Building the Extensive City: Processes of Metropolisation in European
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Building the Extensive City: Processes of metropolisation in European second-tier urban regions Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL) This thesis is submitted in support of the Ph.D. degree 1 2 I, Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. London, 18 March 2016 Signature: 3 Abstract This research project investigates whether second-tier urban regions in Europe have functional, spatial, socio-economic and institutional characteristics which differentiate them in meaningful ways from primate urban regions. Based on the argument that second-tier urban regions can particularly profit from integration at that scale, it then explores whether the specific features detected may provide them with a greater ability to pursue that goal. The study fills two important gaps, as we do not know what differentiates second-tier urban regions regarding the aspects above, and in what ways those characteristics affect their integration processes. The research also helps to reveal a new and yet unexplored set of strategic options for second-tier cities, whose urgency is proportional to the extent to which they are neglected or hampered in their national urban systems. At a moment when cities have turned into large urban regions, size, functional mass and diversity and city-regional governance have been argued as major drivers of economic development, and the European economic and policy climate favours strategies that work more effectively with existing assets rather than adding new ones, integration is not only an ongoing territorial process but also a relevant strategic approach for second-tier urban regions. The research proposes an original interpretative lens to observe the integration of urban regions, namely the concept of metropolisation, a perspective which is not spatially selective and acknowledges different forms of urbanity, making a conceptual transition from a notion of cities dissolving into urban regions to one of urban regions consolidating into ‘extensive cities’. The appropriateness of this concept to read contemporary urbanisation modes may find a particularly fitting response in the spatial features of second-tier urban regions. The study applies a set of comparative research methods to European second-tier urban regions, gradually focusing on three main cases studies: Porto, Portugal, Bristol, UK and Antwerp, Belgium. 4 Contents List of Figures and Tables 11 Acknowledgements 14 Chapter One. Introduction 16 1.1 Second-tier cities rediscovered 16 1.2 A basic hypothesis: integration as an asset for urban regions 18 1.2.1 Integration is more important for second-tier urban regions 20 1.3 Research questions: the unexplored features of second-tier urban regions 22 1.4 Key concepts and underlying theory 29 1.4.1 The concept of ‘metropolisation’ as an interpretative lens 31 1.5 Introducing the study: contribution of the thesis 33 1.5.1 Research design: initial methodological considerations 33 1.6 Structure of the thesis 36 PART 1. DEFINING THE RESEARCH TERMS Chapter Two. Second-tier cities in Europe 42 2.1 What is a second-tier city? 43 2.1.1 The functional definition 44 2.1.2 The political-historical definition 45 2.1.3 Selecting definitions for this study: a critique 47 2.2 The present state of second-tier cities in research and policy 48 2.2.1 Research bias 48 2.2.2 Second-tier cities in the European urban system 51 2.2.3 Delimiting the political-historical definition 58 5 2.3 The examined life of second-tier cities: a literature review 60 2.3.1 Why should every city be different? 60 2.3.2 The specificity and limitations of city categories 63 2.3.3 Why are second-tier cities different? A survey of historical similarities 64 2.3.4 Trends of current second-tier city research 67 2.4 Conclusion: the unexplored features of second-tier cities 70 Chapter Three. The territories of extensive urbanisation 73 3.1 Framing and defining extensive urbanisation 74 3.1.1 Problems of definition 78 3.2 The distinctive features of extensive urbanisation 81 3.2.1 Ubiquity of centrality 81 3.2.2 Emerging imbalances within increasing territorial isotropy 84 3.2.3 Dispersion of population and built-up space 86 3.2.4 Governing unbounded and poorly defined urban regions 88 3.3 The perspective of metropolisation 91 3.3.1 Integration: exploring size, diversity and cooperation 91 3.3.2 Metropolisation as a specific interpretation of integration processes 93 3.3.3 From the ‘regionalisation of the city’ to the ‘citification of the region’ 96 3.3.4 Life in any point of the territory: metropolisation as a strategy 99 3.4 Conclusion: metropolisation and second-tier urban regions 100 3.4.1 Why is integration important for second-tier urban regions? 102 3.4.2 Metropolisation as a fitting lens to explore second-tier urban regions 103 6 Chapter Four. Research design and methodology 106 4.1 Framing the research questions 107 4.2 Emerging methodological options 114 4.2.1 Hierarchy and specificity in comparative urban research 114 4.2.2 Shaping the empirical research 118 4.2.3 Designing the operative sub-questions 122 4.3 Chapter-by-chapter methods and techniques 123 4.3.1 Chapter Six: analysing the presence and spread of urban functions 124 4.3.2 Chapter Seven: analysing different socio-economic configurations 127 4.3.3 Chapter Eight: analysing the historical emergence of urban regions 129 4.3.4 Chapter Nine: analysing the institutional conditions for integration 132 4.4 Conclusions 134 PART 2. ANALYSING THE SECOND-TIER URBAN REGION Chapter Five. Case Studies: Porto, Bristol, Antwerp 138 5.1 Process of selection 139 5.2 Three second-tier urban regions in overview 149 5.2.1 Porto, Bristol and Antwerp as second-tier cities 149 5.2.2 Second-tier city strategies 154 5.3 The prospects of metropolisation: preliminary arguments 159 5.3.1 Population distribution and institutional fragmentation 161 5.3.2 Size and functions in second-tier urban regions 164 5.4 Summary and conclusions 167 7 Chapter Six. The overall presence and spatial distribution of urban functions in primate and second-tier urban regions 169 6.1 The functional structure of primate and second-tier urban regions 171 6.1.1 Primate city bias 171 6.1.2 Functional spread and absorptive capacity 172 6.2 Research approach and results 177 6.2.1 The performance of primate and second-tier cities 179 6.2.2 The primate city bonus in different urban systems 181 6.2.3 The absorptive capacity of primate and second-tier cities 183 6.2.4 Agglomeration shadow versus borrowed size 185 6.3 Discussion and conclusions 188 Chapter Seven. Patterns of difference in the socio-economic configuration of primate and second-tier urban regions 193 7.1 Why an analysis of socio-economic configurations? 194 7.2 Research approach and findings 197 7.2.1 Conclusions of the INE report for Porto and Lisbon 200 7.2.2 Spatialising socio-economic configurations in London and Bristol 205 7.2.3 Spatialising socio-economic configurations in Brussels and Antwerp 209 7.3 What happens to other centres in primate and second-tier urban regions? 213 7.3.1 Dominance of a single category in capital urban region 216 7.3.2 Socio-economic diversity in second-tier urban regions 218 7.4 Summarising and questioning the geodemographic analysis 221 7.5 Conclusions 223 8 Chapter Eight. Comparing the emergence of second-tier urban regions in Europe: population patterns and urban change 1890-2011 227 8.1 The different routes towards the urban region 230 8.1.1 Looking for the traces of early urbanisation 231 8.2 Research approach and findings 232 8.2.1 The early seeds of the urban region 233 8.2.2 Mapping population density change 238 8.2.3 Population growth by geographical area 241 8.2.4 Proximity to the core and population change 243 8.3 Summary and interpretation 248 8.3.1 Research methods, policy priorities and the role of history 250 8.3.2 The explanation of proto-industrialisation 252 8.4 Conclusions 254 Chapter Nine. The metropolitan idea: inter-municipal collaboration and integration in second-tier urban regions 257 9.1 The different forms of integration in urban regions 259 9.1.1 Why look primarily at inter-municipal collaboration 260 9.2 Factors of inter-municipal collaboration 262 9.2.1 Barriers to collaboration in primate urban regions 263 9.2.2 Barriers to collaboration in polycentric urban regions 264 9.2.3 Situating second-tier urban regions: research approach 267 9.3 Background: institutional systems and inter-municipal collaboration 269 9.4 Municipal relations and shared identities in second-tier urban regions 273 9.4.1 Proximity of political cultures 273 9 9.4.2 Homogeneity and symmetry of relations 278 9.4.3 Core city leadership 281 9.4.4 The strength of the metropolitan idea 282 9.5 Summary and conclusions 287 PART 3. CONCLUDING REMARKS Chapter Ten. Building the extensive city? Conclusions 294 10.1 Answering the research questions 296 10.2 Contribution to literature 300 10.3 Implications of the research 308 10.4 Conclusion: a continuing research agenda 310 References 313 Appendix 1 337 10 List of figures and tables FIGURES 2.1 The different configurations of urban settlements in Western Europe 52 2.2 Metropolitan functions in European metropolitan areas 57 5.1 Total GDP in PPS in capitals vs.