The Performance and Prospects of Small and Intermediate Size Cities in the Philippines

The paper argues that small and intermediate size cities (SMCs) are essential parts of the national urban system and, therefore, an understanding of their structure and behavior would sharpen our grasp of issues concerning primacy as well as help rationalize attempts to bring about diffuse urbanization and development. A spatial-temporal framework reflecting economic policy thrusts in used in the analysis. While the few large cities (LCs) in the various regions grew consistently rapidly since the early part of the century, SMCs tended to be subject to the differential impacts of policy on the regions. Thus, those in the central industrial region (CIR) have been buoyant due to a progressive economic environment favored by policy; by contrast; SMCs in the other regions performed poorly because they tended to be sapped by LCs in the same region and those in the CIR. There is some indication, however, that SMCs in the less development regions have recently begun to perk up --probably less due to the efficacy of regional development policy than diseconomies of scale at the National Capital Region or more broadly the CIR. Regional policy may become more effective if it systematically considers SMCs so that at least some of them can flourish and thus spontaneously foster broader rural industrialization and regional development.