Small Towns and Development: A Tale from Two Countries

Urban centralisation within the developing world has resulted in numerous sectoral problems within major cities, such as congestion, migration, poor housing, unemployment and environmental deterioration. As a result, urban analysts have directed attention to the development of small and intermediate cities as one means of providing the necessary counterbalance to the development of primate cities. This paper examines the economic potential of small town development. What contributions can be expected from government investment at this level of the rural-urban interface? Is it possible to provide urban services at this lowest level of the urban hierarchy and if it can be done, what difference, if any, does it make to established rural-to-urban migration flows? Based on international experience, are some kinds of services more difficult to establish in small towns than others? To answer these questions, the experience of two countries is examined, selected from one of the regional development programmes in Malaysia and the ujamaa villagisation programme in Tanzania. The study concludes that necessary ingredients with a small town development programme include an appropriate agricultural policy as well as adequate consideration of the small town economic base. Also required is some element of self-reliance in the provision of local urban services. Without these components, such programmes are unlikely to have any significant effect upon current rural-to-urban migration flows.