Abstract:
Whether a settlement may urban or rural it performs different roles as
commercial, administrative centre for surrounding regions. Settlements act
as central places representing a particular tier of the settlement hierarchy.
The roles of planned small townships on regional development and the
interactions between those settlements and the periphery have been studied
by many geographers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These centers are
at the lower order of urban hierarchy, and they have been planned
purposefully in many countries based on Urban Functions for Rural
Development Approach (UFRD) to accelerate the development of
backward areas. Since these centers trickle down innovation &
modernization to rural neighborhoods the roles of these centers are diverse.
In order to achieve fruitful results of settlement planning most effective and
rational spatial and location planning strategy is essential to promote these
small centers within well-articulated, integrated and balanced urban
hierarchy. Based on this perspective main objective of the study was
evaluating the multiple roles of planned small townships in North Central
Province (NCP) for the development of their neighborhoods. Thus,
Thambuttegama was selected as the study area. Demarcating the sphere of
influence of selected functions and assess the existing functional structure
of the township were among other specific objectives. The primary data on
commercial and non-governmental functions of the township was collected
through a structured questionnaire, field survey and through informal
interviews. Secondary data and other related information were gathered
from official statistics, other published materials, unpublished reports and
internal records. Variations of the linkages and urban functions in spatial
and temporal dimensions have been shown as maps, spider graphs using
GIS based tools such as overlay, buffering through the study.
