Secondary Cities in Developing Countries: Policies for Diffusing Urbanization

Rondinelli investigates a viable alternative to the pattern of swollen capital cities and impoverished countryside in the Third World. He outlines the rationale for creating a network of large secondary towns. These would provide a locale for industrial development that provides markets and services to rural areas without draining them of people and resources. He reports on the demography, the dynamics, and the social and economic characteristics of secondary cities. He discusses the rationale for their use as a way of encouraging geographically equitable development and presents a broad strategy for creating a system of secondary cities.