Polycentric Metropolitan Areas Research Articles

Developing Polycentricity to Shape Resilient Metropolitan Structures: The Case of the Gdansk–Gdynia–Sopot Metropolitan Area

Making the metropolitan area resilient, in many cases, calls for amending its spatial structures. This may take various forms, including both reshaping the metropolitan core and redeveloping the entire regional network of cities and centres, making them part of a coherent structure. The latter strategy is associated with reinforcing secondary urban centres as well as shaping new connections between them. In this case, the term “resilience” is associated not only with environmental aspects but also with socio-economic and spatial ones. Shaping resilient metropolitan areas is therefore associated with complex planning and development undertakings, in many cases spread over decades. This approach was proven to be correct during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which spurred this process of rethinking metropolitan structures and led to generating new approaches to metropolitan development and planning. The article focuses on the Gdansk–Gdynia–Sopot Metropolitan Area, which is potentially the largest polycentric metropolitan area on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. In this case, polycentricity has a twofold origin—it includes centres with a shaped spatial structure that come closer together as they develop and diffuse suburban structure, the shaping of which remains one of the main challenges of the regional spatial policy. The authors look at both concepts and tools associated with reshaping this metropolitan centre. In particular, they analyse the effects of using both obligatory and optional planning tools which are available according to Polish law. They also try to answer the question of under what conditions a polycentric structure has a chance to become a resistant structure.

Tools for Network Smart City Management—The Case Study of Potential Possibility of Managing Energy and Associated Emissions in Metropolitan Areas

The article uses the case study of a polycentric metropolitan area as a starting point for a debate about the available tools for managing the network aspects of intelligent cities. We show that the construction of talents, the development of knowledge among officials and inhabitants, and technological tools such as Hubgrade (which allows for heat delivery process control, supervision, inspection, and results in emission reduction) are prerequisites for the sustainable development of cities. It is critical to understand that technological solutions are insufficient to accomplish such a task. Relevant stakeholders need to consciously take advantage of technological tools and build and utilise 4T potential and the self-learning capabilities of the organisations. An inherent feature of an organisation, such as a city, is cooperation between the people who build it. The main challenges of cities includes the reduction of pollutants resulting from the use of transport, heat sources, or energy production. In many cities, an efficient manner of reducing carbon dioxide emissions is to limit the consumption of thermal energy. In order to simultaneously maintain thermal comfort, in this situation, it is necessary to use intelligent technologies. The paper includes research related to the knowledge and development of 4T potentials (technology, trust, talent, tolerance) and to networking expansion by introducing the automated Hubgrade system, used in Warsaw district heating, into a similar metropolitan area. Along with an increase in the significance of relations, information, and knowledge as a key organisational resource, cities, as organisations, have become an important element of contemporary communities and organisations. They have the possibility of a positive climate change. The possibility of cooperation and networking between people forming an organisation is its inherent feature, such as in the Hubgrade project. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn for the analysed case—linking 4T potentials and the Hubgrade system—with the potential for future generalisations and extrapolations. The authors performed a simulation of possible energy savings and the reduction of harmful emissions in Metropolis GZM.

Measuring the Regional Economic Impact of Transportation Access Improvements in the Context of a Large Metropolitan Region

Transportation planners are increasingly recognizing the importance of access in enabling employment growth and better paying job opportunities for residents. Although regional economic impact analysis is often an important element of transportation investment evaluation by state departments of transportation, it can be particularly challenging for metropolitan area planners because existing economic modeling methods do not fully account for the multifaceted roles that transportation links play in affecting access within large, polycentric metropolitan areas. This article examines these issues and presents information from a study of the Chicago region, to evaluate statistical relationships of employment cluster size and wage levels to zonal differences in business-to-business connectivity and population connectivity. It presents elasticities of employment and wage impact associated with various access measures for different sectors of the economy. These findings point to the importance of transportation planners considering the impacts on connectivity to both population markets and employment centers when evaluating the potential economic implications of proposed transportation system improvements in large, polycentric metropolitan areas. The article then lays out directions for future research and practice to improve transportation project evaluation and planning.

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

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.

Logistics sprawl in monocentric and polycentric metropolitan areas: the cases of Paris, France, and the Randstad, the Netherlands

The phenomenon of urban sprawl has been studied extensively. Most research so far has focused on residential settlements. A growing number of studies have addressed industrial deconcentration. Our focus in this paper is on logistics sprawl, i.e. the growth and suburban relocation of warehousing activities. Specifically, we investigate the difference in logistics sprawl between monocentric and polycentric systems of cities. The literature suggests that logistics activities, like residential settlements, will gradually move to suburbs as land prices increase in central areas. As research for logistics has mostly focused on monocentric systems, the question is whether this also applies to polycentric systems. We compare two cases, the Paris region in France, representative of a monocentric development, and the Dutch Randstad area as a polycentric case. We use regional statistics on warehouse settlements in both regions for a descriptive analysis of changes since the mid 2000s to derive metrics for concentration. The cases show different patterns of change in concentration. In contrast to Paris, logistics activities within the Randstad have intensified in dense areas. We explore the reasons that may explain this difference and conclude that urban structure, spatial planning policies and the freight hub quality of a region are factors of influence.

The Influence of Urbanism and Information Consumption on Political Dimensions of Social Capital: Exploratory Study of the Localities Adjacent to the Core City from Brașov Metropolitan Area, Romania.

BackgroundThe last two decades have seen a growing trend towards the research of voting behavior in post-communist countries. Urban sociology theorists state that not only space structures influence political participation, but also space structures are changing under the influence of global, local, and individual factors. The growing role played by information in the globalised world has accelerated the paradigm shift in urban sociology: from central place model (based on urban-rural distinction and on monocentric metropolitan areas) to network society (based on space of flows and polycentric metropolitan areas). However, recent studies have mainly focused on countries with solid democracies, rather than on former communist countries. The present study aims to analyze the extent to which a new emerging spatial structure can be envisaged within a metropolitan area of Romania and its consequences for the political dimensions of social capital.MethodsThe Transilvania University Ethics Commission approved this study (S1 Aprouval). The research is based upon individual and aggregate empirical data, collected from the areas adjacent to the core city in Brașov metropolitan area. Individual data has been collected during October 2012, using the oral survey technique (S1 Survey), based on a standardized questionnaire (stratified simple random sample, N = 600). The National Institute of Statistics and the Electoral Register provided the aggregate data per locality. Unvaried and multivariate analyses (hierarchical regression method) were conducted based on these data.ResultsSome dimensions of urbanism, identified as predictors of the political dimensions of social capital, suggest that the area under analysis has a predominantly monocentric character, where the rural-urban distinction continues to remain relevant. There are also arguments favoring the dissolution of the rural-urban distinction and the emergence of polycentric spatial structures. The presence of some influences related to the information consumption on all six indicators of the political dimensions of social capital under analysis suggests the occurrence of emerging forms of a space of flows. The identified effects of social problems associated with transport infrastructure and of migration experience on the political dimensions of social capital, also support the emergence of space of flows.ConclusionsWe recommend that, in the urban studies in former communist countries, conceptualization of urbanism as predictor of the political dimensions of social capital should consider both the material dimensions of space, as well as the dimensions of information consumption and migration experience.

Governance and change on the urban fringe – special issue of Urban Research & Practice

There is increasing interest in sociospatial and sociocultural developments on the fringes of cities. Some studies focus on the emergence of polycentric metropolitan areas and others on changes in existing suburbs and the development of new suburbs and exurbs. At the same time, development and regeneration of areas on the urban fringes increasingly take place in a context marked by deregulation, privatization, and network-like modes of coordination. It is an important challenge to explore the spatial, political, social, and cultural processes and implications of the changes taking place. The workshop Governance and Change at the Urban Fringe explored various aspects of these developments, and the results are published in this special issue.

In search of the urban composition of sub-centres in polycentric european metropolises

In spite of its tempestuous history, Europe managed to preserve and save the crucial elements of the urban structure of most cities which determine their urbanity. The uncontrolled growth of polycentric metropolitan areas and some attempts to demarcate new sub-centres based upon economic, demographic and transport premises only passing over the principles of urban composition characteristic of European cities, jeopardize this state of affairs. This article includes theoretical ruminations on the role of the elements of urban composition in the construction of the image of a city centre and, consequently, a sub-centre. Cracow, treated as a case study, exemplifies the historical development of a polycentric European metropolis. The final conclusions are based on these ruminations supported with the chosen example. They indicate selected elements of urban composition which developed in the European culture over a span of millenniums – they are still necessary for the creation of the well-functioning centre and a sub-centre of a contemporary, polycentric European metropolis. A pesar de la seva turbulenta història, Europa ha sabut conservar i guardar elements crucials de l’estructura urbana de la majoria de les ciutats que determinen la seva urbanitat. El creixement descontrolat de les àrees metropolitanes policèntriques i alguns intents de demarcació de nous subcentres en base a tan sols premisses econòmiques, demogràfiques i de transport, passant per sobre dels principis de les característiques de la composició urbana de les ciutats europees, posen en perill aquesta situació. Aquest article inclou reflexions teòriques sobre el paper dels elements de la composició urbana en la construcció de la imatge d’un centre de ciutat i, en conseqüència, un subcentre. Cracòvia, tractada com a cas d’estudi, exemplifica l’evolució històrica d’una metròpoli europea policèntrica. Les conclusions finals es basen en aquestes reflexions recolzades en l’exemple escollit. Aquestes indiquen elements seleccionats de la composició urbana que es va desenvolupar a la cultura europea durant un lapsus de mil·lennis – que segueixen sent necessaris per la creació del centre funcional i d’un subcentre d’una metròpolis contemporània policèntrica europea. A pesar de su turbulenta historia, Europa ha sabido conservar y guardar los elementos cruciales de la estructura urbana de la mayoría de las ciudades que determinan su urbanidad. El crecimiento descontrolado de las áreas metropolitanas policéntricas y algunos intentos de demarcación de nuevos subcentros en base sólo a premisas económicas, demográficas y de transporte, pasando por encima de los principios de las características de la composición urbana de las ciudades europeas, ponen en peligro esta situación. Este artículo incluye reflexiones teóricas sobre el papel de los elementos de la composición urbana en la construcción de la imagen de un centro de ciudad y, en consecuencia, un sub-centro. Cracovia, tratado como un caso de estudio, ejemplifica la evolución histórica de una metrópoli europea policéntrica. Las conclusiones finales se basan en estas reflexiones apoyadas en el ejemplo elegido. Estas indican elementos seleccionados de la composición urbana que se desarrolló en la cultura europea durante un lapso de milenios - que siguen siendo necesarios para la creación del centro funcional y de un sub-centro de una metrópolis contemporánea policéntrica europea.

Spatial Structure and Productivity in US Metropolitan Areas

Recent concepts such as ‘megaregions' and ‘polycentric urban regions' emphasize that external economies are not confined to a single urban core, but are shared among a collection of nearby and linked cities. However, empirical analyses of agglomeration and agglomeration externalities have so far neglected the multicentric spatial organization of agglomeration and the possibility of the ‘sharing’ or ‘borrowing’ of size between cities. The authors take up this empirical challenge by analyzing how different spatial structures, in particular the monocentricity–polycentricity dimension, affect the economic performance of US metropolitan areas. Ordinary least squares and two-stage least-squares models explaining labor productivity show that spatial structure matters: polycentricity is associated with higher labor productivity. This appears to justify suggestions that, compared with more monocentric metropolitan areas, agglomeration diseconomies remain relatively limited in the more polycentric metropolitan areas, whereas agglomeration externalities are to some extent shared among the cities in such an area. However, it was also found that a network of geographically proximate smaller cities cannot substitute for the urbanization externalities of a single large city.

Polycentric Metropolitan Form: Application of a ‘Northern’ Concept in Latin America

Since the mid 20th century, large urban areas in advanced economies have experienced a fundamental transformation from relatively compact monocentric cities towards more extended polycentric metropolitan areas. By now, it is being commented repeatedly, but not investigated systematically that the concept of polycentricity is also adequate to characterise recent metropolitan dynamics in Latin-America. This paper aims to present a few key-issues for a future research agenda into polycentricity in Latin-American metropolitan areas. These elements are identified from a review of existing literature. Since no clear-cut definition and operationalisation of polycentricity exist yet, we distinguish some key-elements of this phenomenon in North America as a frame of reference for this review. It reveals that ‘polycentricity U.S. style’ is at best dawning in Latin-America. In order to achieve a more appropriate picture of polycentricity of Latin American metropolitan areas, our ideas for a research agenda take into account these areas typical economic, social and spatial conditions.

Polycentric Metropolitan Form: Application of a ‘Northern’ Concept in Latin America

Since the mid 20th century, large urban areas in advanced economies have experienced a fundamental transformation from relatively compact monocentric cities towards more extended polycentric metropolitan areas. By now, it is being commented repeatedly, but not investigated systematically that the concept of polycentricity is also adequate to characterise recent metropolitan dynamics in Latin-America. This paper aims to present a few key-issues for a future research agenda into polycentricity in Latin-American metropolitan areas. These elements are identified from a review of existing literature. Since no clear-cut definition and operationalisation of polycentricity exist yet, we distinguish some key-elements of this phenomenon in North America as a frame of reference for this review. It reveals that ‘polycentricity U.S. style’ is at best dawning in Latin-America. In order to achieve a more appropriate picture of polycentricity of Latin American metropolitan areas, our ideas for a research agenda take into account these areas typical economic, social and spatial conditions.

New urbanity in metropolitan regions

The classical understanding of urbanity is guided by notion of European City, hall marks of which have been summarised by Walter Siebel (2004, 18) as: the presence of history in everyday life of city-dwellers; city constandy per ceived as a Utopian promise of both economic and political emancipation; city as special set ting for an urban life style; image of a European townscape handed down through time; and finally, its regulatory function within social state. Since Middle Ages these features have found tangible ex pression in townscape in form of town halls, market places and churches which form core of a physically compact and multifunctional centre. These features are currently undergoing change within context of socio-economic restructuring. The fun damental societal and spatial structures underlying European City appear largely to be in a state of dissolution. The age of industrialisation already saw creation of polycentric metropolitan areas which appeared to exhibit various shortcomings by com parison with this model, but which ultimately also have come to represent a distinct manifestation of process of urbanisation. The highly differenti ated and flexible social, economic, cultural and com municative structures and developments which are associated with post-industrial western societies are increasingly at odds with classical understanding of urbanity. There is today clear evidence of increasing heterogeneity and fragmentation of urban life styles and socio-spatial structures. Similarly there are defi nite signs of increasing levels of polycentricity and diversification of urban functions in metropolitan regions. This change is taking place on various scales and has spatial impacts, for example in emergence of new functional clusters (such as those for knowledge economy and for industries), and in localisation of new life styles and milieus. What we now see emerging are new urban clusters with spe cific locational patterns, catchment areas, addressing different target groups and with different symbolic features. The creation of urbanity is coming more and more to rank as a key factor in competition to attract international investors, a highly qualified workforce and members of creative class. It is

Urban sprawl in the Mediterranean?: Patterns of growth and change in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1993–2000

Debates on the urban form have become strongly polarized between the advocates and opponents of the compact and of the dispersed or “sprawled” city. In this paper we argue that this may be the result of an excessive concentration on the study of the American experience and the neglect of other urban contexts, and examine the recent process of urban growth against the background of urban compactness and extreme densification represented by the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR). The comparison of two detailed land-cover maps of 1993 and 2000 shows a progressive transformation in the traditional urban character of the region. Lower urban densities, high losses of non-urban land covers, depopulation of the metropolitan inner core, an increasing importance of single housing or the expansion of transportation infrastructures confirm the generalization of the dispersed urban model. However, the presence of numerous medium sized towns has also proved to be a deterrent of excessive dispersion. In conclusion, polycentric metropolitan areas such as the BMR may be more adjusted to absorb the negative effects of dispersion than monocentric areas.

Transit competitiveness in polycentric metropolitan regions

This paper analyzes the potential to, and impacts of, increasing transit modal split in a polycentric metropolitan area – the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region. Potential transit riders are preselected as those travelers whose trips begin and end in areas with transit-supportive land uses, defined as “activity centers,” areas of high-density employment and trip attraction. A multimodal traffic assignment model is developed and solved to quantify the generalized cost of travel by transit services and private automobile under (user) equilibrium conditions. The model predicts transit modal split by identifying the origin–destination pairs for which transit offers lower generalized cost. For those origin–destination pairs for which transit does not offer the lowest generalized cost, I compute a transit competitiveness measure, the ratio of transit generalized cost to auto generalized cost. The model is first formulated and solved for existing transit service and regional pricing schemes. Next, various transit incentives (travel time or fare reductions, increased service) and auto disincentives (higher out of pocket expenses) are proposed and their impacts on individual travel choices and system performance are quantified. The results suggest that a coordinated policy of improved transit service and some auto disincentives is necessary to achieve greater modal split and improved system efficiency in the region. Further, the research finds that two levels of coordinated transit service, between and within activity centers, are necessary to realize the greatest improvements in system performance.

Growth in Commuting Distances in French Polycentric Metropolitan Areas: Paris, Lyon and Marseille

It has frequently been suggested in the literature that a polycentric distribution of employment and people shortens commuting distances because people locate within or close to their employment sub-centre (the co-location hypothesis). Having studied the three biggest French metropolitan areas over the past decade it has been established that co-location affects only a minority of inhabitants, of whom there are fewer in 1999 than there were nine years earlier. Indeed, the majority of people living in a sub-centre work outside their sub-centre of residence. This situation was even more marked in 1999 than it was in 1990. In addition to this, the majority of jobs located in sub-centres are held by non-residents who are generally living further and further from their place of work.

Polycentricity and transit service

This paper focuses on the two related issues of employment distribution and access to transit services. Using the 2001 census tract level economic activities and transit routes within the county, a number of analyses were performed to determine the location of major employment centers in Los Angeles County and how these localities may be understood within the context of a transit service operation in a polycentric metropolitan area. The identified economic subcenters contain one-third of the county employment and its firms, collectively. While these economic nodes are networked by the existing bus routes, the connection between employees and their place of work appears to be inadequate. This has created a less than optimal condition in many sections of the metropolitan area. This paper suggests methodologies for encountering this shortcoming.

Zwischen Heimatgefühl und Weltstadtanspruch

The Frankfurt/Rhein-Main Area is a polycentric European Metropolitan Area (EMR) in the middle of Germany with 5.2 million inhabitants. The EMR, with Frankfurt in its center, is situated in the southern part of the state of Hessen and extends into parts of Bavaria in the east and Rhineland-Palatinate in the west. The region remains one of the most prosperous EMRs in Europe, but has lost its former dominant role. The EMR is under strain: The position as one of the most important nodes of the European financial services network is threatened. In the long run, the old fashioned institutional framework with its highly structured political realms will weaken the ability of the EMR to act and therefore degrade its position within the competition of European regions. Furthermore, the jurisdiction of the newly erected Planungsverband Ballungsraum Frankfurt/RheinMain does not cover the entire EMR area. It is merely a planning institution and therefore a weak regional organisation. The situation is additionally aggr...

The Structure of Sprawl: Identifying and Characterizing Employment Centers in Polycentric Metropolitan Areas

This paper applies a consistent framework to four comparably sized metropolitan areas to identify and characterize their employment centers. Employment centers are identified as places that exceed a threshold employment density and a threshold employment level. They are also characterized as specializing on the basis of location quotient analysis. We find clear evidence of specialization in every employment center in the four metropolitan areas studied. Our interpretation is that what we are observing is a systematic change in metropolitan structure rather than a random sprawling of firms. We also find some evidence that the size distribution of employment centers follows the rank‐size rule. This suggests that there is structure not only in the distribution of economic activity among the employment centers but also in their size distribution. Because less than 50 percent of metropolitan employment is within employment centers, future research should focus on understanding the more diffuse employment patterns. The rank‐size rule gives some guidance as to the expected size distribution of employment throughout the metropolitan area.

Operational Strategy, R&D and Intra-metropolitan Clustering in a Polycentric Structure: The Advanced Electronics Industries of the Los Angeles Basin

The multiple clustering of economic activities is one of the most distinctive characteristics of a polycentric metropolitan area. The relationship between intra-metropolitan location, research and development (R&D), operational strategy and production is analysed, to determine whether spatial clusters are more supportive of R&D than non-clustered locations. Two major operational strategies commonly utilised in advanced electronics production, outsourcing and the use of just-in-time (JIT) production methods, and their relationship with intra-metropolitan location and R&D intensity are considered, to determine their effects on spatially clustered and non-clustered establishments. The intra-metropolitan distribution of clusters in the Los Angeles basin, their potential industrial district effects, and the role of externalities are also evaluated, to determine the relationship between polycentricity and high-technology production. Extensive statistical analyses are then undertaken with establishment-level data for seven 4-digit advanced electronics sectors, in the telecommunications, electromedical and advanced computer equipment manufacturing groups in the Los Angeles basin. Comparative statistical analyses on a sample of Silicon Valley establishments are also performed, in order to place the Los Angeles basin's findings in perspective. The results of this research contradict some of the most common assumptions on the benefits of spatial industrial clustering, that have been diffused in the literature.