Episode 1 - What are secondary cities?

This episode sets the scene for the podcast series. The Cities Alliance defines a secondary city as: “One that falls outside of the primary urban core of the country. Ranging in population from 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants but this can vary greatly depending on the country’s context”. ​

Antonio challenges the concept by renaming them ‘intermediary cities’. Cities that fall within the urban hierarchy between the primary cities and very rural areas. He highlights how critical they are in the world context and how local economic development to achieve a more balanced territorial distribution of growth is key. ​

Regional development and territorial equity should be at the forefront in the urban development realm. Antonio has developed research on intermediary cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, identifying the problems that rapid unplanned growth generates. Cities spend a lot of money to produce planning guidance and regulation but often they are unimplementable. This is one of the biggest challenges that intermediary cities in developing countries face.