IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v56y2019i16p3339-3357.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How sensitive are measures of polycentricity to the choice of ‘centres’? A methodological and empirical exploration

Author

Listed:
  • Weiyang Zhang

    (Center for Modern Chinese City Studies & The Future City Lab & School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, China; Ghent University, Belgium)

  • Ben Derudder

Abstract

In the literature dealing with measuring ‘urban polycentricity’, relatively little attention has been paid to the identification of what constitutes an ‘urban centre’. In this paper, we assess the sensitivity of polycentricity measures to one particular aspect of this identification: using the case of ‘polycentric urban regions’, we empirically examine the sensitivity of the ‘level’ of polycentricity to the number of cities included in the analysis. Using a two-mode firm–city data source, we do so by stepwise measuring the polycentricity of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as cities are added to the analysis. This measurement of ‘stepwise polycentricity’ is benchmarked against an ideal typical urban system with a rank-size distribution. The results suggest that the measure of polycentricity is indeed highly sensitive to the choice of the number of cities, so that the alleged level of polycentricity is contingent on the choice of a cut-off point. We propose that the analysis of the sensitivity of polycentricity can help researchers to (1) investigate the different role of cities in shaping polycentric structures of urban regions, and (2) better identify mono- or polycentric structures of urban regions. Analyses of trends in the ‘stepwise polycentricity’ of the YRD and seven other urban regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt serve to illustrate.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiyang Zhang & Ben Derudder, 2019. "How sensitive are measures of polycentricity to the choice of ‘centres’? A methodological and empirical exploration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(16), pages 3339-3357, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:16:p:3339-3357
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019843061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098019843061
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098019843061?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shuai Shi & Ronald Wall & Kathy Pain, 2019. "Exploring the significance of domestic investment for foreign direct investment in China: A city-network approach," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(12), pages 2447-2464, September.
    2. Lewis Dijkstra & Enrique Garcilazo & Philip McCann, 2013. "The Economic Performance of European Cities and City Regions: Myths and Realities," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 334-354, March.
    3. Evert J Meijers & Martijn J Burger, 2010. "Spatial Structure and Productivity in US Metropolitan Areas," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1383-1402, June.
    4. Bernard Fingleton (ed.), 2007. "New Directions in Economic Geography," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3818.
    5. Burger, M.J. & van Oort, F.G. & van der Knaap, G.A., 2008. "A Treatise on the Geographical Scale of Agglomeration Externalities and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-076-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    6. Michael Hoyler & Robert Kloosterman & Martin Sokol, 2008. "Polycentric Puzzles - Emerging Mega-City Regions Seen through the Lens of Advanced Producer Services," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(8), pages 1055-1064.
    7. Chen, Chia-Lin, 2012. "Reshaping Chinese space-economy through high-speed trains: opportunities and challenges," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 312-316.
    8. Martijn Burger & Evert Meijers, 2012. "Form Follows Function? Linking Morphological and Functional Polycentricity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(5), pages 1127-1149, April.
    9. Yi Li & Fulong Wu, 2018. "Understanding city-regionalism in China: regional cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(3), pages 313-324, March.
    10. Fujita, Masahisa & Krugman, Paul & Mori, Tomoya, 1999. "On the evolution of hierarchical urban systems1," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 209-251, February.
    11. Xingjian Liu & Ben Derudder & Kang Wu, 2016. "Measuring Polycentric Urban Development in China: An Intercity Transportation Network Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1302-1315, August.
    12. Heidi Hanssens & Ben Derudder & Stefan Van Aelst & Frank Witlox, 2014. "Assessing the Functional Polycentricity of the Mega-City-Region of Central Belgium Based on Advanced Producer Service Transaction Links," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1939-1953, December.
    13. J F McDonald & D P McMillen, 1990. "Employment Subcenters and Land Values in a Polycentric Urban Area: The Case of Chicago," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 22(12), pages 1561-1574, December.
    14. Evert Meijers, 2008. "Measuring Polycentricity and its Promises," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(9), pages 1313-1323, October.
    15. John Parr, 2004. "The Polycentric Urban Region: A Closer Inspection," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 231-240.
    16. Yingcheng Li & Nicholas Phelps, 2018. "Megalopolis unbound: Knowledge collaboration and functional polycentricity within and beyond the Yangtze River Delta Region in China, 2014," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(2), pages 443-460, February.
    17. Weiyang Zhang & Ben Derudder & Jianghao Wang & Wei Shen & Frank Witlox, 2016. "Using Location-Based Social Media to Chart the Patterns of People Moving between Cities: The Case of Weibo-Users in the Yangtze River Delta," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 91-111, July.
    18. Xu Zhang & Robert C. Kloosterman, 2016. "Connecting the 'Workshop of the World': Intra- and Extra-Service Networks of the Pearl River Delta City-Region," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(6), pages 1069-1081, June.
    19. Evert Meijers & Krister Sandberg, 2008. "Reducing Regional Disparities by Means of Polycentric Development: Panacea or Placebo?," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2008(Suppl. 2), pages 71-96.
    20. Antti Vasanen, 2013. "Spatial Integration and Functional Balance in Polycentric Urban Systems: A Multi-Scalar Approach," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 104(4), pages 410-425, September.
    21. John Dewhurst & Philip McCann, 2007. "Specialization and Regional Size," Chapters, in: Bernard Fingleton (ed.), New Directions in Economic Geography, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    22. Monica Brezzi & Paolo Veneri, 2015. "Assessing Polycentric Urban Systems in the OECD: Country, Regional and Metropolitan Perspectives," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 1128-1145, June.
    23. Nathalie Van Nuffel & Piet Saey & Ben Derudder & Lomme Devriendt & Frank Witlox, 2010. "Measuring hierarchical differentiation: connectivity and dominance in the European urban network," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 343-366, May.
    24. Simin Davoudi, 2003. "EUROPEAN BRIEFING: Polycentricity in European spatial planning: from an analytical tool to a normative agenda," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(8), pages 979-999, December.
    25. Burgalassi, David, 2010. "Defining and measuring polycentric regions: the case of Tuscany," MPRA Paper 25880, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    26. Bastiaan De Goei & Martijn Burger & Frank Van Oort & Michael Kitson, 2010. "Functional Polycentrism and Urban Network Development in the Greater South East, United Kingdom: Evidence from Commuting Patterns, 1981-2001," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1149-1170.
    27. C G Amrhein, 1995. "Searching for the Elusive Aggregation Effect: Evidence from Statistical Simulations," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(1), pages 105-119, January.
    28. Martijn J. Burger & Bert van der Knaap & Ronald S. Wall, 2014. "Polycentricity and the Multiplexity of Urban Networks," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 816-840, April.
    29. Ana Mar�a Fern�ndez-Maldonado & Arie Romein & Otto Verkoren & Renata Parente Paula Pessoa, 2014. "Polycentric Structures in Latin American Metropolitan Areas: Identifying Employment Sub-centres," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1954-1971, December.
    30. Alexandra Schaffar & Michel Dimou, 2012. "Rank-size City Dynamics in China and India, 1981--2004," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 707-721, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenzheng Li & Stephan Schmidt & Stefan Siedentop, 2024. "Can polycentric urban development simultaneously achieve both economic growth and regional equity? A multi-scale analysis of German regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 525-545, March.
    2. Wenzheng Li & Stephan Schmidt, 2024. "The spatial‐temporal evolution of urban development patterns in Chinese cities: Dynamics and interpretations," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), June.
    3. Shuaishuai Han & Changhong Miao, 2022. "Does a Polycentric Spatial Structure Help to Reduce Industry Emissions?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Dina Krasnoselskaya & Venera Timiryanova, 2022. "Do polycentric patterns influence the economic performance of municipalities? Empirical evidence from Russia," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 1201-1222, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stella Kostopoulou & Paraskevi-Kali Sofianou & Konstantinos Tsiokanos, 2021. "Silk Road Heritage Branding and Polycentric Tourism Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Yue, Wenze & Wang, Tianyu & Liu, Yong & Zhang, Qun & Ye, Xinyue, 2019. "Mismatch of morphological and functional polycentricity in Chinese cities: An evidence from land development and functional linkage," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Kyusang Kwon & Minho Seo, 2018. "Does the Polycentric Urban Region Contribute to Economic Performance? The Case of Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-10, November.
    4. Martijn Burger & Evert Meijers, 2012. "Form Follows Function? Linking Morphological and Functional Polycentricity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(5), pages 1127-1149, April.
    5. Angelika Münter & Kati Volgmann, 2021. "Polycentric regions: Proposals for a new typology and terminology," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 677-695, March.
    6. Feng, Yuhao & Wu, Shufan & Wu, Peixin & Su, Shiliang & Weng, Min & Bian, Meng, 2018. "Spatiotemporal characterization of megaregional poly-centrality: Evidence for new urban hypotheses and implications for polycentric policies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 712-731.
    7. Paolo Veneri & David Burgalassi, 2011. "Questioning Polycentric Development and its Effects. Issues of Definition and Measurement for the Italian NUTS-2 Regions," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 1017-1037, January.
    8. Peng Ji & Lilin Yuan, 2023. "Whether polycentric spatial structure is conducive to regional coordinated development: A study on urban agglomerations in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 940-961, December.
    9. Antti Vasanen, 2012. "Functional Polycentricity: Examining Metropolitan Spatial Structure through the Connectivity of Urban Sub-centres," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(16), pages 3627-3644, December.
    10. Antti Vasanen, 2013. "Spatial Integration and Functional Balance in Polycentric Urban Systems: A Multi-Scalar Approach," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 104(4), pages 410-425, September.
    11. Eric J. Heikkila & Ying Xu, 2022. "Polycentric Urbanization and Sustainable Development in China," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(S1), pages 69-78, April.
    12. David Burgalassi & Chiara Agnoletti & Leonardo Piccini, 2019. "Polycentricity and regional development: an analytical framework and some evidence from Italy," Discussion Papers 2019/249, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    13. Panagiotis NIKOLOPOULOS & Andreas GKOUZOS & Athanasios PAPADASKALOPOULOS, 2018. "Morphological Polycentricity In Southern Europe: Evidence At The National Level," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(4), pages 73-93, November.
    14. Shaodong Wang & Yanbin Liu & Wei Zhi & Xihua Wen & Weihua Zhou, 2020. "Discovering Urban Functional Polycentricity: A Traffic Flow-Embedded and Topic Modeling-Based Methodology Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    15. Lu, Yuhai & Gong, Mincheng & Lu, Linzhuo & Wang, Yaqin & Wang, Yang, 2024. "Urban polycentrism and total-factor energy efficiency: An analysis based on the night light data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    16. Andres Dominguez & Hernán Enríquez Sierra & Nicolás Cuervo Ballesteros, 2021. "Regional Spatial Structure and Land Use: Evidence from Bogotá and 17 Municipalities," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, August.
    17. Wan Li & Bindong Sun & Tinglin Zhang, 2019. "Spatial structure and labour productivity: Evidence from prefectures in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(8), pages 1516-1532, June.
    18. Hui Cheng & David Shaw, 2021. "POLYCENTRIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE FORMATION OF EDGE URBAN AREAS IN CHINA'S MEGA CITY REGIONS: Case Study of Nansha, Guangzhou," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 1009-1027, November.
    19. Haitao Ma & Yingcheng Li & Xiaodong Huang, 2021. "Proximity and the evolving knowledge polycentricity of megalopolitan science: Evidence from China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, 1990–2016," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2405-2423, September.
    20. Kim, Hyungkyoo & Lee, NaYeon & Kim, Seung-Nam, 2018. "Suburbia in evolution: Exploring polycentricity and suburban typologies in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 92-101.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:16:p:3339-3357. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.