The development path of small towns, especially in developing countries, has garnered attention for its role in fostering sustainable regional development and addressing urbanization. While prior research has emphasized factors such as industrial agglomeration and technological progress, the impact of consumer demand on small-town development has been less explored. This study focuses on small towns in Guangdong Province, China, and explores the evolutionary shift from consumption-driven to production-driven and back to consumption-driven development. The research emphasizes that the dynamic interaction between villagers’ consumption demands, and the supply provided by towns is essential for understanding and promoting the long-term development of small towns. The increasing demand facilitates the concentration of town resources and reinforces their key role within the urban–rural system, creating a positive growth cycle. The bottom-up demand for public services has emerged as the primary driver of small-town development, moving beyond the previous reliance on industrialization alone. This consumption-driven model reveals a unique development path for China’s small towns, offering valuable insights into global rural development. Moreover, it urges researchers to reconsider the fundamental role of public services in regional development strategies. In future planning and construction of small towns, greater attention should be given to the potential of towns in providing services such as education, healthcare, and commerce, to bridge the urban–rural development gap.
Huang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.