Unlocking the Potential of Intermediary Cities for Regional Development

Annex A. The concept of cities related to intermediary cities

Table A.1. The selected concept of cities considered to define intermediary cities

Concepts	Dimensions
	Size	Hierarchy	Function
Intermediary cities	Not explicitly defined, or referred to as small to mid-sized Intermediary cities (i-cities) are cities with a population between 50 000 and one million people (UCLG, n.d.[1])	Implicitly considered: between large cities and small cities (OECD, 2019[2])	Focus on “mediation” role/functions in spatial networks Play a primary role in connecting important rural and urban areas to basic facilities and services (UCLG, n.d.[1]) Key in regional development
Size-based concepts
Intermediate cities	Size “may vary in different regions, ranging from 20 000/50 000 inhabitants to 500 000 inhabitants and up to 1 million inhabitants in specific countries and regional contexts” (UN-Cuenca Declaration, HABITAT III) Population between 300 000 and 5 million inhabitants (Rodríguez‐Pose and Griffiths, 2021[3])	In the middle of the urban hierarchy	Industrial and advanced service hubs (Fritsch and Wyrwich, 2021[4]). Providing essential markets for rural products and functioning as transit hubs to larger metropolitan areas
Small & medium-sized cities	Urban settlements with a population between 50 000 and 250 000, according to the Degree of Urbanisation (OECD, 2024[5]) Settlements with population between 5 000 and 50 000, or higher, and population density between 300 and 1 500 inhabitants/km² (ESPON, 2024[6]). Cities between 250 000 inhabitants and 500 000 (Bolton and HIldreth, 2013[7]) Settlements with up to 150 000 inhabitants.	N.A.	N.A.
Hierarchy based concepts
Global cities	N.A.	Primary node in the global economic network (e.g. London, Paris) (Sassen, 2006). “They host multinational firms, financial institutions and global organisations – globally oriented and connected”. (Cardoso & Meijers, 2016)	N.A.
First-rank cities	Largest city in a country	“the leading city in its country or region, disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy” (Goodall, 1987)	“at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant” (Jefferson, 1939). Often: the country political capital
Secondary/second-rank/second-tier cities	“Smaller than cities of the first rank” (Friedmann, 1986) An urban area generally having a population of between 100 000 and 500 000 (UN-Habitat, 1996)	Largest cities in a country, excluding the capital (or the main cities)	Economic functions relevant at a national level (“A city whose economic and social performance is significant enough to influence the national economy and plays a relevant role in international contexts” (Cardoso & Meijers, 2016) Might be capitals of the region
Function based concepts
Gateway cities	Variable	N.A.	“Connect vast hinterlands to the outside world”; “A step in‐between, connecting, for example, resource peripheries to global markets in numerous ways.” (Scholvin, 2021[8]) Serving as a point of entry to a region (Burghardt, 1971[9])
Market towns	Usually small Less than 100 000 inhabitants (Rondinelli, 1983[10])	N.A.	Providing relevant services in rural regions (Powe, Hart and Shaw, 2007[11])
Satellite cities	N.A.	Within a commuting distance to a larger city	Providing housing functions: “Consequence of population expansion, and changes in industrial bases, property development and demands for more affordable housing […] ; they act as feeder cities to major metropolises.” (van Noorloos and Kloosterboer, 2017[12]) (e.g. Lelystad, NL) Administrative autonomy & services (≠suburbs) Might be deliberately planned to solve agglomeration diseconomies (“new towns”) They may function as gated communities, innovation hubs with mixed use of commercial and residential development, to Special Economic Zones and new capital cities

Source: Authors’ own elaboration

References

[7] Bolton, T. and P. HIldreth (2013), Mid-sized Cities: Their Role in England’s Economy, Centre for Cities, https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/mid-sized-cities/.

[9] Burghardt, A. (1971), “A hypothesis about gateway cities”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 61/2, pp. 269-285, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1971.tb00782.x.

[6] ESPON (2024), Small and medium- sized towns and cities: policies strengthening their role in achieving active, inclusive, and functional territories.

[4] Fritsch, M. and M. Wyrwich (2021), “Is innovation (increasingly) concentrated in large cities? An international comparison”, Research Policy, Vol. 50/6, p. 104237, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104237.

[5] OECD (2024), Getting to Services in Towns and Villages: Preparing Regions for Demographic Change, OECD Rural Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/df1e9b88-en.

[2] OECD (2019), OECD Principles on Urban Policy, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/programmes/cfe/oecd-principles-on-urban-policy/OECD-Principles-on-Urban-Policy.pdf/_jcr_content/renditions/original./OECD-Principles-on-Urban-Policy.pdf.

[11] Powe, N., T. Hart and T. Shaw (2007), Market Towns: Roles, Challenges and Prospects, Routledge.

[3] Rodríguez‐Pose, A. and J. Griffiths (2021), “Developing intermediate cities”, Regional Science Policy & Practice, Vol. 13/3, pp. 441-457, https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12421.

[10] Rondinelli (1983), “Towns and small cities in developing countries”, Geogrpahical review, pp. 379-395.

[8] Scholvin, S. (2021), “Analysing gateway cities at different scales: From global interlinking and regional development to urban branding”, Geography Compass, Vol. 15/7, https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12579.

[1] UCLG (n.d.), UCLG frame document for Intermediary Cities: Planning and management of sustainable urban development.

[12] van Noorloos, F. and M. Kloosterboer (2017), “Africa’s new cities: The contested future of urbanisation”, Urban Studies, Vol. 55/6, pp. 1223-1241, https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017700574.