India's Tiny Towns: Economic Structure, Location and Growth

The study of urbanisation has a tendency to either completely ignore very small urban settlements or relegate them to the unimportant. Medium and small towns have recently assumed some importance due to the current emphasis on spatial aspects of population redistribution in the developing countries. The rapid growth of urban population in those countries in the recent decades has brought to fore questions about concentration or decentralisation of economic activities, which are associated with alternative patterns of urban settlements.