Urbanization and the Problem of Restricting the Growth of Very Large Cities

The "Basic Directions of Economic and Social Development of the USSR in 1981-85 and the Period up to 1990" adopted by the Twenty-sixth Congress of the CPSU call for the "consistent implementation of a policy of restricting the growth of large cities and for the development of small and medium-sized towns â¦" These measures are aimed at preventing the excessive growth of very large cities to the detriment of the development of smaller urban settlements. They are associated with the increased migration of the population to larger cities under the influence of the concentration of social production, which constitutes the basis of the rapid growth of the number of cities and the even more dynamic growth of their size.