Towards polycentric cities. An investigation into the restructuring of intra-metropolitan spatial configurations in Europe

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that contemporary geographies of economic activities within metropolitan areas in Europe are moving into polycentric configurations. Our contribution is based on results derived from an analysis of 7 metropolises that were brought together within the EU-funded research programme “COMET” (namely Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Strasbourg and Vienna). We first build on an enquiry of enterprises in these 7 cities, then document the nature and localisation of the multiple metropolitan (sub)centres by bringing together the expertise of scholars and institutional partners in each city – case study. The paper ends up with a discussion on the implications of contemporary intra-metropolitan reconfigurations for both urban researchers and policy-makers. Our results confirm the starting hypothesis, that is, far from a scenario of generalized dilution of the urban form, European metropolitan areas show the emergence of (diverse) configurations wherein urban functions are distributed among a series of (sub-)centres, with CBDs and inner-city districts no longer acting as sole location for key economic activities.