Views of other urban spaces: intermediate cities

Abstract

Despite the enormous diversity that has always characterised the urban phenomenon, interest in its processes and results has usually tended to centre on just a few specific realities. We have progressively increased our knowledge of metropolitanisation processes and large urban agglomerations, but know much less about other urban spaces, other urban scales. The international programme “Intermediate cities and world urbanisation”, which began in 1996, has tried to cover part of this void. In recent years, the constitution of a network of experts and local collaborators has made it possible to exchange information and discuss one of the most numerous and extensive of urban phenomena; intermediate cities. In this article, we present some of the conclusions reached by the programme directors following after considering and debating the contributions presented by their collaborators.