Balancing the urban system, and providing urban functions underserved areas, governments implemented a program of new town construction. These cities were developed around a large industrial facility typically an iron and steel mill or chemical processing plant, were consciously sited away from existing towns, and were located either on a vacant piece of land or on the site of an existing village. Whereas residential capacity had been the most important element that influenced the planning and design of the new towns in western Europe accommodating industrial capacity and employment was the major issue for the authoritarian planners of the new socialist towns .