Secondary city
A secondary city is an urban hub that fills specific regional and local needs related to governance, economics, finance, education, trade, transportation.
Secondary cities can be characterized into three general categories: sub-national functional centers (i.e., provincial capital, industry center, university hub, tourist attraction); city clusters or satellite urban areas surrounding a larger metropolitan region; and an economic trade corridor developing along major transportation routes.
Local patterns of commerce, the interactions of civil society, and decentralized political activities in secondary cities reflect a shifting economies, changing stakeholder alliances, and adaptive governance structures.
These adaptations include initiatives specifically focused on new immigrants and vulnerable populations (i.e., the elderly, children, women), expanding informal settlements and the need for strategies for access to basic services (i.e., electricity, water, community gardens), urban zoning to enhance green spaces (i.e., tree planting, riparian restoration), and building designs and materials to create structures that reflect the seasonal changes caused by climate change (i.e., access to air conditioning; adequate heating facilities).
China's second and third-level cities are locations where private sector global expansion occurs that include top hotel companies, increased domestic travel via train and air, and international meeting facilities.
These secondary cities are part of the global and local economy demonstrating their importance as regional hubs of commerce and transportation.
Greater Surabaya is illustrative of patterns of suburban expansion supporting industrial development and facilitating commuter culture to the urban center.
The rapid urban expansion has resulted in extensive informal settlements with inadequate infrastructure (i.e., electricity) and limited access to basic services (i.e., water supply).
[16] These rapidly growing urban areas attract rural migrants who move into informal settlements without basic amenities, high levels of pollution, loss of biodiversity, and poor sanitation.
[17] However, economic development and infrastructure improvements have largely been concentrated in capital cities many of which are megacities such as Nairobi, Lagos, and Kampala.
[19] Mekelle, Ethiopia is the provincial capital of Tigray and the center of regional conflict (2020 - 2022) and staging area for provisioning of food and resources.
Collaboration is vital to finance hard and soft strategic infrastructure, through arrangements to share revenue as well as development, operating and maintenance costs.
