الفهرس 
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Abstract
Professor Ahmed Monir Abd-Elqader
Professor Hooshang Amirahmadi
The process of urbanization and the relationship between
the elements of any urban system over time has been discussed
theoretically and investigated empirically in many research
studies since the appearance of the location theory. The major
explanation of these studies is that urban growth and
population distribution is a result of ”economic activities
which arranged by market mechanisms in their optimal, profit-
maximizing locations, create a hierarchical economic landscape
••• ” (Hoover, 1940). Uneven urban population distributions and
economic concentrations have led to size disparities,
particularly in LDCs, between rural and urban areas, as well as between different regions and cities within the same urban
system. These unequal relationships easily produce political,
social, environmental and economic problems. Urban size
disparities in the level of development within nations acute problems confronting many aI, 1957). While the problem is universal:1”l.:)•
countries having their own
regions, such disparities are far more pronounced in LDCs, and could adversely affect their fragile political structure. These urban disparities are potentially harmful, especially in LDCs, and in fact have led to political instability and frustrated national integration (Hansen and Gardener, 1982). At the same time, neoclassical .economic theory regards the concentration of urban population and economic activities as a natural phenomenon that, if left undisturbed, would reach equilibrium as a result of market forces (Berry, 1972). Recent studies (Berry in 1972, Richardson in 1980, Hauser in 1982, and Todaro in 1984) of urban concentration and national economic growth, however, present a different view: that more equalized patterns of spatial distribution of population and income do occur and are normal attributes of national economic growth. Accordingly, most governments have incorporated the goal of social justice in their national development plans with the view of eradicating or alleviating inequalities and distributing the benefits of development as widely as possible among all citizens. Toward this end, many countries have adopted various national or regional urban policies. The resul ts of most of these policies to date have not been encouraging, particularly in LDCs. This is due, in part, to the fact that theories and principles of national or regional development are still inconclusive (Richardson, 1977).
Therefore, the major theme of this thesis is limited to the analysis of urbanization and urban size disparities,