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Polycentric metropolitan areas in Europe towards a unified proposal of delimitation

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  • Rafael Boix Domenech
  • Paolo Veneri
  • Vincent Almenar
  • Francesc Hernández

Abstract

Metropolitan areas concentrate the main share of population, production and consumption in OECD countries. They are likely to be one of the most important units for economic, social and environmental analysis as well as for the development of policy strategies. However, one of the main problems that occur when adopting metropolitan areas as units of analysis and policy in European countries is the absence of widely accepted standards for identifying them. This severe problem hinders comparative research between European countries using metropolitan areas as units of analysis. In this text we defend the necessity of a methodology to identify metropolitan areas in Europe. This methodology should fulfil three requisites: first, to be useful for analysis and planning, which requires to represent in a realistic way economic, social and environmental phenomena; second, to be applicable to all the European countries; and third, to be flexible enough to deal with the existence of different administrative and territorial structures across countries as well as to take into account that many metropolitan areas, particularly the largest ones, are polycentric. The aim of this paper is to identify metropolitan areas in Spain and Italy using similar methodologies and to evaluate their application to other European countries. The results allow comparing the metropolitan realities of these countries as well as providing the metropolitan units that can be used in subsequent comparative researches. Two methodologies are proposed: the Cheshire-GEMACA methodology (FUR) and an iterative version of the USA-MSA algorithm, particularly adapted to deal with polycentric metropolitan areas. Both methods show a good approximation to the metropolitan reality and produce very similar results: 75 FUR and 67 DMA in Spain (75% of total population and employment), and 81 FUR and 86 DMA in Italy (70% of total population and employment).

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Boix Domenech & Paolo Veneri & Vincent Almenar & Francesc Hernández, 2011. "Polycentric metropolitan areas in Europe towards a unified proposal of delimitation," ERSA conference papers ersa11p515, European Regional Science Association.
  • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p515
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Freeman, Alan, 2005. "Towards a common standard: comparing European and American cities," MPRA Paper 18104, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Rafael Boix & Vittorio Galleto, 2005. "Sistemas Locales de Trabajo y Distritos Industriales Marshallianos en España," Working Papers wpdea0514, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
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    2. Hananel, Ravit & Azary-Viesel, Sagit & Nachmany, Harel, 2021. "Spatial gaps – Narrowing or widening? Changes in spatial dynamics in the new millennium," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Fernando Rubiera Morollón & Víctor M. González Marroquín & José L. Pérez Rivero, 2017. "Urban sprawl in Madrid?," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 205-214, July.
    4. Antonio TACHE & Monica TACHE, 2015. "Evaluation Of Functional Urban Areas In The North-East Region," Romanian Statistical Review Supplement, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 63(11), pages 33-50, November.
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    6. Miguel Gómez-Antonio & Miriam Hortas-Rico & Linna Li, 2016. "The Causes of Urban Sprawl in Spanish Urban Areas: A Spatial Approach," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 219-247, June.
    7. E. V. Antonov, 2021. "Labor Markets of Urban Agglomerations in Russia," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 187-198, April.

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