National Urban Development Strategies in Developing Countries

Abstract

A national urban development strategy may be important in increasing the welfare of rural as well as urban dwellers. Ten prototype strategies are analyzed: no intervention; policentric primate city region development; leapfrog decentralization within core regions; countermagnets; rural service centers; regional metropolis and subsystem development ; growth centers; development axes; provincial capitals; and secondary cities. The choice among these (including hybrid strategies) depends heavily on country-specific conditions. Alternative approaches to slowing down primacy, a common element of many strategies, are evaluated. Distinctions between the promotion of secondary cities and traditional growth centre policies are discussed. The paper also examines policy instruments such as migration controls and subsidies, infrastructure investments, fiscal locational incentives, administrative decentralization and local fiscal reform. But corrections for the implicit spatial impacts of macro and sectoral policies may be more critical. Finally, the success of a national urban development strategy depends upon long-term political commitment.