Growth, distribution and rank stability of urban settlements in Greece.

"This paper aims at analyzing the structure of the system in Greece of urban settlements, from 1870 to 1981. It is based on a study by the author concerning the process of urbanization and the problems of the 'residential subsystem' in countries of intermediate development with special reference to Greece. The analysis takes as sole indicator of the evolution of the urban centers network, the long term variation of population of urban settlements in Greece and as tools of analysis, the Rank-Size Rule (RSR) and Hoover's Index." Distinctions are drawn between the urban settlement patterns in the pre-capitalist and capitalist periods, the latter being marked by an unbalanced hierarchy dominated by Athens and without medium-sized cities, other than Thessaloniki.