奶采购机制、引入本地加工增值环节，以及为小农户提供可靠的市场销路，从根本上重构了当地乳业的价值链体系。其结果增强了区域内部的经济循环，使当地产生更多增值收益，而非仅仅将初级农产品向外输出。

The company partnered with approximately 5,500 small-scale dairy farmers whose milk is delivered daily to the processing facility. An extensive farm extension and training programme aimed at improving milk quality and productivity forms a core component of the model. Through training, veterinary support, and improved feeding practices, average milk production per farmer increased from approximately five litres per day to fourteen litres per day, with a target of reaching twenty litres per day.

该公司与约5500名小规模奶农建立了合作关系，农户每天将原奶运送至加工厂，加工厂完成收购和加工。围绕提升牛奶品质和生产效率而建立的农业推广与培训体系，是该模式的重要组成部分。通过开展技术培训、提供兽医服务支持，以及推广科学饲养管理措施，平均每头奶牛的日产奶量由约5升提高至14升，并以达到20升为长期目标。

Beyond productivity gains, the intervention enhanced rural livelihoods by stabilizing incomes and promoting financial inclusion. Farmers receive monthly payments for their milk, improving cash flow and enabling better financial planning. The company facilitates access to micro-finance by linking farmers to financial institutions that provide loans secured against milk deliveries. In addition, animal feeds and veterinary services are provided on credit and recovered through a check-off system.

除了提升生产效率外，该项措施还通过稳定农户的收入来源和增强金融包容性，显著改善了农村家庭的生计。农民按月获得牛奶的销售收入，因此，现金流更加稳定，能更好地进行财务规划。公司通过搭建与金融机构的合作平台，帮助农户凭借牛奶交售合同和销售记录获得小额信贷支持，从而提高金融服务的可及性。此外，公司还向农户提供赊销饲料和兽医服务，相关费用通过“收入抵扣机制”从牛奶销售收入中直接扣除。这种安排降低了农户获取生产投入资金和专业服务的门槛，同时保障了贷款和服务费用的有效回收。

The impacts of the intervention extend beyond rural production areas to the adjacent urban centre of Kagwe, illustrating the territorial spillover effects central to regeneration theory. The presence of the processing facility and increased milk volumes, along with associated logistics, have generated demand for transport, retail, financial, and support services. Microfinance institutions, agrovet shops, animal feed suppliers, and transport-related businesses have emerged in Kagwe, contributing to its transformation from a dormant rural centre into a growing market centre. Small and medium-scale distributors operate from 22 depots across the country, using bicycles, motorbikes, and vans, thereby creating employment opportunities along the value chain. Such linkages operationalize territorial thinking by revealing how localized interventions reverberate across interconnected spatial systems.

该措施带来的影响并未局限于乡村生产地区，它进一步扩展至邻近的城镇中心卡格韦，这体现了更新理论所强调的区域溢出效应。完善乳制品加工设施、提高牛奶产量，以及发展相关物流活动，带动了运输、零售、金融和配套服务等领域的需求增长。小额信贷机构、农资兽药综合店、动物饲料供应商和运输等相关产业已在卡格韦涌现，推动该地区从一个沉寂的乡村服务中心转型为一个区域性商贸中心。中小型分销商依托自行车、摩托车和货车等运输工具，在全国22个配送点开展产品配送服务，不仅拓展了市场网络，还在整个价值链各环节创造了大量的就业机会。这些联系生动地展示了局部性干预措施如何通过相互关联的空间网络产生连锁效应，从而带动更大范围的区域发展与转型。

This illustrates how rural productive restructuring can drive urban regeneration through strengthened rural–urban economic linkages and localized multiplier effects. The impacts of the dairy processing investment extend beyond rural production areas to the adjacent market centre of Kagwe. Through increased economic activity and the concentration of services related to milk production, processing, and distribution, Kagwe has undergone functional urban regeneration. Rather than regeneration driven by flagship infrastructure or property-led redevelopment that is often critiqued for producing exclusionary outcomes (Roberts et al., 2017), the transformation of Kagwe reflects what may be termed “productive regeneration,” an approach that prioritizes economic reactivation, functional integration of spaces, and socio-economic vitality as the drivers of spatial transformation. Such trajectories align with emerging scholarship on secondary cities and small-town regeneration in Africa, which emphasizes economic functionality over iconic redevelopment (Turok & McGranahan, 2013; UN-Habitat, 2020).

这一案例说明，农村生产体系重构能够强化城乡经济联系并发挥地方经济乘数效应，有效带动城镇更新与发展。乳制品加工投资的影响已超出农村生产区域，扩展至邻近的卡格韦市场中心。随着牛奶生产、加工和销售状况的改善，以及各类配套服务的不断集聚，卡格韦逐步实现了功能性城市更新。依赖标志性基础设施建设或以房地产开发驱动的更新模式，常因加剧社会排斥和空间不平等而受到批评[5]。而卡格韦的发展体现出一种“生产性更新”的路径，即将激发经济活力、整合空间功能和繁荣社会经济作为空间转型的核心动力，通过产业发展带动城镇功能提升和区域发展。这一发展轨迹与非洲二级城市及小城镇更新的研究趋势高度一致，即强调城镇经济功能的强化优先于地标性项目或形象工程的建设^[3,6]。

3 Territorial Development Outcomes

3 区域发展成果

To systematically interpret these interlinked transformations, the Urban–Rural Linkages Guiding Principles (URL-GP) are applied as an analytical lens (UN-Habitat, 2020). Rather than serving as a normative checklist, the framework enables structured evaluation of how governance arrangements, financial mechanisms, and spatial systems interact to produce territorial outcomes. The URL-GP is comprised of ten principles and eleven frameworks for action areas. The principles include locally grounded interventions, integrated governance, functional and spatial systems-based approaches, financially inclusive, balanced partnerships, human rights-based, do not harm and provide social protection, environmentally sensitive, participatory engagement, and finally data-driven and evidence-based.

为系统阐述上述相互关联的转型机制，本文采用联合国人居署提出的《城乡联系指导原则》作为分析框架。该框架并非提供一套规范性的评价清单，而是通过构建系统化的分析维度，考察治理体系、金融机制与空间组织之间的互动关系，以及这些关系如何共同作用于区域发展与空间转型。《城乡联系指导原则》包括10项指导原则和11个重点行动领域。其中，10项指导原则分别为地方参与、综合治理、基于功能和空间系统的方法、金融的包容性、平衡的伙伴关系、基于人权、不伤害并提供社会保护、环境敏感性、实质性参与、数据驱动和以实证为基础。

The initiative applies five out of the ten principles, for example, it’s locally grounded, responding directly to market failures and productivity constraints faced by dairy farmers. It adopted a functional and spatial systems approach, organizing milk collection, processing, and distribution through interconnected rural and urban networks.

该案例践行了10项原则中的5项。例如，其干预措施立足地方实际，针对奶农面临的市场失灵和生产效率受限等问题提出解决方案；案例采用基于功能联系和空间系统的整体性方法，通过构建城乡联动的网络体系，将牛奶收集、加工与销售等环节有机衔接起来，形成覆盖生产、加工和流通的完整价值链。

The model promoted financial inclusion by stabilizing incomes, improving cash flow through monthly payments, and facilitating access to credit via linkages with micro-finance institutions. Balanced partnerships between farmers, the private sector, service providers, and financial institutions underpinned the system, while participatory engagement through training and extension services enabled knowledge diffusion and capacity building.

案例中的措施通过稳定农户收入、建立按月结算的机制，增强农户现金流的稳定性，并借助与小额信贷机构的合作，拓宽融资渠道，从而提升金融包容性。与此同时，农户、私营机构、服务供应商和金融机构之间形成的均衡伙伴关系是这一体系运行的基础。依托技术培训和农业推广服务带来的参与式互动，促进了知识传播、技能提升和能力提升。

From a practice perspective, the case challenges infrastructure-heavy interpretations of rural revitalization and highlights the catalytic role of agro-industrial investment in stimulating small-town regeneration. It underscores the importance of intermediary urban centres in translating rural productivity gains into broader economic diversification and employment creation across territories.

This case offers significant implications for spatial planning, territorial governance, and regeneration policy. First, it challenges the notion that rural revitalization must be infrastructure-heavy, showing instead that value chain–based agro-industrial investments can deliver significant livelihood and territorial benefits. Second, it underscores the importance of small towns as intermediaries in rural–urban systems, capable of absorbing rural productivity gains and amplifying the impacts of rural economic transformation. Third, the case illustrates the role of private-sector actors in driving inclusive territorial development when supported by appropriate institutional arrangements and partnerships, thus acting as territorial integrators rather than extractive intermediaries. Finally, it highlights the usefulness of urban–rural linkages frameworks in overcoming sectoral silos, enabling planners to conceptualize regeneration as a territorial process rooted in productive capacity, institutional coordination, and spatial interdependence.

从实践角度看，该案例挑战了“乡村振兴必须依赖大量基础设施建设”的传统观点，凸显了农工产业投资在推动小城镇更新中的催化作用。案例表明，小城镇作为城乡联系体系中的关键节点，能够提升生产力带来的收益，能够推动经济多元化发展和就业增长，从而产生超越单一产业部门的区域发展效应。该案例对空间规划、区域治理和城市更新政策具有重要的启示作用。首先，它表明，乡村振兴并不必然依赖大规模基础设施的投入，基于价值链整合的农工产业投资同样能够显著改善生计并推动地域发展。其次，该案例凸显了小城镇在城乡系统中的中介作用。这类城镇不仅能够吸纳农村生产率提升所释放的发展红利，还能够通过市场、服务和产业功能的集聚，放大农村经济转型的综合效应。再次，该案例展示了私营机构在适当的制度安排和伙伴关系的支持下推动包容性区域发展的潜力。在这一过程中，企业不再只是获取资源和利润的中介主体，而是成为连接生产、市场与服务体系的重要区域整合者。最后，该案例说明了城乡联系框架有助于突破传统部门治理的局限，引导规划和政策制定者从区域整体视角理解更新过程，将生产能力、制度协调和空间关联性作为推动区域可持续转型的核心要素。

4 Conclusion and Policy Implications

4 结论与政策启示

The Kiambu County dairy case demonstrates that territorial transformation can emerge from practice-led economic interventions rather than from explicitly framed spatial or sectoral integration strategies or infrastructure projects. In doing so, it contributes to evolving debates in urban regeneration and territorial governance that advocate moving from place-based interventionism toward systems-oriented development models grounded in productive capacity and functional connectivity (Roberts et al., 2017; UN-Habitat, 2020). The establishment of a dairy processing facility did not seek to address rural revitalization or urban regeneration as separate policy objectives; instead, it reorganized production systems, exchange relations, financial flows, and service provision across a shared territory. The resulting outcomes were improved rural livelihoods, strengthened value chains, expanded financial inclusion, and the functional regeneration of a nearby market centre. This case study reinforces the proposition that rural and urban transformations are co-produced through interdependent systems of production, distribution, governance, and service delivery operating across spatial scales.

基安布郡的乳业发展案例表明，区域转型并不一定依赖于明确设计的空间整合战略、协同政策或大型基础设施项目，还可以依靠以实践为驱动的经济干预措施。因此，该案例为城市更新与区域治理的讨论提供了新证据，这些讨论主张突破以特定地点为中心的传统发展干预模式，转向以生产能力提升和功能联系强化为基础的系统性发展路径^[3,5]。乳制品加工设施的建设并非以单一的乡村振兴或城市更新为政策目标，而是在统一的地区空间内重组生产体系、市场交换关系、资金流动机制以及服务供给网络。由此带来的结果不仅包括乡村民生改善、价值链体系强化和金融包容性增强，还推动邻近的市场中心进行功能性更新。该案例进一步印证了一个重要观点：城乡转型本质上是一个跨空间尺度协同演进的过程，其发展成果源于生产、分配、治理与服务体系的相互促进与共同建构。

Importantly, the case shows that rural revitalization need not rely solely on large-scale infrastructure, flagship projects or public investments. Value chain–oriented agro-industrial development can act as a catalyst for wider territorial effects by localizing value addition, stabilizing incomes, reducing transaction costs, formalizing market relations, and localised services provision. These dynamics, in turn, generate multiplier effects that stimulate demand for urban-based functions such as finance, logistics, agro-veterinary services, storage, retail, and business services, reinforcing the role of small towns as intermediaries between rural producers and wider urban markets. In this sense, Kagwe’s transformation exemplifies “productive regeneration,” where economic functionality precedes and structures spatial change rather than the reverse.

更为重要的是，该案例表明，乡村振兴不必仅仅依赖大规模基础设施与标志性项目建设或以公共投资驱动的发展模式。以价值链为导向的农工业投资同样能够成为推动更广泛区域发展的重要催化力量。通过将价值增值环节留在本地、稳定农户收入、降低交易成本、规范市场关系，以及完善本地服务，农工产业可以有效激活区域经济发展动能。这些变化会进一步产生显著的乘数效应，带动金融、物流、农资与兽医服务、仓储、零售和商业服务等城镇功能需求的增长，从而强化小城镇作为连接农村生产者与更广阔城市市场的重要节点作用。从这一意义上看，卡格韦的转型体现了“生产性更新”的路径，即通过对经济功能的培育和强化带动空间转型，而非反向驱动。

From a territorial policy and planning perspective, the findings suggest several strategic implications. First, territorial development strategies should put greater emphasis on agro-industrial investments as instruments of spatial and economic transformation, particularly in regions with strong rural production bases and proximity to urban markets. Secondly, small towns and secondary centres should be repositioned within national and regional planning frameworks as critical nodes of territorial intermediation, rather than treated as residual or purely administrative spaces. Targeted support to service provision, land-use planning, and basic infrastructure in such centres can help absorb and amplify rural productivity gains. Thirdly, the case highlights the importance of institutional arrangements, governance coordination, and cross-sector partnerships in shaping territorial outcomes. Predictable market access, extension services, and linkages to financial institutions were central to livelihood improvements and local economic diversification. Policymakers can enhance the developmental impact of private-sector investments by installing the necessary infrastructure, enabling supportive regulatory environments, facilitating partnerships, and aligning sectoral policies related to agriculture, finance, and local economic development.

Finally, the article demonstrates the analytical value of urban–rural linkages frameworks for interpreting development outcomes without resorting to prescriptive integration narratives. By focusing on functional relationships, spatial flows, and institutional connections, such frameworks offer a pragmatic basis for designing and evaluating territorial development interventions. For both policy and practice, the case underscores the need to move beyond dichotomous rural and urban thinking towards approaches that reflect how economies, livelihoods, and settlement systems actually function across space.

从区域政策与规划的视角看，本文提出若干重要的战略启示。首先，区域发展战略应更加重视农工业投资，将其视为推动空间转型与经济发展的重要工具，尤其是在农村生产基础条件较强且毗邻城市市场的地区。其次，小城镇和次级中心应在国家与区域规划体系中被定位为连接城乡、协调区域发展的关键节点，而非被视为边缘性空间或单纯承担行政管理职能的场所。通过加强公共服务供给、优化土地利用规划及完善基础设施建设，这些地区能够有效承接农村生产率提升所释放的发展动能，并将其转化为更广泛的经济增长和就业机会。再次，案例凸显了制度安排、治理协调与跨部门伙伴关系对取得区域发展成果的重要作用。建立稳定、可预期的市场渠道，农业推广与技术服务体系，以及与金融机构的有效联系，是改善民生并促进地方经济多元化发展的关键。政策制定者应通过完善必要的基础设施体系、建立有利的制度、营造良好的监管环境、促进多元主体合作，并加强农业、金融和地方经济发展等领域之间的政策协同衔接，进一步增强私营机构投资对区域发展的带动效应。最后，本文证明了城乡联系框架在分析和解读发展成效方面具有重要的方法论价值，其无须依赖将城乡整合视为既定目标的规范性叙事方式。通过关注功能联系、要素流动和制度网络之间的互动关系，该框架能够为区域发展干预项目的规划、实施与评估提供更加务实和系统性的分析视角。对政策制定者和实践工作者而言，本案例进一步表明，应改变将农村与城市视为彼此分离或相互对立的发展思路，树立以联系性、流动性和相互依赖性为基础的区域发展视角。

本稿件由联合国人居署Grace Githiri提供 

中文校对：范利、王浩然