A hypothesis on a comprehensive approach to managing the urban polycentralization of post-socialist metropolitan areas

Abstract

Managing the polycentralization of metropolitan areas can contribute to a more even pace of development of builtup areas; it can also increase the economic and temporary accessibility of urban centers. This study, attempts to synthesize the main hypothetical provisions of a comprehensive approach to managing the development of polycentric metropolitan areas in post-socialist countries. It presents the necessity for modeling not only the core city, but also the entire metropolitan area when managing polycentralization. The study reveals the formalized stages of how a polycentric metropolitan area evolves and presents a comprehensive analysis on the main problems of a technological and methodological, administrative and legal nature in managing the development of polycentric metropolitan areas. It also highlights the significance of comprehensively developing the transport infrastructure and the prevalence of information and telecommunication technologies within the metropolitan area, as well as the spatial compactness of the metropolitan areas for the polycentralization progress. It is considered that the specific features of the post-socialist urban process can affect polycentralization, including (post-) suburbanization, reurbanization, and gentrification. Finally, measures are suggested in the field of scientific research and technologies, and municipal and regional management aimed at increasing the manageability of developing polycentric metropolitan areas in a postsocialist urban planning context.