The  WDR 2009 'Reshaping Economic Geography' argues that the geographic transformations which accompany successful development include, at the local spatial level, rural-urban integration.  Policy debates, in their current form, are narrowly focused on spatially targeted interventions; however, it's the interaction among areas that is the key to development.  Besides place-based interventions, governments have far more potent policy instruments for integration. They include common institutions that unify and infrastructure that connects some places to others.  Spatially targeted incentives should only be used sparingly and in conjunction with, and never in lieu of, institutions and infrastructure. 

  
Marisela Montoliu Muñoz
Indermit S. Gill Chor-ching Goh - The World Bank
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Mmontoliumunoz@worldbank.org