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Title: Shifting Fortunes of Neighbouring Cities

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: Polycentricity is often conceived to be the product of a long process of very extendeddecentralization from big central cities to adjacent smaller ones, old and new (Hall andPain, 2006: 3). Accordingly, polycentric spatial development (as a process) is usuallyidentified with a development towards a more balanced distribution of functions andactivities across regional space, and with the moderation of intra-regional urban hierarchies.However, the term polycentricity is also linked to the idea that formerly independent, butclose-by and welllinked cities start to fuse into larger metropolitan areas as their spheresof influence start to interfere. Classic products of this kind of polycentric spatialdevelopment can be found in Europe (e.g. the Randstad), but also in the U.S. such areashave been identified (e.g. SF bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Baltimore-Washington, Raleigh-Durham etc). While fusion-mode and decentralization-mode metropolitan areas aresubject to grossly similar overarching trends such as globalization and the postindustrializationand informationalization of the economy, these trends seem to producecontrasting patterns of spatial organization. The dominant trend in fusion-mode polycentricmetropolitan areas appears to be towards the creation of new leading cities and astrengthening rather than a moderation of intra-regional hierarchies. In this paper, weexplore this trend for fusion-mode polycentric metropolitan areas in the U.S., therebyemploying occupational data, and seek to explain the emerging new intra-regionalhierarchies found.

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Authors: Meijers, Evert; Lambregts, Bart

Conference Name: the North American Regional Science Council Annual Meeting

Publisher Location: San Francisco, CA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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