Welcome to the 4th International Conference on Regional Development (ICRD) “Rural Development in Urban Age: Do Rural-Urban Linkages Matter?”. With the successful story of the previous conferences, the upcoming 4^th ICRD will be held on 6^th – 7^th August 2019 in Semarang, the capital city of Central Java Province, Indonesia. The conference will be hosted by Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University in collaboration with Regional Planning and Development Board (BAPPEDA) of Central Java Province.

For the past decade our present knowledge resulted from studies and research on rural and regional development has developed rapidly. Rural development in the urban age has become a major issue in the regional development, both locally and globally. The rapid development of urban and rural areas due to urbanization has tremendous implications for the development of urban and rural assets and infrastructures, as well as the declining of agricultural land. UN-Habitat’s data in 2014 revealed that 54% of the world's population lives in urban areas and is predicted to increase by 66% in 2050. Most rural populations depend on urban centers for access to resources such as education, health, livelihoods and government services, whereas urban residents rely on rural areas as providers and suppliers of crops and other agricultural products. This condition explains that rural and urban areas are interconected and they do have interaction. Both has become important components of production system and livelihood.

Efforts in actualizing robust, reliable and credible ready-to-use knowledge have been encountering many obstacles emanating from social, economic, political and institutional factors. A plenty of conceptual and operational frameworks has been available from relentless works of inter-disciplinary experts in understanding relational dynamics of the knowledge and adaptive policies, which are relatively unstable and unpredictable. This conference, in particular, attempt to gather the latest concepts, frameworks and empirical practices to bridge the understanding of theory/concepts in rural and urban development practices. Thus, it would be beneficial for a broad range of stakeholders from academics, practitioners, decision-makers, urban and environment experts, social activists, policy advocates, non-governmental organizations and students.

ICRD welcomes submission of papers in all area of regional development which related to urban and regional development. We are looking forward to see you in the conference and experience Semarang City.

Participants are cordially invited to take a part on –but not limited to- the following sub-themes :