Framing urban habitats: The small and medium towns in the peripheries

•This paper defends small towns as elementary vehicles for balanced prosperity.•It explains the functions and networking systems taking place in small and medium-sized towns (SMT).•The research uses the new concept of gravitational forces underlying the attractiveness of towns.•It suggests the vectors for successful development of SMT and proposes some support instruments to achieve them.

This paper proposes an integrative vision of the role of small and medium towns in the developing world. A conceptual framework is explored on the role of sustainable regions and the effects as well as the causalities of urbanisation within the changing dynamics of cities. The new urban habitats that are formed bring not only a direct impact of population pressures on fragile regions, but this new urban habitats, lead to classical economic models that extent into patterns where developing countries can be main actors in the trends of regional innovation dynamics.