The Routledge Handbook of Small Towns addresses the theoretical, methodical, and practical issues related to the development of small towns and neighbouring countryside. Small towns play a very important role in spatial structure by performing numerous significant developmental functions for rural areas. At the local scale, they act as engines for economic growth of rural regions and as a link in the system of connections between large urban centres and the countryside. The book addresses the role of small towns in the local development of regions in countries with different levels of development and economic systems, including those in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and Australia. Chapters address the functional structure of small towns, relations between small towns and rural areas, and the challenges of spatial planning in the context of shaping the development of small towns. Students and scholars of urban planning, urban geography, rural geography, political geography, historical geography, and population geography will learn about the role of small towns in the local development of countries representing different economic systems and developmental conditions.

Jerzy Baski is Professor of Human Geography and since 2018 Director of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSO PAS). His main research interests include rural and agricultural geography, land use, regional policy, and spatial organization and local development. Between 2006 and 2012 he was President of the Polish Geographical Society. In 2017 he was appointed Chairman of the Commission of Local and Regional Development under the International Geographical Union. He is an author of 390 publications, including 24 books and more than 190 papers with review processes. He has co-ordinated over 40 research projects and is a member of 35 other national and international undertakings (such as FP6, FP7, Horizon, ESPON).