小镇(xiǎo zhèn) - small town, little town in Mandarin

小镇 (xiǎo zhèn) is a small town: bigger than a village, smaller than a city, and in Chinese writing it comes loaded with atmosphere. It is the standard setting for a childhood, a quiet life or somewhere the narrator escaped from.

镇 is also an administrative unit, one step below a county, so a place can officially be a 镇 without anyone calling it 小镇. The 小 adds affection, or sometimes a hint of nowhere much.

For English speakers the trap is the location marker. In a small town is 在小镇上, with 上 rather than 里, because Chinese treats settlements as surfaces you live on rather than boxes you live in. The same goes for 在村子上 and 在街上. 在小镇里 is not wrong so much as odd.