The Role Of Secondary Towns In Tanzania.pdf

The world reached an urbanization "tipping point" in 2007, with half its population living in urban areas, and this trend is accelerating, especially in Asia and Africa. However, the focus on large cities overlooks the importance of secondary towns in urbanization and poverty reduction. In Tanzania, for example, while Dar es Salaam is the largest city, non-Dar urban areas, including regional capitals and small towns, have grown as fast as Dar, and small towns are forming an increasing proportion of the urban population. The composition of urbanization, including the distribution of the urban population across cities of different sizes, may be as important as the aggregate rate of urbanization in determining growth and poverty reduction. Urban composition can affect growth and poverty reduction through intra-urban agglomeration effects, congestion costs, economic linkages between urban and rural areas, and rural-urban migration flows. Empirical analysis using nationally representative panel data could help understand the effect of urban composition on growth and poverty reduction. Global experience suggests that the development of secondary towns and the rural off-farm economy can have an additional effect on poverty reduction when people move out of agriculture.