Most of the Third World's urban population either lives in or depends on small and intermediate sized urban centres for access to goods, services and markets. Yet most urban research has concentrated on large cities. In response to the increasing interest shown by governments in special programmes for intermediate size cities, this book seeks to provide a better understanding of how economic, social and political forces shape urban systems and thus affect the development prospects of small and intermediate size urban centres. Five chapters report on the findings of empirical studies on the role of small and intermediate size urban centres in regions in Argentina, the Sudan, Nigeria and North and South India. There are also chapters reviewing the literature on this subject and reviewing the scale and nature of government policies towards smaller urban centres.