20 
relatively isolated, semiautonomous, or economically specialized 
new communities might be built in outlying rural areas (and certain 
arguments have been made in support of a few such developments in 
certain lagging regions of the country), the overwhelming orientation 
of new communities has been and probably will continue to be 
toward metropolitan locations where the major population gains and 
the primary economic growth are taking place.’? New communities 
stand a better chance of being economically feasible and socially 
and politically acceptable if they are developed as part of the “metro- 
politan regional system, related directly to the metropolitan social 
and cultural structure, its economy, its transportation system, its 
open space and land development patterns, and the full range of 
its market systems.’’!! 
There are a number of important economic considerations that 
need to be considered in selecting sites for new communities. The 
hope is that it will be possible to identify growth points in communities 
and subregions. Available public funds would then be concentrated 
in those areas offering special promise for growth in order to bring 
about self-sustaining momentum for future development. 
A growth point may be defined as the nucleus of sustamed growth 
from which the impulses of development are transmitted to other 
places, especially the immediate surrounding area. [t may be that 
impulses of growth transmitted by one nucleus to others get a feed- 
back from other growing points. ‘“The center should have one or more 
economic activities that have shown signs of sustained growth over a 
period of time, that could be reinforced to create capacity for further 
development in the region, and that might even provide the impetus 
for growth in the entire State, or for a major portion of it.”’ ? A leading 
French advocate of this hypothesis, J. R. Boudeville, defines a 
regional “erowth-pole” as ‘‘a set of expanding industries located in 
an urban area and including further development of economic activity 
throughout its zone of influence.” ® 
In order to locate appropriate growth points, it is necessary to 
specify criteria that must be satisfied. These criteria help to determine 
whether a given area or subregion has sufficient potential for develop- 
ment to be classified as a nucleus. According to a study by Mirza 
Beg, these potential growth points should satisfy criteria pertaining 
to (1) sources of stability; (2) sources of reinforcement; and (3) 
possibilities of a breakthrough." 
(1) Sources of stability—There should be one or more industries or institutions 
that provide sources of stability to the economy of the general area and to the 
particular community. Employment should be free of pronounced seasonal 
fluctuations. Examples of industries or. institutions providing stability to the 
local economy would be a large governmental administrative unit; a school, 
college, or university with several hundred persons on the payroll; or a sizable 
manufacturing or commercial establishment. A steady and relatively large rate 
of population increase may foster economic stability in the area. Such a com- 
munity may be already well developed and likely to grow at an above-average 
Tate if development projects are located in the vicinity. 
a Robert Gladstone, “New Towns Role in Urban Growth Explored,” from Journal of Housing, X X1IT 
(January 1966), pp. 29-35, reprinted in “Urban Renewal: People, Politics, and Planning,” edited by Jewel 
pone and tamney Hausknecht (New York: Doubleday), 1967, p. 536. 
id., p. 537. 
12 ‘Profile and Analysis of Economic Data for Massachusetts” (Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Office 
of fanning and Program Coordination), October 1968, p. 51. 
se os 5; RCL) “Problems of Regional Economic Planning” (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University 
4 Mirza Amjad Ali Beg, “Regional Growth Points in Economic Development,’”” Economic Development 
Series No. 8 (Morgantown: West Virginia University), December 1965. ; 
