Now reissued with a new preface by the author, this book was originally published in 1982 at a time when increasing emphasis was being given to regional development planning in many developing countries. This new emphasis arose from the conviction that the spatial organization of activities fundamentally affects national rates of economic growth as well as the distribution of benefits to the greatest number of people. This study analyses the spatial organization of the Ethiopian urban system, the structure and socio-economic characteristics or the urban areas and the locational decisions of firms in the country. It also examines the extent to which infrastructure investment in Ethiopia in the 20 th century affected the development of urban areas with regard to growth and their potential to attract new industries.