Economic development and the urban system

Urban growth and the prosperity of towns and townspeople are clearly associated with a variety of new and resurgent urban functions. To understand more fully the structuring and development of the economy of a region, it is helpful to conceptualise the region as an integrated system of towns together with their corresponding areas of influence. This chapter explores various ways in which urban systems are conceptualised and what models of their hierarchical and spatial structure and functioning can tell people about their relationship with the wider economy. Rank-size analysis has been widely adopted in studies of urban systems to explore the urban-economy relationship. The industrial specialisation model suggests that growth is based on the agglomeration advantages which accrue as industrial production becomes increasingly concentrated in the towns. It thus equates industrialisation with urbanisation, and matches the expansion of one with growth of the other.