ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates growth within a region according to core—periphery models. These models describe the relation among the urban and the rural areas of a region. The periphery of a city is composed of the periurban areas—the rural areas that are contiguous to the urban area—and the deep rural areas which, despite the distance, consider the city as its central place for specialized purchases. The costs and benefits associated with distance reflect the differences in quality of the local transportation network and the efficiency of the financial sector. Studies that analyze patent activity and employment data agree that urbanization economies are more economically stimulating than localization economies. The growth pole concept combines regional economic growth theory with the analysis of the spatial location of economic activity. Finally, the growth pole theory lays out the conditions according to which urban growth will stimulate the periphery or suffocate it.
