The Role of planned townships for regional Development (a case study of Thambuttegama township.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the role of small towns as service centers in regional development was a controversial subject of debate, whether they perform key functions required for regional development, both in developed and developing environs. These centers are at the lower order of urban hierarchy, and they have been planned purposefully in many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, through "UFRD Approach" to gear development of their backward rural areas. Small towns are seen as centers of innovation & modernization that trickle down to rural neighborhoods. Thus, most effective and rational spatial and location planning strategy is essential to promote small centers within well-articulated, integrated and balanced urban hierarchy. Objectives of the study were to evaluate the role of Tambuththegama Township for developing surrounding areas, demarcated as the sphere of influence, and also assess the existing spatial and functional structure of the township. Through Mahaweli Development Programme, Township become the growth foci in NCP while attracting more central functions and also consumers from rural neighborhoods. The primary data on commercial and non-governmental functions of township were collected in the field and secondary data and other related information were gathered from official statistics, other published materials, unpublished reports and internal records etc. After pre coding, editing and coding collected Data was tabulated in order to analyze applying appropriate statistical techniques. The GIS based analytical tools such as overly, buffering and network analysis were applied to visualize the findings revealed through this study.