ABSTRACT
Urban growth is dependent upon the number and types of goods and services provided for functional regions and is related to the size and population of the functional regions served. The relationship between urban growth and functional regions is clarified by partitioning urban functions into activities that are city-serving, or non-basic activities, and those that are city-forming or basic. The concept of basic functions thus stresses the economic ties which bind a city to its region and which links urban growth to the size of the region. The "outer range" or "farthest possible range" of a functional region is defined as the point at which transportation costs to the consumer or producer reduce effective supply or demand to zero. The boundaries of political regions tend to restrict functional regions. The contribution of industrial location theories to understanding urban growth is limited by their restricting assumptions and by their concern with the location of individual establishments.
