This book deals with a series of case studies and comparative analyses on the structure and role of small and intermediate urban centres in different regional settings in developing countries. The uniqueness of this study is that it makes comparisons between such diverse and wide-flung areas as Central Mali and Swaziland in Sub Saharan Africa, Northern Costa Rica and Northern Mexico in Latin America and Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The Department of Human Geography of Developing Countries of Utrecht University in the Netherlands has done more than a decade of systematic research into this topic. The purpose of this book is to shed more light on the role of small towns in regional development under various socio-spatial and political-economical conditions, and thereby contribute to the elucidation of often contradictory findings in literature. Important focal points are the production and employment structures of the towns, the development level of their rural hinterland economies, the rural-urban and interurban patterns of interaction, and the role of government policy.