Townlet is an attempt to translate the Russian term posyolok gorodskogo tipa (посёлок городского типа) or the similar Ukrainian selyshche mis'koho typu (селище міського типу)—literally "urban-type settlement". A townlet was one of the results of Soviet urban design, a locality intermediate in character and status between towns and villages. The classification is still used in former USSR countries like the Ukraine or Russia.

In size a townlet is similar to a village, however its infrastructure is urban. Usually it is centered around at least a single industry. One of the defining features of a townlet in the former USSR was economic independence from agriculture.

Soviet Union

According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, three main types of localites were included under the description P.G.T.:

• Workers' settlement: a locality with factories, mining industry, power stations, construction industry, with a maximum of 3,000 inhabitants.
• Health resort: a locality with a focus on sanatarium and health facilities.
• Dacha locality: settlement with a focus on private recreation at summer and on weekends with agricultural activities not more than 25%.

Ukrainian SSR

The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic defined a townlet in 1981 as follows:

• a locality of under 2,000 inhabitants, consisting of at least ⅔ workers or employees or their families
• with industrial enterprises, buildings, and a railroad connection

or

• localities with educational or research institutions,
• with sanatoriums or recreational institutions

In exceptional cases, even localities of 500 to 2,000 inhabitants could attain townlet status, if they had economic development potential.

See also

• Township