A Strategic Knowledge and Research on Polycentric Metropolitan Areas Source: Shutterstock 63084790

A Strategic Knowledge and Research Agenda on Polycentrism Contents

1 Introduction 15

1.1 From City to Polycentric Metropolitan Area 15 1.2 The Polycentric Metropolitan Area: towards a definition 16 1.3 Polycentric metropolitan areas: a widespread phenomenon 18 1.4 The need for a Practice Led Research Agenda 21 1.5 Methodology to develop the agenda 23 1.6 Structure of the Research Agenda 23

2 Polycentric metropolitan areas: key concept in regional development policy 25

2.1 European policy context 25 2.2 National and regional policy context 27 2.3 Challenges from the EU and national perspective 28

3 Polycentric metropolitan areas: scientific state of the art 31

European Metropolitan network Institute 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Applied European research projects on Polycentric Development 31 Laan van N.O. Indië 300 3.3 State of the art in research on polycentric metropolitan areas 33 2593 CE 3.4 Challenges identified by researchers 40 Postbus 90750 2509 LT The Hague 4 Polycentric metropolitan areas in Europe in practice: viewpoints of urban professionals 45 Phone +31(0)70 344 09 66 Fax +31(0)70 344 09 67 4.1 Introduction 45 Email [email protected] 4.2 Selection of cities, respondents and response 45 Website www.emi-network.eu 4.3 Results 46 4.4 Conclusion: challenges for urban practitioners 54 Authors: Dr. Evert Meijers (programme manager) 5 Introduction to the case studies 55 Koen Hollander, MSc Marloes Hoogerbrugge, MSc 5.1 Cases 55 5.2 Selection criteria 55 5.3 Structure of the case studies 55 The responsibility for the contents of this report lies with European Metropolitan 6 Linköping-Norrköping 57 network Institute. Quoting numbers or text in papers, essays and books is permitted 6.1 Introduction to the region 57 only when the source is clearly mentioned. 6.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 60 No part of this publication may be copied 6.3 State of integration 61 and/or published in any form or by any 6.4 SWOT analysis 64 means, or stored in a retrieval system, 6.5 Conclusions 65 without the prior written permission of EMI.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 4 5 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 7 Metropolitan Area 67 12 Synthesis case studies 139

7.1 Introduction to the region 67 12.1 Metropolitan development strategies 139 7.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 71 12.2 Spatial-functional integration 139 7.3 State of integration 72 12.3 Cultural dimension 140 7.4 SWOT analysis 76 12.4 Institutional dimension 141 7.5 Conclusions 77 12.5 Challenges and questions addressed by urban practitioners 142

8 Metropolitan Area 79 13 Knowledge & Research Agenda 145

8.1 Introduction to the region 79 13.1 ‘Metropolisation’ 145 8.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 81 13.2 A research agenda on polycentric metropolitan areas 147 8.3 State of integration 85 13.3 Conclusion 149 8.4 SWOT analysis 91 8.5 Conclusions 92 14 References 151

9 Tri-City Region (Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot) 95 Annex 1: List of interviewees case studies 157 9.1 Introduction to the region 95 9.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 96 9.3 State of integration 100 9.4 SWOT analysis 105 Annex 2: Respondents questionnaire 161 9.5 Conclusions 106

10 Case study Mitteldeutschland 107

10.1 Introduction to the region 107 10.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 109 10.3 State of integration 113 10.4 SWOT analysis 119 10.5 Conclusions 120

11 – The Hague Metropolitan Area 121

11.1 Introduction to the region 121 11.2 Strategies for regional cooperation and integration 123 11.3 State of integration 127 11.4 SWOT analysis 135 11.5 Conclusions 136

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 6 7 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Management Summary

Polycentric metropolitan areas – lieved to be helpful in avoiding typical costs Polycentric metropolitan areas are collec- of agglomeration such as congestion, crime tions of historically distinct and both admin- and socio-economic disparities. istratively and politically independent cities located in close proximity and well-connect- Research challenge – However, research ed through infrastructure. They have poten- is not conclusive as regards these assumed tial for further integration, which would al- potentialities. Many theories and methods in low reaping the benefits of agglomeration in scientific research have been developed with a network of cities. The coalescing of cities the increasingly obsolete image of ‘the sin- into regional metropolitan entities results gle city surrounded by a rural hinterland’ in from either a process of ‘incorporation’, mind. These theories and methods do not when dominant cities extend their sphere of acknowledge the fact that metropolitan ar- influence over ever larger territories, there- eas nowadays are often formed by collec- by incorporating once independent smaller tions of such once independent, but now cities, or, it results from the ‘fusion’ of close- increasingly interwoven cities. This implies ly located cities as a result of the continuing that studying polycentric metropolitan areas spatial scaling up of the behaviour of people requires the development of new theories and firms. and perspectives. Over the last one and a half decade, when research into polycentric An increasingly dominant urban form metropolitan areas started to expand, much – Using conservative standards, the number of the attention of researchers has been of people living in polycentric metropolitan devoted to conceptual and agenda-setting areas in Europe amounts to 166,6 million. issues. It is time to move on towards a more This is 48,5% of the total urban population critical examination of their performance in in Europe. At a more fine-grained spatial order to arrive at empirically justified devel- scale, many more such polycentric metro- opment strategies for polycentric metropoli- politan areas are identifiable, resulting in tan areas. polycentric metropolitan areas becoming the dominant urban form in Europe. Objective EMI’s Knowledge and Research Agenda – So far, important Policy challenge – Over the past decade, knowledge questions as regards the pro- polycentric metropolitan areas have become cesses at play in polycentric metropolitan an increasingly widespread but relatively areas and how these affect metropolitan new policy issue at the European, national performance remain largely unanswered. and regional levels. There are high expecta- EMI’s knowledge and research agenda on tions when it comes to integrated develop- ‘Polycentric Metropolitan Areas’ presents the ment of polycentric metropolitan areas. For challenges derived from the transition example, it is often assumed that the cities from single, monocentric cities to polycentric constituting such polycentric metropolitan metropolitan areas and the knowledge areas are more competitive because they needs that emerge from these challenges. gain political and economic mass. At the Confrontation of these needs with the cur- same time, a polycentric structure is be- rent scientific state of the art resulted in a

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 8 9 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe research agenda that will help make stakeholders representing government, Figure I Themes that cities want to have addressed by research to help European cities and their metropolitan areas firms and universities. them guide and improve future metropolitan development more competitive and sustainable, and will enhance the well-being of their citizens and Results roundtable and review scientific the productivity of their firms. Leading prin- literature – The roundtable and review of ciple in defining this knowledge and research the scientific literature have made clear that agenda has been ‘research based, practice in the upcoming years much progress can led’. be made if efforts concentrate on (1) sub- stantiating the many claims made about Methodology – EMI’s Knowledge and polycentricity, (2) analysing metropolitan Research Agenda on Polycentric governance, (3) empirically exploring dy- Metropolitan Areas is based on extensive namics in the functional geography of input of both urban practitioners and aca- polycentric metropolitan areas, and (4) get- demic researchers. This data and informa- ting a better understanding of the institu- tion was organized by means of a variety of tionalisation of such regions and how people methods. We analysed the position of identify with these. It will be crucial for re- polycentric metropolitan areas in contem- searchers to be able to visualize the positive porary policy strategies across Europe and and negative effects of further integration studied the scientific literature on polycen- between cities in polycentric metropolitan tric metropolitan areas. A roundtable with areas, and how these can have different prominent key experts (Prof. Wim impacts on individual cities. Scientific pro- Hafkamp; Prof. Sir Peter Hall; Mr. Jaap gress can only be made if and when the Modder; Prof. Hugo Priemus; Prof. many theories, concepts, models and meth- polycentric metropolitan areas all across cities in polycentric metropolitan areas are Catherine Ross; Prof. Alain Thierstein) was ods, once developed with the in some re- Europe. integrated is very much dependent on the organized during the annual conference of spects outdated image of the monocentric (time) distance between the cities, as well the Regional Studies Association. We ac- city in mind, are reframed and linked to the Case studies: unity in variety – The six as their sizes. Main drivers behind functional quired a broad overview of the ideas of ur- new spatial reality of polycentric metropoli- case studies represent the great variety in integration are infrastructure/transit sys- ban professionals about polycentric metro- tan areas. approaches towards (integration within) tems and complementarity. Good infrastruc- politan areas in general, their level of inte- polycentric metropolitan areas. In some of tural and transport networks between cities gration, and the knowledge questions they Results questionnaire – The response our cases, attention was predominantly fo- are an essential precondition to achieve the have, by conducting a questionnaire among rate to our questionnaire was substantial: cused on exploiting internal potentialities benefits of a large city in a network of small- the 100 largest Functional Urban Areas in 43%. Respondents stated that polycentric through enhanced integration, while others er cities. Complementarity, to be understood Europe. This was complemented by a more development and integration between cities were first of all seeking to exploit external as mutually beneficial specialisations of cit- focused and detailed series of case studies are important issues that should be ex- opportunities, e.g. achieve additional fund- ies in polycentric metropolitan areas, limits (by means of on-site visits): Linköping- plored and analysed more in-depth within ing, or a better marketing of the region. We potentially wasteful competition, fosters Norrköping (SE), Porto metropolitan area the coming years. Results dispute the as- found considerable differences in functional, integration and eases cooperation. (PT), Tri-City Region (Gdańsk-Gdynia- sumption that functional, cultural or institu- cultural and institutional integration between Sopot) (PL), Milan metropolitan area (IT), tional/political contexts of these metropoli- ‘incorporation-type’ and ‘fusion-type’ Case studies: Cultural integration – Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland including tan areas are similar. With some minor ex- polycentric metropolitan areas. Many inhabitants of polycentric metropolitan , and (DE) and the ceptions, however, these differences are areas cognitively consider themselves part Metropoolregio Rotterdam–The Hague (NL). not related to the location of metropolitan Case studies: Functional integration of such a wider metropolitan area, while at For each case study, we interviewed 10-20 areas. Challenges are largely similar in – As could be expected, the extent to which the same time they feel much more

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 10 11 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe ­attached to their own city. It appears that affects local performance on the long run as Figure II The process of metropolisation strong local identities do not hamper region- well, it is hard to overcome this gap. al co-operation as much as political leaders in our case study regions sometimes appear The challenge & solution: the process of to think. ‘Symbols’ fostering identity are ‘metropolisation’ – The way to truly gain often still local rather than regional symbols. political and economic power and visibility for cities in polycentric metropolitan areas is to Case studies: Institutional integration enter the upward spiral of metropolisation, – In attempting to achieve coherent metro- move up in this spiral through fostering func- politan development strategies a number of tional, cultural and institutional integration, contextual issues were found to be impor- and hence allowing to reap the benefits of tant. One of these issues is the relation with agglomeration by jointly borrowing size from the overarching regional government(s). It each other. There is much to gain from a is far from self-evident that the agendas of process of metropolisation in polycentric region and cities are made to be similar, but metropolitan areas. Meta-analysis research if these levels were to create a complemen- has shown that a city double the size of an- tary/joint agenda it would make a consider- other one is, on average, 5,8% more produc- able difference to the coherence. The bal- tive. The reason for such agglomeration ance in importance of the different munici- economies are well-defined: larger cities al- A knowledge and research agenda on have polycentric metropolitan areas moved palities in the polycentric metropolitan area low for a larger and more multi-functional polycentric metropolitan areas and me- upwards in this spiral, what have they was found to be another important issue. labour pool, the presence of better infrastruc- tropolisation – The process of metropolisa- gained, and perhaps lost, and what is left to The large interdependencies should prevent ture and public and private facilities and tion provides the basis for a challenging be gained? What are the negative effects of the larger central city (cities) from taking a amenities. They are also more likely to ac- knowledge and research agenda. Through metropolisation, or how can the costs of too dominant or self-interested role, while commodate knowledge generating institu- all the methods that were applied, EMI iden- agglomeration be kept limited in polycentric other local jurisdictions need to be better tions, have greater innovation potential, and tified critical gaps in our knowledge. metropolitan areas? aware of how their performance also de- their diversity makes them resilient. If, for Knowledge that is deemed essential by ur- In addition, research should focus also on pends on the central cities faring well and instance, Rotterdam and The Hague, agglom- ban practitioners and researchers alike. A the individual elements of this process of the policy agendas that lead to such a good erations with both about 1 million inhabit- detailed knowledge and research agenda is metropolisation. This includes the spatial- performance. Institutional co-operation is ants, would fully integrate and subsequently presented in chapter 13. functional dynamics in polycentric metropoli- also highly dependent on political leadership enjoy the benefits of being a city of 2 million tan areas, such as how the roles and func- and a culture of co-operation, which takes inhabitants, expressed in a 5.8% increase in The process of metropolisation provides tions of cities change in a process of integra- time to build. There also is a danger of productivity, this would mean that the poten- the overarching framework for EMI’s knowl- tion. Also, the cultural side to metropolisa- ‘over-institutionalisation’, if and when met- tial gain of metropolisation would amount to edge and research agenda. How exactly is tion is important and under-researched. ropolitan cooperation and coordination starts 4.5 billion euro. Yearly, that is. As these cities metropolisation linked to performance in How do people and firms identify, or perhaps to become a goal in itself, rather than an are already integrated to a certain degree, polycentric metropolitan areas? How can even feel attachment to different territorial instrument. Another complicating factor is and hence, also borrow size from each other, cities enter, and move upward in the spiral units, and does it, for instance, affect their the democratic ‘gap’: local representatives the gain would be somewhat less. But the of metropolisation? Which factors foster or spatial behaviour? Then there is the institu- needing to think regionally, while being message is clear: metropolisation is a highly hinder moving upwards in this spiral, and tional dimension, which is about finding ef- elected to safeguard the local interests. urgent and beneficial strategy. how exactly are functional, cultural and in- fective and efficient ways to arrive at a (to Without hard research evidence on how de- stitutional integration related? How can cit- be defined, and context-dependent) optimal cisions taken for ‘the regional good’ trickle ies ‘borrow’ size from each other in order to level of regional coordination and coopera- down locally, and how regional performance exploit their joint critical mass? How far tion. The development of instruments that

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 12 13 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 1 Introduction

allow for trade-offs to balance the ‘regional search agenda. The aim is to create a strict- 1.1 From City to Polycentric (Roberts et al., 1999; Hall, 2001). It is wide- good’ and local interests will be particularly ly ‘research-based, practice-led’ research Metropolitan Area ly acknowledged nowadays that all post- crucial. programme for, of and by cities, which is industrial cities are in fact polycentric (Hall, firmly rooted in a solutions-oriented ap- From the 19th century onwards, the classic 1997). Invitation – EMI is strongly convinced that proach. EMI invites all interested cities, ur- monocentric model of cities started to connecting academic researchers with urban ban professionals, umbrella organisations change slowly. Cities grew massively due to Yet, this process does not stop with the practitioners will create significant added and academic institutes to take part in this industrialisation processes. Suburbanisation emergence of polycentric cities. Spatial dy- value for both worlds. EMI aims to form coa- programme. started late in the 19th century, and was namics continue to scale up, which means litions of urban practitioners and researchers accelerated by rising income levels, which, that we are now entering a new phase of to further address this knowledge and re- combined with the invention of, and increas- urbanisation, in which sets of in itself ing affordability of the automobile and other polycentric cities start to coalesce into transportation systems and the large scale polycentric metropolitan areas. Once rather construction of road infrastructure, allowed distinct and relatively independent cities are to live in less dense places, where housing increasingly linked together. Hence, tradi- affordability was higher, and typical agglom- tional interpretations of the ‘city’ as being a eration disadvantages as congestion, crime single urban core surrounded by a rural hin- etc. were less present. During the 20th cen- terland are rapidly giving way to more re- tury, these processes gained ever more mo- gionalized interpretations of urbanity. What mentum. Suburban centres developed next is urban nowadays spreads out over a vast to central business districts, while suburban territory encompassing many urban and satellites developed next to the city. Hence, suburban communities that once were rela- the polycentric city emerged, with a more tively distinct entities but that are now in- spatially specialised metropolitan layout in- creasingly linked together by infrastructures corporating many different types of centres and flows extending over an increasingly

Figure 1 The evolution of polycentric metropolitan areas.

Source: based on Champion, 2001; adopted from Lambregts, 2009

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 14 15 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe wide metropolitan territory. This apparent 1.2 The Polycentric Metropolitan around one or more central cities, and drawing mode. A clear example of the incorporation coalescing of cities into regional urbanized Area: towards a definition enormous economic strength from a new func- mode is for instance , that exerts its entities is linked to the transition from an tional division of labour.’ Florida et al. influence over the Greater South East of the industrial to a post-industrial era and as Polycentricity is a concept that means differ- (2008:459) simply refer to ‘integrated sets of United Kingdom (Allen, 1992; Coe and such, can be considered the way changes in ent things to different people and tends to cities and their surrounding suburban hinter- Townsend, 1998), thereby incorporating economic, political-institutional and techno- be interpreted differently on different spatial lands across which labour and capital can be smaller, distinct cities such as Reading or logical processes, most notably globalisa- scales (Davoudi, 2003). Lambregts (2009) reallocated at very low cost’. Kloosterman and Cambridge. Similar processes occur around tion, in our society manifest themselves makes a useful distinction between three Lambregts (2001) refer to polycentric metro- Paris and Madrid to name but a few exam- spatially (Scott, 1998; Scott et al., 2001; related but yet distinct approaches to politan areas as collections of historically dis- ples. A clear example of ‘fusion mode Phelps and Ozawa, 2003; Kloosterman and polycentricity. The first sees polycentric de- tinct and both administratively and politically polycentric metropolitan areas’ are regions Lambregts, 2007). velopment as a normative planning strat- independent cities located in close proximity such as the in the Netherlands, or egy applied at national and particularly and well connected through infrastructure. the central Belgian urban network that is That we are living in ‘a regional world’, as transnational scales (see for instance Here, we adopt this last definition, which dif- often labelled the ‘Flemish Diamond’ Storper (1997) has put it, is reflected in the Albrechts, 1998; Davoudi, 2003; Shaw and fers from the others in that it allows to include (Albrechts, 1998), where independent cities many recent concepts that consider the city Sykes, 2004; Waterhout et al., 2005). The areas which have potential for further (func- have coalesced to form metropolitan re- a regional phenomenon, including ‘net- second considers polycentric development tional) integration (as infrastructure is pre- gions. While both the incorporation mode worked cities’ (Batten, 1995), ‘the Regional as a spatial process, resulting from the sent), which implies that strong (functional) and the fusion mode result in polycentric City’ (Calthorpe and Fulton, 2001), ‘Global outward diffusion of (often higher-order) ties do not have to be present yet. This is in metropolitan areas, there is a major differ- City Regions’ (Scott, 2001a), ‘polycentric urban functions from major centres to near- line with the current state of play in Europe: ence between the two in terms of hierarchy. urban regions’ (Kloosterman and Musterd, by centres (Kloosterman and Musterd, there are many clusters of close-by cities in The fusion mode takes place in more bal- 2001), ‘megalopolitan areas’ (Lang and 2001; Hall and Pain, 2006). A third ap- which there is strong potential for improved anced regions, whereas the incorporation Dhavale, 2005), ‘polycentric mega-city-re- proach considers the spatial outcome of performance, but that may not have material- mode is present in regions dominated by a gions’ (Hall and Pain, 2006), the ‘polycentric this process, and in the literature we find a ized yet due to a variety of barriers that need single larger city-region. In terms of spatial metropolis’ (Lambregts, 2009), or simply plethora of concepts describing the resulting to be overcome. organisation, as well as performance, there ‘mega-regions’ (Regional Plan Association, spatial configuration of contemporary urban Despite this definition stressing the common may be important differences between both 2006; Florida et al., 2008; Ross, 2009) to areas (see previous section). Although the characteristics as polycentricity and the po- types of polycentric regions (Hall and Pain, name some of the most well-known. All labels of these concepts nearly all contain tential for strong linkages between centres, 2006; Meijers and Burger, 2010). these concepts stress two important charac- the word ‘polycentric’ in various connections it is also necessary to distinguish two differ- teristics of such metropolitan areas: to such territorial concepts as ‘city’, ‘urban ent types of polycentric metropolitan areas. Figure 1 also is useful to stress what we do polycentricity and strong linkages be- region’, ‘mega-city-region’, ‘metropolitan The difference between them lies in the evo- not mean when we talk about polycentric tween these centres. area’, and ‘global city region’, in practice we lution of their spatial structure and the de- metropolitan areas, which is important to find greatly diverging interpretations of what gree to what extent a dominant city is pre- avoid any confusion. Just to make sure: we Such an important spatial transformation makes such territories polycentric, as well as sent. Figure 1 gives an overview of both the do not mean ‘polycentric city’ (phase 2), in comes coupled with ‘extraordinary per- diverging approaches to measuring polycen- evolution and the outcome of polycentric which the centres are pockets of employ- plexing challenges to researchers and tricity. Here, we interpret polycentricity as development as a process of spatial trans- ment density within cities or surrounding policy-makers alike’ (Scott, 2001b: 813). the spatial outcome of the scaled-up spatial formation. satellite towns. Rather, centres in polycentric The European Metropolitan network Institute tendencies rather than as a normative plan- metropolitan areas (phase 3) are constituted takes up this challenge, by providing this ning concept. Polycentric metropolitan areas may take the by individual cities, which on a lower spatial knowledge and research agenda that will form of dominant cities extending their scale exhibit all the features of a polycentric advance science with the aim to provide It is common to define polycentric metropoli- sphere of influence over ever larger territo- city.1 European cities and regions with the best tan areas on the basis of their key characteris- ries, thereby incorporating once distinct Finally, the literature makes a distinction knowledge to enable them to cope with the tics. For instance, Hall and Pain (2006:3) de- smaller cities – the incorporation mode -, between morphological and functional challenges posed by this transformation to fine it as ‘a new form: a series of anything or the fusion of several such polycentric cit- polycentric metropolitan areas. between 10 and 50 cities and towns, physically ies in a (at least morphologically) more bal- 1 Especially in the US, the first association of separate but functionally networked, clustered anced settlement system – the fusion polycentricity tends to be ‘polycentric cities’.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 16 17 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe polycentricity (e.g. Green, 2007; Burger and The morphological and functional dimen- Table 1 Polycentric metropolitan areas according to BBSR study Meijers, 2012). This refers to the question sions connect well to the definition of Number of clusters of Names of the metropolitan areas whether polycentricity is about the morpho- Kloosterman and Lambregts (2001) adopted metropolitan functions within logical aspects of the urban system or at the previous page. This definition forms metropolitan area whether it should also incorporate relational the starting point for our understanding of aspects between the centres making up the the concept of polycentric metropolitan ar- 7 clusters Randstad Holland urban system in question. The morphologi- eas, and also includes metropolitan areas 5 clusters Brussels, London, Paris, Rhine-Ruhr, cal dimension, referred to as morphological without (strong) functional ties: 4 clusters Øresund (Copenhagen-Malmo) polycentricity, basically addresses the size and territorial distribution of the urban cen- 3 clusters Helsinki, Maas-Rhine, Manchester-Liverpool, Moscow, Rhine-Main, tres across the territory, and equates more 1.3 Polycentric metropolitan Rhine-Neckar, , Vienna-Bratislava and Zurich balanced distributions with polycentricity areas: a widespread 2 clusters Athens, Barcelona, Basel, , Cardiff-, Gent, Istanbul, (see e.g. Kloosterman and Lambregts, phenomenon Leeds, Luxembourg, Milan, , Newcastle, Oslo, Oxford, Rome 2001; Parr, 2004; Meijers and Burger, and Venice-Padua 2010). The relational dimension, referred to How widespread is the phenomenon of Source: BBSR – Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (2011) as functional polycentricity, takes the func- polycentric metropolitan areas? Some recent tional connections between the settlements research projects may give us some first into account, and considers a balanced, clues. A very interesting study is the study proximately 166,6 million. This is 48.5% potential of further integration of cities with multi-directional set of relations to be more on ‘Metropolitan Areas in Europe’ conducted of the total metropolitan population in their neighbouring cities. They compared na- polycentric (ESPON 1.1.1, 2004; Green, by the Federal Institute for Research on Europe that lives in metropolitan areas. tionally defined functional urban areas (FUAs; 2007; De Goei et al., 2010; Burger and Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Yet, it can be assumed that in practice in general: daily urban systems centred on Meijers, 2012). Such functional relationships Development (BBSR; 2011), in which peaks this number is even substantially higher one urban core) with the number of people take the shape of inter-firm relationships of metropolitan functions are identified irre- when we would look at a more fine- that can be reached from the centre of the (input-output), and concerns flows of peo- spective of, and not departing from a given, grained spatial scale. For instance FUA within a 45 minute isochrones drive by ple, capital, knowledge, goods etc. Again, as pre-defined classification of metropolitan Birmingham (generally considered to be car (which they label ‘PUSH’ area: Potential our starting point is the morphology of the areas. Instead, these are defined on the part of the very polycentric West mid- Urban Strategic Horizon). Obviously, if the urban system (see our definition), and not basis of the substantial presence of such lands conurbation), Lille (part of Lillé PUSH area is much larger than the FUA area, whether there are strong functional ties be- metropolitan functions in the field of politics, Metropole including also Tourcoing and then there is a lot to be gained (in terms of tween the cities already (as we do not want economy, science, transport and culture. In Roubaix) and Eindhoven (part of polycen- critical mass, e.g. an enlarged labour market to exclude those metropolitan areas), we the study, 94 metropolitan areas are consid- tric Brabantstad) are generally considered and more support for metropolitan functions) adhere here to the morphological view. ered monocentric, and 31 are considered to be polycentric metropolitan areas, just from further integration. In Figure 2 such polycentric, the Dutch Randstad being per- like Leipzig and Porto which are present- areas that would benefit strongly from further haps most polycentric with 7 main cores of ed in this knowledge and research agenda integration are coloured yellow/orange/red. metropolitan functions in it. Table 1 sums up as case studies. In reality, we may safely In particular the red ones gain enormous Polycentric metropolitan areas as collec- these 31 polycentric metropolitan areas: assume that the number of people liv- weight when strengthening their relationships tions of historically distinct and both ad- Even though the absolute number of ing in polycentric metropolitan areas with their neighbours. Green-coloured FUAs ministratively and politically independent polycentric metropolitan areas according far exceeds the number of people liv- indicate that there is not much to be gained cities located in close proximity and well to this study is smaller than the number ing in cities with a single metropoli- from the surrounding areas. However, as can connected through infrastructure, which of metropolitan areas with one dominant tan core. be seen in Figure 2, there is much to be have the potential for (further) functional location of metropolitan functions, the gained for the vast majority of FUAs in integration. number of people living in these polycen- The ESPON 1.1.1 project (Nordregio et al., Europe, perhaps more for the medium-sized tric metropolitan areas amounts to ap- 2005) tried to get an understanding of the rather than the largest cities.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 18 19 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 2 Comparison of population figures for nationally defined FUAs and PUSH areas according to Figure 3 Detail of a map depicting polycentric Figure 3 presents results from a follow-up 45 minute isochrones. metropolitan areas. ESPON project, ESPON 1.4.3 (IGEAT et al., 2007), in which a number of ‘poly-FUAs’ (polycentric Functional Urban Areas) were identified. It is based on data from 2002, and they have been identified on the basis of the distance separation between cities, using a 60km threshold for cities of more than 500.000 inhabitants and 30 km for smaller cities, as well as the fact that their labour basins touch each other (see IGEAT- ULB et al., 2007, p.19).

Note that these rules prevent smaller polycentric metropolitan areas to be identi- fied (which do not meet these size thresh- olds), so in practice, Europe contains many more polycentric metropolitan areas. In ad- dition to poly-FUAs, the map also includes what is called ‘super-poly-FUAs, which are combinations of poly-FUAs.

What these ESPON projects show, is the enormous potential gain in critical mass, and hence in agglomeration benefits, that can be achieved through stronger inte- gration in the many polycentric metropolitan areas across Europe.

1.4 The need for a practice led research agenda

EMI’s knowledge and research agenda on ‘Polycentric Metropolitan Areas’ addresses the main economic, environmental, social, institutional and governmental challenges related to the transition of cities towards becoming part and parcel of larger polycen- tric metropolitan areas. The objective is to strengthen European metropolitan regions by means of integrated, coordinated and overarching knowledge. Leading principle in defining this knowledge and research agen- Source: Nordregio et alia (2004), ESPON 1.1.1 Source: IGEAT et alia. (2007), ESPON 1.4.3

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 20 21 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe da is research based, practice led, which is This agenda presents the main challenges 1.5 Methodology to develop the 1.6 Structure of the Research essential to bridge the gap between urban deriving from the transition from monocen- agenda Agenda knowledge and urban practice. tric cities to polycentric metropolitan areas All across Europe numerous benchmark ac- and the knowledge needs of cities that come This knowledge and research agenda has Having introduced the theme of polycentric tivities take place and “best practices” are coupled with these challenges. But there is been informed by the extensive input of metropolitan areas and the objectives of this shared between cities. And for good rea- more. Being part of a polycentric metropoli- both urban practitioners and academic re- Knowledge and Research Agenda in this sons. Rather than reinventing the wheel tan area also offers new potentialities for searchers across Europe. This input was chapter, chapter 2 will discuss the position again and again, it makes sense for cities to cities to become more competitive for a organized through different methods. First, of polycentric metropolitan areas in key poli- learn from experiences in other cities. Many number of reasons: since polycentric metropolitan areas feature cy documents. Here we distinguish between urban policies are based upon these evalua- – It allows metropolitan areas to better often in regional development policies, we European-level policies and national and tions of experiences in other cities. However, exploit their critical mass in order to analysed its position in contemporary policy regional policies. The third chapter presents the transfer of policies from one place into provide more benefits of agglomeration strategies across Europe. This gives insight the scientific state of the art on polycentric another specific urban setting call for pru- to their citizens and firms, such as in the policy context of European polycentric metropolitan areas. In chapter four, we pre- dence, as different circumstances may imply more/better services, amenities metropolitan areas. sent the viewpoints of urban professionals that what works in one place is not neces- and an attractive living and working on polycentric metropolitan areas as gath- sarily effective in another place. Yet, this environment; In a second phase, we analysed the scien- ered through our questionnaire. Chapter five widespread practice of policy transfer under- – It provides possibilities to avoid internal tific literature on polycentric metropolitan presents the six case studies that were con- lines the fact that European cities are often competition and foster innovation areas, thereby particularly focusing on the ducted. A central element in these case facing similar and common challenges and efficiency in order to become knowledge agenda as put forward by re- studies is the question to what extent inte- and calls for a more integrated approach economically more competitive; searchers. In addition, during the Regional gration between the cities constituting these towards addressing them. – It can help to reduce negative Studies Association annual European confer- metropolitan areas has progressed, and how externalities that come with more ence in , the Netherlands in May 2012, this is fostered or hampered. All these chap- Even though local, regional, or national in- interwoven spatial dynamics, such as we organized a roundtable in which key aca- ters culminate into the final chapter, which stitutional contexts may differ, the basic increased traffic flows and contradictive demics in the field participated and gave us is the de-facto Knowledge and Research challenge posed by the transformation from land claims. our view on several key issues surrounding Agenda. city to polycentric metropolitan area remains the concept of polycentric metropolitan ar- the same across countries. The basic ques- Although these potentialities are often stat- eas. tions and principles are similar. ed in policy documents, there is not yet At the same time researchers and knowl- enough insight in the ways in which, and After this stage, we organized the input edge institutions have insight into processes under what conditions, these potentialities from cities, or urban professionals, in two shaping European cities and ways to im- may materialize in practice. EMI’s knowl- ways. First, we acquired a broad overview of prove their performance, but often fail to edge and research agenda on ‘Polycentric their ideas about polycentric metropolitan get this across to urban practitioners and Metropolitan Areas’ addresses exactly these areas in general, the knowledge questions policy makers. This shows a potential for questions: What knowledge do cities and they have, and the level of integration of solid research and improvement of the link metropolitan areas need in order to face the their city with neighbouring cities by con- between knowledge and urban policy in main economic, environmental, social, insti- ducting a questionnaire among the 100 larg- Europe. We are convinced that by connect- tutional and governmental challenges of the est Functional Urban Areas in Europe. This ing academic researchers with urban practi- transition of cities towards becoming part broad overview was complemented with a tioners it is possible to create a significant and parcel of larger polycentric metropolitan more focused and detailed series of on-site added-value for both worlds. areas, and how can they reap the potential case studies, conducted in six different benefits of this transition? European polycentric metropolitan areas.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 22 23 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 2 Polycentric metropolitan areas: key concept in regional development policy

Polycentric metropolitan areas took centre ing the spatial balance within Europe. stage in many regional development policies On a smaller spatial scale, polycentric devel- in Europe over the past 15 years. In particu- opment must also occur within the various lar polycentricity has sustained as a policy economic core zones. These can be networks concept due to the fact that it is a ‘bridging of cities of different sizes and characteristics: concept’ that holds a promise for the many cross-border and transnational regions, actors involved in regional development. smaller city regions or functional relation- Obviously, the potentialities of polycentric ships between cities and their rural hinter- metropolitan areas to fulfil several common lands. The concept of economic complemen- policy objectives relating to overarching ob- tarity is used here to underpin the need for jectives as competitiveness, sustainability balanced development: cities should build on and social equity is widely recognised. In each other’s (dis)advantages in order to be this chapter we provide an overview of the economically competitive. Outside the eco- policy context, addressing the European nomic core zones, networks between towns policy context first. This is followed by an and cities in more rural areas should make account of the concept of polycentric metro- sure that viable markets and important (so- politan areas in national and regional policy cial) services are maintained. of European countries. The ESDP also proposes policy measures for dynamic and attractive cities. However, 2.1 European policy context these are disconnected from the polycentric equal development debate. Instead they 2.1.1 European Spatial Development focus on more thematic issues: limiting Perspective (1999) physical expansion, promoting social inclu- The first EU policy document with a territorial sion and improving accessibility, sustainabil- perspective was the European Spatial ity and natural/cultural assets. Development Perspective (ESDP) from 1999. It takes on a very balanced view of spatial 2.1.2 Recent EU policy documents on development: “The concept of polycentric territorial cohesion development has to be pursued, to ensure Since 1986, the objective of cohesion policy regionally balanced development, because has been to strengthen economic and social the EU is becoming fully integrated in the cohesion. The Treaty (2007) intro- global economy. Pursuit of this concept will duced a third dimension: territorial cohe- help to avoid further excessive economic and sion. Hence, territorial policy documents are demographic concentration in the core area now more firmly anchored into the general of the EU.” The fact that the EU basically has EU policies. The Green Paper on Territorial one economic core zone (the pentagon be- cohesion (2008) and latest version of the tween London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Territorial Agenda (2011) focus more on the ) is not considered in line with this spatial scale of cities and city regions, in- ambition. Therefore, the creation of several cluding their relationships with the sur- of such macro-regional ‘zones of global eco- rounding intermediate and rural areas. Both nomic integration’ plays a key role in improv- documents acknowledge the crucial position

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 24 25 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe networks in order to maintain or expand use of landscape and/or environmental po- in the national and regional context. their functions; tentials. The European Spatial Planning Observation – In rural areas there is a real process or Network, ESPON, collected information on threat of depopulation. Small towns are 2.1.3 Europe 2020 and Fifth Report on the use of the concept of polycentricity in quite important service centres within Economic, Social and Territorial plans and strategies at the national level these areas, and play a key role in Cohesion (2010) throughout the 29 ESPON countries. At that maintaining the attractiveness of rural Europe 2020 represents the EU high end time (2003), the word ‘polycentricity’ was areas. strategy. It outlines three main priorities: not very frequently used in policy docu- smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. ments, but several other concepts denoted So, here, further integration within networks Although the document does not specifically the same (e.g. balanced development etc.), of cities, and hence linking the cities in mention polycentric development, the prin- therefore, spatial policies in a wider sense polycentric metropolitan areas stronger to- ciples of polycentric development as men- were taken into account. The results of this gether, is considered essential to maintain a tioned in the ESDP, Green Paper on study indicated that 18 out of the 29 coun- good level of service provision. However, Territorial Cohesion and Territorial Agenda tries pursued a polycentric development in Source: Shutterstock 42496696 both policy documents do not connect urban do promote a more inclusive European terri- one way or another. The actual definition of and more rural policies in one overarching tory. Every three years, the EU publishes a polycentric policy differs from country to of large cities as centres for economic activ- framework. Large cities should mainly focus report on economic, social and territorial country. According to ESPON 1.1.1, the main ity, but stress that a more balanced territo- on fixing internal problems (the dynamic, cohesion, detailing progress in these areas. objectives for which polycentric develop- rial development is necessary. attractive cities within the ESDP and reduc- The Fifth Report emphasises that new pro- ment is considered instrumental are to ing negative externalities in the Green grammes with a particular focus on “the role achieve cohesion in order to diminish dis- Core of the Green Paper is the analysis that Paper), while towns in rural areas need to of cities, functional geographies, specific parities between urban areas, and to en- economic activities are disproportionately develop more interconnected networks to geographical or demographic problems and hance urban competitiveness. In many cas- concentrated in urban regions when related expand or maintain economic activities. macro-regional strategies” are necessary for es, urban competitiveness is promoted by to the scattered settlement pattern of the reaching the goal of territorial cohesion: it inter municipal cooperation, or by adminis- EU. Although the areas in which this activity The Territorial Agenda stresses more the mentions the possibilities to prepare opera- trative reform. The types of urban dispari- is concentrated benefit from this, it also reciprocal relationship between cities, inter- tional programmes also at the level of ties addressed are different from country to leads to diseconomies like pollution, crime, mediate areas and rural hinterlands than the groups of towns, and to reinforce local and country. For example, in countries such as deprivation and congestion. While on the Green Paper and ESDP. Where possible, cit- regional partnerships. It also acknowledges Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland and other hand the typical EU settlement pattern ies should look beyond their administrative that increased urban-rural linkages works Latvia the focus is on the gap between the also poses various opportunities: it avoids borders and focus on their functional region. positively for the access that people have to capital regions and the rest of the cities. In the diseconomies of large cities and can be Cities and their hinterlands are interdepend- affordable and quality infrastructures and , , Norway and Poland there seen as more resource-efficient than the ent, be it macro-regional, cross-border or at services. are North-South or East-West disparities, urban sprawl that characterizes large cities. the regional level, which means that metro- while countries such as Finland, Greece and Therefore the Green Paper proposes the politan regions should be aware that they focus on the need to strengthen the following policy measures: have responsibility for the development of 2.2 National and regional policy medium-sized cities in their urban hierar- – Large cities should focus on reducing the their wider surroundings. It is suggested context chies. negative externalities of agglomeration that integrated management of potentials and make sure all groups profit from their such as cultural heritage, city networks and Also national and regional governments are Clearly, traditional regional policies based on economic activities; labour markets can be better utilized to pro- paying more and more attention towards the redistribution approaches have been re- – Intermediate regions are under pressure mote the economic competitiveness of the potentialities of polycentric metropolitan placed in many cases by polycentric devel- to maintain their functions and services. whole region. For more rural areas, territo- areas. This section discusses the increasing opment strategies based on ‘potential based They should develop interconnected rial cooperation could focus more on making attention for polycentric metropolitan areas approaches’ (Davoudi and Wishardt, 2005)

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 26 27 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe or for instance ‘a search for winners ap- strategies has not yet been carried out, al- activities that add value and provide cohe- bringing about economic competitiveness proach’ (Antikainen and Vartiainen, 2005). though a special issue of Urban Research & sion at the same time. Yet, it is also ac- and balanced spatial developments have to All these strategies carry elements of cohe- Practice on polycentric development policies knowledged that the role of polycentricity in be studied further. sion as well as competitiveness in them. does so for Central Europe (Sykora et al., Within these approaches the focus has shift- 2009). Table 2 Planning for polycentric metropolitan areas in European countries in 2003 ed from a zonal to a nodal approach, from Country Concept Examples lagging regions to the development of the We can conclude that polycentric metropoli- cities or urban networks, as ‘motors of the tan areas are an increasingly widespread, Belgium ‘urban network’ e.g. Flemish Diamond (Brussels--Ghent-Leuven) economy’ within those regions (Waterhout relatively new policy theme that has be- (Flanders) et al., 2005) come a common feature of regional devel- Denmark ‘Regions of competence’, Struer – Holstebro – Herning – Ikast; opment strategies in many European coun- polycentric ‘National Middelfart – Kolding – Vejle – Fredericia If we narrow our focus down from polycen- tries over the last decade. Planning for centres’1 tric development to polycentric metropolitan polycentric metropolitan areas in many cas- Estonia ‘urban network’ areas, we can also conclude that these fea- es involves planning on a relatively new Ida-Viru county: Jõhvi – Kohtla-Järve – Narva ture prominently and explicitly in strategic scale, based upon new starting points and France ‘réseaux des villes’ e.g. Normandie Métropole (Caen-Le Havre-Rouen) regional development strategies in many taking on board new strategic objectives (urban networks) European countries, albeit that such regional (Lambregts, 2000). Germany ‘European Metropolitan e.g. RheinRuhr (--Düsseldorf-- clusters of cities are generally not referred Region’1, ‘Städtenetze’ ); to as polycentric metropolitan areas back in (urban networks) Bergisches city triangle (- - 2003. Rather, policy makers often referred 2.3 Challenges from the EU and ); Sachsendreieck (Dresden-Leipzig-/ to them as ‘urban networks’ or ‘city net- national perspective Zwickau) works’. Use is made of the network meta- Greece ‘twin poles’ or ‘bi-poles’ e.g. Larissa-Volos phor to emphasise the alleged or desired The territorial perspective is gaining impor- complex and strong relationships between tance from a EU and national perspective. Italy ‘city network’, e.g. Veneto (Padua-Venice-Treviso) ‘multicentric the cities and as such the coherence and Historically, the focus of EU policies was metropolitan system’ unity of the region. Table 1, taken from more on social and economic cohesion, but Meijers (2007), lists several European coun- in 2007 territorial cohesion has joined. Ireland ‘linked gateways’ Letterkenny-Derry; Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar tries in which polycentric metropolitan areas Hence, special policy documents like the Lithuania ‘Metropolis Vilnius- Vilnius- had been identified as an objective of strate- Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion and the Kaunas’ gic policy-making, also giving examples of Territorial Agenda were produced. The ter- The Netherlands ‘urban networks’ e.g. Randstad (-Rotterdam-The Hague- networks and the policy label given to the ritorial policy of the EU is heavily focused on Utrecht); Brabantstad (Breda-Tilburg-Den Bosch- polycentric metropolitan areas. This list if far stimulating balanced spatial developments Eindhoven-Helmond) from being exhaustive. and reduces territorial disparities. National Poland ‘Duopols’ Warsaw-Lodz; spatial policies initially also focused on this Torun´ -Bydgoszcz We have strong indications that the list of aspect, and concepts like polycentricity and countries addressing polycentric metropoli- urban networks were used as a tool that Switzerland ‘vernetzte Northern part of the country (among which Zürich-Basel- Städtesystem’, Bern-Winterthur-Luzern) tan areas has been extended considerably could counter these uneven developments. ‘polycentric system’ over the last decade. This often concerns Nations, however, seem to have taken on a not just national policies, but also regional perspective that is also more competitive- 1 This concept is not specifically developed for polycentric metropolitan areas, but in its elaboration it also policies or joint metropolitan development ness-oriented: urban networks are supposed identifies such areas. strategies of the group of cities concerned. to be the engines of the national economies. Yet, a thorough, systematic review of these Links between urban nodes enable more source: Meijers, 2007

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 28 29 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 3 Polycentric metropolitan areas: scientific state of the art

3.1 Introduction ers. ESPON put emphasis on “the operation- al use of results of the analyses in practice’’. Polycentric metropolitan areas pose funda- mental challenges not just for policy-makers POLYCE is one of ESPON’s targeted analy- and administrators, but also for researchers. ses on ‘metropolisation’ and polycentric de- The rise of polycentric metropolitan areas as velopment. The project focuses on the a policy-concept is inextricably linked to the Danube Region in Central Europe. The net- rising attention for such metropolitan areas work consists of five cities: Vienna, Prague, in the scientific literature. We will start our Budapest, Bratislava and Ljubljana. These overview of the state of the art in the scien- five cities wish to strengthen their position tific debate with a brief summary of several as network of metropolises within the key applied research projects that were European and global territory. The aim of funded by ESPON as well as groupings of the project is to select opportunities for sus- cities such as METREX and Eurocities. tainable urban development at macro-re- Second, in section 3.3, we present the main gional and city level. Therefore the project findings on polycentric metropolitan areas as carried out a territorial analysis at both lev- they can be found in the scientific literature. els. It was found, amongst others, that a We finish with a synthesis of the main chal- lack of polycentric structures in the metro- lenges for research in the next years. politan regions of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna came coupled with findings on urban sprawl as a risk and potential cost factor 3.2 Applied European research (ESPON POLYCE, 2012). It was also found projects on Polycentric that integration between these five cities Development was rather absent, which can be attributed to the quite long distances between them. More and more policy attention for polycen- While the five metropolitan areas exhibit tric development across Europe, resulted in features of polycentricity, this does not hold several projects on this theme. This section for the network of metropolitan areas. discusses several projects initiated by differ- ent (European) organisations. Another project of ESPON is METROBORDER. This project focused on 3.2.1 ESPON cross-border polycentric metropolitan re- The European Spatial Planning Observation gions. Triggered by the liberalisation of the Network, ESPON, initiated different projects European borders, new dynamics are as targeted analyses (next to more funda- emerging between cross-border cities. The mental research projects – ‘applied projects’ project found that cross-border polycentric in ESPON terms, the results of which will be metropolitan regions are an important discussed in the next section). These analy- emerging phenomenon of European spatial ses represent a new type of projects sup- organisation having large development po- porting the use of existing results in part- tentials. These potentials lie in combining nership with different groups of stakehold- the characteristics on either sides of the

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 30 31 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe border in a complementary way. This refers same time are economically and socially solution for their metropolitan area. The – There are a number of preconditions for to differences in retail markets, in economic highly dependent on an urban core. report advised that core cities should be the the application of polycentricity. First of specialisations, in cultural offer and land- driving force behind metropolitan coopera- all, stakeholders need to realize that it is scape differentiation. Also, it is about organ- According to the paper, the pooling to- tion. Continuity, stakeholder involvement a long term effort. There is a clear need izing critical mass. Such complementarities gether of resources from local authorities and trust are very important elements with- to understand market mechanisms and are considered to lead to more differentia- is needed. Some decisions (economic clus- in this process. their territorial impact better. Furthermore tion than can occur on domestic metropo- tering, stimulating R&D) should be taken on a better understanding of the different lises – which would provide cross border a metropolitan level. Metropolitan coordina- 3.2.3 METREX concepts is needed and stakeholders’ polycentric metropolitan areas with a unique tion can help to avoid the negative effects of The paper ‘Intra-metropolitan polycentricity mental maps need to be enlarged. selling point. Yet, functional integration re- inter-municipal competition, can help to iron in practice: reflections, challenges and con- – Second, the capacity of the governance mained limited, and this should be consid- out mismatches in the local tax system and clusions’, was produced by the METREX ex- system matters. There is a clear need for ered a huge unused potential. Yet, the ex- may deliver more efficient services to citi- pert group (2010). The central objective is clear strategies and solid instruments ploitation of these complementarities de- zens. to identify major challenges, to reflect cur- to manage different interests, agendas pends largely on the will and the strategies rent methods, practices, routines and de- and/or territorial logics. of the actors to cooperate within a complex The paper strongly focuses on the govern- bates and to share lessons and experiences multi-level context that is characterized by ance perspective of metropolitan develop- with regard to the performance, applicability Yet, it was observed that discussions on an asymmetric organisation of competences ment. There is a call for more support at the and implementation of the concept of which governance tool and form of polycen- on different political and administrative lev- national and EU-level to stimulate bottom- polycentricity. The expert group consisted of trism is most fitting will always remain un- els on either side of the border (ESPON up initiatives from metropolitan areas. The urban and regional planners from twelve decided. It is interesting to note that with METROBORDER, 2010). underlying goal of the working group is to metropolitan areas in Europe. The intra- respect to urban sprawl and climate change influence decision making at the EU level. metropolitan perspective means that the experts can give good arguments as to 3.2.2 Eurocities This can be done in three ways: (1) to influ- polycentrism on a spatial scale is limited to why polycentrism is a useful tool to combat Eurocities, a network organisation of ence policy initiatives that reinforce the role something between the city-regional scale them; but when it comes to economic com- European cities, also pays attention to the of metropolitan areas, (2) to include metro- and mega-regional level. Both ‘incorporation petitiveness and functional labour divisions (polycentric) development of metropolitan politan areas in EU funding programmes, mode’ and ‘fusion mode’ polycentric metro- they cannot. It turned out to be rather dif- areas. Eurocities’ Working Group and (3) to encourage metropolitan coopera- politan areas were selected. Some metro- ficult for the experts to grasp relations be- Metropolitan Areas produced a paper on tion through pilot initiatives supported by politan areas are mixtures of both modes. tween centres or to identify promising com- ‘Cities co-operating beyond their bounda- the European Commission. plementarities/synergies. ries: evidence through experience in The concept of polycentrism within this European cities’ (Eurocities, 2012). The pa- This research reveals that changing the in- study is applied in a normative way, i.e. the per shortly discusses the process of urban stitutional governmental structure is a cum- goal is to apply polycentrism as a tool for 3.3 State of the art in research on sprawl and argues that it is unrealistic to bersome process. Therefore, new govern- intra-metropolitan planning. Pursuing polycentric metropolitan areas talk about a dualistic relationship between ance arrangements are preferred over polycentrism is regarded by the expert cities and rural. Instead, mixed urban/rural new layers of government. In this way, ex- group as an overarching tool to combat In general terms, research on polycentric areas have now emerged, which make it isting governmental bodies such as prov- excessive urban sprawl and climate metropolitan areas has taken off only in the difficult to define what is urban and what is inces or regions are most likely to support change; and help promote economic last one and half decade, when this spatial not. According to Eurocities, it is important the idea of metropolitan cooperation. competitiveness and target-oriented la- phenomenon started to become more clearly to consider that due to these processes, the Because of differing contexts, tailor-made bour divisions. visible. Until then, the strong focus on large rise of functional urban areas is a reality solutions are the best. Hence, imposed gov- cities (e.g. Sassen’s Global Cities) dominat- rather than a theoretical concept. Functional ernance arrangements from national or EU Given the fact that polycentrism is regarded ed the urban research agenda. There is per- urban areas include towns and villages that institutes will not work: it should be up to as a tool, the expert group puts forward two haps one exception of a polycentric metro- may be physically separated, but at the local authorities to define the most relevant central messages: politan area that has been explored more

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 32 33 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe thoroughly for a longer period of time, which cally distinct and both administratively and There is much to say for such a functional why cities today are no longer able, or not is the Randstad area in the Netherlands, politically independent cities located in close perspective on polycentricity, since the as able as they thought they were previ- made up of the core cities Amsterdam, proximity and well connected through infra- strength and orientation of linkages between ously, to direct urban development in a Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht and sev- structure’. This is perhaps the least restric- centres or cities could well be a major expla- ‘command and control’-way. The main rea- eral medium-sized cities, which counts as a tive definition one can use (see Champion, nation of the performance of the urban sys- son is globalisation, which brings along classic example of a fusion-mode polycentric 2001), as it does not refer to a certain mini- tem as a whole (Burger and Meijers, 2012). mobile capital investments, the emergence metropolitan area, that was identified al- mum extent of spatial interaction between of worldwide economic sectors and interna- ready decades ago, amongst other by Peter these centres, or an even more restrictive As these conceptual debates start to crystal- tional institutions. In Europe, the influence Hall (1966). As a consequence, the region condition such as a minimum level of spe- lize out, much recent effort has been put in of the European Union also leads to a redefi- serves as a ‘research and policy laboratory’ cialisation among centres (see for instance measuring the level of polycentricity of met- nition of the role of the national govern- (Dieleman & Musterd, 1992; see also Jenks Parr, 2004). ropolitan areas, and the way to do so de- ment, which has in turn its impact on met- et all., 2008) and is perhaps overrepresent- pends on whether one adheres to a morpho- ropolitan governance as well. For urban gov- ed nowadays in the academic literature on As regards spatial form, the most consider- logical, functional or a combined approach ernments, globalisation and internationalisa- polycentric metropolitan areas. able difference of opinion in the debate rests (Burger and Meijers 2012). According to tion ‘has meant a loss of control over urban on the question of whether polycentricity Hoyler et al. (2008: 1058), combining mor- economies, and new activities and respons- In order to structure our discussion of the refers just to morphological aspects of the phological characteristics and functional re- es’ (Kearns and Paddison, 2000: 845). It state of the state of the art as regards sci- urban system or whether it should also in- lations in one approach ‘contributes to a also implies a more entrepreneurial attitude entific research into polycentric metropolitan corporate relational aspects between the conflation of two analytically distinct dimen- of urban government, since competition is areas, we may take the research agenda as centres making up the urban system in sions of polycentricity’. Naturally, a balance increasingly between metropolitan areas sketched by Kloosterman and Musterd in the question (Green, 2007; Meijers, 2008a). The in the size distribution of centres does not rather than between countries. In such a introduction to one of the first special issues morphological dimension, referred to as necessarily imply that there are functional competition, cities have started to develop on this theme (Urban Studies, 2001), as our morphological polycentricity, basically ad- linkages between the different centres, let and strengthen their profile to attract mobile point of departure. They put forward four dresses the size and territorial distribution of alone an equal distribution of these linkages investment, tourists and in particular also a issues that deserve future attention: physi- the urban centres across the territory, and and the existence of multi-directional flow highly qualified labour force. cal or spatial form, governance, functional equates more balanced distributions with patterns. Some morphologically polycentric relationships and economy, and, identity and polycentricity (see e.g. Kloosterman and metropolitan areas do have strong and mul- In addition, there is a quite common trend representation. In addition, they stress the Lambregts, 2001; Parr, 2004; Meijers and ti-directional patterns of interaction between in Europe that lower levels of government need for a better understanding of the rela- Burger, 2010). The relational dimension, the centres, some do not (see e.g. Hall and are being strengthened, largely due to pro- tionships between those four issues or di- referred to as functional polycentricity, takes Pain, 2006; Burger and Meijers, 2012). A cesses of decentralisation of functions from mensions, and how it affects the perfor- the functional connections between the set- metropolitan area that is morphologically central government to local and regional mance of metropolitan areas. Now, over a tlements into account, and considers a bal- polycentric is not necessarily polycentric levels of government. An even more recent decade later, let us explore the progress anced, multi-directional set of relations to from a functional point of view. trend is that it is now more accepted that made. be more polycentric (ESPON 1.1.1, 2004; within a nation-state, similar territories may Green, 2007; De Goei et al., 2010). Finally, there is also the issue of scale: the be governed differently: there is increasing 3.3.1 Spatial form Proponents of the functional polycentricity extent to which regions are polycentric de- diversity, variation and even asymmetry Obviously, an analysis of spatial form is cru- approach generally claim that nodes without pends largely on the scale at which the net- (Stead and Cotella, 2011). More than be- cial since the defining characteristic of balanced relations would not form a works are studied (Taylor et al., 2008). fore, urban governments are permitted polycentric metropolitan areas appears to be polycentric system (ESPON 1.1.1, 2004). to follow their own path. its form: polycentric, and, according to There is also a third approach, which is also 3.3.2 Metropolitan governance some definitions, also functionally tied to- about functional or relational polycentricity, Metropolitan governance is a general chal- Then there is increased complexity in deci- gether. Recall that we defined polycentric and which considers the strength of the lenge for urban professionals all across the sion-making and policy development – there metropolitan areas as ‘collections of histori- interactions between cities (Green, 2007). globe. Kearns and Paddison (2000) highlight are many interacting authority structures at

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 34 35 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe work in the emergent global political economy. Northern Switzerland, advanced urban func- cialisations, some found that the extent to pation with the quantity of flows, rather Different levels of governance, as well as so- tions increasingly concentrate in the central which cities complement one another tends than their ‘quality’ or value for the region. cial society, get increasingly entangled, requir- cities of a mega-city region, while associated to decrease (Meijers, 2007; Cowell, 2010), More interaction between the cities is not ing us to think of urban government as multi- functions disperse. It may well be that the while others report a trend towards more necessarily better, certainly if one takes en- level governance. ‘Multi-level’ does not just process of globalisation and its tendency to differentiation (Franz and Hornych, 2010). vironmental considerations into account. refer to different hierarchical layers of govern- particularly benefit (as well as create) well- This is not, however, the whole picture. Finally, the focus on gathering flow data is ment, but also to horizontal layers of govern- connected places, turns some places in Correspondence analysis techniques have understandable, and perhaps preferable, but ment: e.g. between municipalities or regions. polycentric metropolitan areas into winners been applied to general sectoral classifica- such data is hardly available, certainly not in while others stay relatively behind. Hard tions of employment, whereas it has been a harmonized and consistent form across Multi-level governance is of great impor- empirical evidence addressing the complex suggested that nowadays cities specialize by Europe (IGEAT et al., 2006; Limtanakool et tance in particular also for polycentric met- interrelation between regional assets and function rather than by sector (Duranton al., 2007). ropolitan areas. In particular because glo- intra-regional dynamics on the one hand and Puga, 2005) – in other words, by ‘what balisation articulates itself at the regional and the impact of global circulations and people do’ rather than ‘where they work’. Analysing the functional geography of scale in more complex patterns of interac- extra-local dynamics on the other is how- Functional specialisations can be proxied polycentric metropolitan areas clearly re- tions, and a new division of labour, which ever not yet available. with occupational data (Barbour and quires researchers to develop new theories makes that many issues cannot be dealt Markusen, 2007), and in a pilot project for and concepts and innovative methods to with by local jurisdictions. We need to real- One approach to identify whether a division U.S. polycentric mega-regions, it was found analyse this, since existing approaches still ize that institutional fragmentation is a fact of labour is developing is to measure com- that these functional specialisations of dif- depart from the outdated model of mono- of life in all polycentric metropolitan areas. plementarities between the cities making up ferent parts of cities were increasing in centricity. a polycentric metropolitan area. some regions, but decreasing in others 3.3.3 Functional geography Complementarity refers to the idea that (Meijers, Ross and Woo, 2011). 3.3.4 Identity and representation Functional linkages can be used to study the different cities fulfil different and mutually There is also a cultural dimension to functioning of the metropolitan area itself, beneficial roles (Hague and Kirk, 2003). The second issue addresses the question polycentric metropolitan areas that needs to but also to delineate a metropolitan area. As While specialisations of cities tend to be how polycentric metropolitan areas can be be taken into account. This cultural dimen- regards the functional geography of polycen- measured by location quotients, this method identified. Existing approaches to identify sion refers to the polycentric metropolitan tric metropolitan areas, two key questions does not account for the specialisation of functionally coherent urban areas have area as being a frame of reference, orienta- have emerged in the literature: a. to what cities relative to the specialisations of a set severe shortcomings, certainly when applied tion, and interpretation that structures the extent is a division of labour developing be- of other cities. For this reason, correspond- to the scale of polycentric metropolitan ar- consciousness and behaviour of a regional tween the centres making up the polycentric ence analysis techniques have been em- eas. For example, their preoccupation with society and is reproduced and reconstructed metropolitan area?, and b. how can we iden- ployed recently to measure complementarity ‘daily urban systems’, whereas ‘weekly’ or by the acts of the regional population. The tify polycentric metropolitan areas? The lat- in the context of polycentric metropolitan ‘monthly urban systems’ seems more appro- socio-cultural dimension addresses the issue ter question is obviously closely linked to areas, and these enable the calculation and priate for polycentric metropolitan areas, of popular identification, attachment and definitional issues, see paragraph 3.3.1. plotting of the division of labour between requiring a move beyond indicators such as institutionalisation of polycentric metropoli- the cities making up the mega-city region. commuting towards a wider variety of flows tan areas. The relevance of studying the It may be safely assumed that cities glob- Using this method, it has been shown that a (e.g. trade, capital, goods, people, knowl- socio-cultural dimension of mega-city re- ally, as well as regionally, are becoming strong division of labour exists between the edge) (Dieleman and Faludi, 1998). Another gions lies in the fact that enhanced popular more linked to each other, and the question cities making up the Randstad Holland shortcoming is that the multiplicity of net- identification with the polycentric metropoli- is whether in this process of integration (Meijers, 2007). As far as service sector works is not taken into account – a region tan area may express itself in activity pat- there is also a process in which the roles activities are concerned, its cities are twice can appear to be spatially integrated based terns and travel behaviour that has a more and functions of cities are changing. as specialized in comparison to each other on the analysis of one type of flows but regional scope (Paasi, 2009), and as this Thierstein et al. (2008) show that in the than the cities in the German Rhein-Ruhr loosely connected based on another (Burger, may foster further identification with, and emerging polycentric metropolitan area in Area. In addition, regarding sectoral spe- 2011). A third shortcoming is the preoccu- institutionalisation of polycentric metropoli-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 36 37 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe tan areas, this may turn out to lead to an It is likely that a strong institutionalisation Perhaps polycentric spatial forms do provide may become fragmented, certainly for low- increasingly upward spiral of regionalisation- of a metropolitan area comes coupled with a remedy towards these problems, but the earning workers (Halbert, 2004). On the institutionalisation-identification. Popular some attachment to that area. Here, it is truth is that this is little more than an edu- European scale, it was already shown that identification is also deemed crucial for de- important to disentangle an affective (or cated guess. Tremendous efforts have been the often mentioned link in policy docu- veloping regional organizing capacity emotional) bond with places from a more undertaken to describe urban form or envi- ments between a polycentric urban system (Meijers and Romein, 2003), and will in- cognitive bond with places (the identification sion possible future forms and urbanisation and cohesion, measured in terms of the crease the democratic legitimacy of plat- of the self being a member of a physical options. However, with some notable excep- presence of regional disparities, does not forms for regional governance. space) (see Paasi, 2003). This distinction tions in the field of transportation studies exist (Meijers and Sandberg, 2008). This between attachment and identification is (e.g. Cervero and Wu, 1998; Schwanen et finding was recently confirmed in a study by The institutionalisation of a polycentric relevant, as feeling part of polycentric met- al., 2004) and economic performance Veneri and Burgalassi (2012), now at the metropolitan area is the process through ropolitan area does not have to go hand-in- (Cervero, 2001; Lee and Gordon, 2007; scale of Italian regions. Evidence points which such an area becomes established, hand with having a positive attachment to Meijers and Burger, 2010), hardly any sys- even at the opposite: the higher the degree gains status in the broader regional struc- it. However, research that takes into account temic evidence has been gathered on the of polycentricity, the more unequal income ture and may become a significant unit of combinations of attachment and identifica- economic and environmental consequences distribution appears to be. regional identification or identity (Paasi, tion across scales is thin on the ground of different urban forms, let alone its impact 2009). Such institutionalisation appears to (Lewicka, 2011). Also the relation that at- on social urban problems (Bailey and Turok, The study by Veneri and Burgalassi (2012) be stronger in metropolitan areas that are tachment and identity have with activity- 2001; Banerjee, 2009). This is particularly also explored links between polycentricity characterised by a certain territorial shape and travel patterns is far from settled true for ‘fusion-type’ polycentric metropoli- and economic competitiveness. Some evi- (clearly demarcated), by a symbolic shape (Keating, 2001; Paasi, 2003; Gustafson, tan areas (Lambooy, 1998; Kloosterman and dence was found that a dominant prime city (regional symbols), by institutions taking 2009; Lewicka, 2011). Musterd, 2001; Parr, 2004; Turok and (monocentricity) increases agglomeration the region as their territorial organising Bailey, 2004; Cheshire, 2006; Parr, 2008; benefits. Meta-analysis research has shown principle (cf. Paasi, 1996), and by the region 3.3.5 Performance Meijers, 2008b). that a city double the size of another one, is being a political space (cf. Keating, 1997). In circles of urban planners, particularly also on average 5,8% more productive (Melo et So far, analyses of the process of institution- at the European scale, the concept of However, more recently, as the conceptual al 2009) Importantly, it was found also that alisation has focused on ‘fusion-mode’ polycentricity, and more precisely polycen- debate advanced, polycentricity was made a high degree of functional polycentricity polycentric metropolitan areas, where it was tric development, tends to get a positive measurable, and some linkages with perfor- seems to be associated with a higher level found that the institutionalisation of such review as it is considered to bring along mance can now be drawn. Departing from a of labour productivity. This would suggest regions is particularly hampered by the lack many advantages. Throughout the last cen- measure that combines morphological and that networks substitute for proximity (cf. of a common culture in a region. Major tury, a major rationale for actually pursuing functional characteristics of polycentricity, Johansson and Quigley, 2004). Earlier, sources of cultural differences include lan- metropolitan planning has been the belief Veneri (2010) found that polycentricity in Meijers and Burger (2010), analysing U.S. guage, ethnicity, religion and political pref- that particular models of spatial organisation Italian metropolitan areas is a more envi- metropolitan areas, found already that ag- erences, which, if present, may prevent of metropolitan areas are able to mitigate ronmentally sustainable urban form: it is glomeration benefits are less present the people from identifying with the polycentric and limit the persistence of typical urban associated with a reduction in CO2 emis- more (morphologically) polycentric a metro- metropolitan area – Central Belgium is a problems. Polycentric spatial settlement pat- sions due to commuting, and polycentricity politan area was. case in point (Albrechts and Lievois, 2003; terns are assumed to be a remedy to either does not imply longer travel times. In fact, At the same time, however, it was found Meijers and Romein, 2003). It remains rath- sprawl related problems or the typical big polycentricity was associated with closer that agglomeration costs were also less, as er unclear, however, why one polycentric city problems. The first includes the lack of proximity between residence and workplace. the balance between agglomeration benefits metropolitan area is more institutionalized support for amenities, including transit or and agglomeration costs was better in more than another, and in particular, what conse- the consumption of open, green areas, while How ever, polycentricity, in particular when polycentric metropolitan areas, leading to quences this has on the performance of the latter refer to, amongst others, conges- not accompanied with a tangential but radial higher labour productivity. The lack of ag- polycentric metropolitan areas as it appears tion, lack of housing affordability and con- transport and infrastructure system may at glomeration benefits manifests itself in the to affect collective action. centration of pollution. the same time mean that labour markets lower presence of higher-order urban func-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 38 39 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe several key research projects on polycentric plaining the factors that cause urban hierar- metropolitan areas. chies within, and between, polycentric net- works of cities. 3.4.1 Panel discussion RSA Conference In May 2012 the Regional Studies Another point of discussion concerned the Association organised its annual European question whether it is possible to organize Conference in Delft, The Netherlands titled the same benefits of a large metropolis in a ‘Networked regions and cities in times of network of small- and medium-sized cities. fragmentation: Developing smart, sustain- The panel argued that this depends on the able and inclusive places’. EMI took the op- ability of these cities to ’borrow size’ from portunity to organize a panel discussion on each other. To a certain extent, people and the topic of polycentric metropolitan areas. firms already make use of the polycentric Five eminent experts took place in the panel region, but often politicians are still strongly that was moderated by Professor Hugo oriented on local (municipal) affairs. A sense Priemus of Delft University of Technology.2 of urgency is needed for them to start coop- Source: Shutterstock 63084790 The panel was asked to give a reaction on erating with their neighbouring cities, but several statements and to identify research the majority of the cities do not (yet) see gaps that require more academic research. the advantages. It is not so much about tions, for instance specialized retail (Meijers, ropolitan areas, and getting a better under- rivalry between cities, but more about igno- 2008b; Burger et al., forthcoming). standing of the institutionalisation of such The panel discussed the tendency towards rance. Consequently, more research is need- Polycentric regions that fared better than regions and how people identify with these. urban hierarchies with prime cities that are ed about how a network of small- and me- other polycentric regions were characterised Such a progress can only be made when the characterized by a concentration of activities dium sized cities can borrow size from each amongst others by its constituent centres many theories, concepts and models that and functions, leaving less for the secondary other, and what the advantages are of this. being located more proximally, a relative were once developed with the outdated cities in the region. Due to these urban hier- New methodologies should be developed to strong concentration of retail in one centre monocentric city in mind, are reframed and archies some cities will lose out while other analyze the benefits of stronger integration (a less polycentric distribution of retail com- linked to the new spatial reality of polycen- cities will gain. The appearance of urban within the polycentric metropolitan area. pared to population), and less competition tric metropolitan areas. hierarchies in polycentric metropolitan rea- Urban practitioners and politicians will never from centres outside the region (Burger et sons, with prime cities having the most posi- be convinced of the advantages of coopera- al., forthcoming). tive business climate, might explain why tion if researchers cannot visualize the ex- 3.4 Challenges identified by some cities gain in the process of metropoli- ternalities. 3.3.6 Conclusion researchers sation while other cities lose. If you manage Overseeing the state of the art, it is clear to develop a seamless web within the Furthermore, according to the panel more that during the last one and a half decade, This paragraph briefly discusses the re- polycentric metropolitan area you have a academic research is needed to actually much of the attention of researchers has search challenges identified by academics. competitive advantage in comparison with understand the dynamics within polycentric been devoted to conceptual issues, which is These challenges are distilled out of aca- other areas. Further academic research metropolitan areas. Researchers should ana- normal for the agenda-setting phase. demic literature and applied scientific re- should focus on the underlying factors ex- lyze the multi-scalarity of polycentrism in However, much progress can be made in the search. In addition, EMI organized a panel more detail; the advantages at a smaller years following when efforts concentrate on discussion with eminent researchers in this 2 Prof. Sir Peter Hall – University College London; scale may at the same time imply a nega- substantiating the many claims made for field during the Regional Studies Association Prof. Catherine Ross – Georgia Institute of tive impact on a larger regional scale. How polycentricity, analysing metropolitan gov- (RSA) Conference. First, a brief overview of Technology; Prof. Alain Thierstein – TU Munich; ­ to deal with this tension? Additionally, it is ernance, empirically exploring dynamics in the panel discussion is given followed by the Mr. Jaap Modder – City region Arnhem-Nijmegen; important to analyze the awareness per- the functional geography of polycentric met- research challenges as they are identified in Prof. Wim Hafkamp – EMI/JPI Urban Europe. spective of polycentrism as there is a major

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 40 41 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe gap between research and the agenda of Also, more research should focus on intra- quences of the spatial organisation of urban tion’ process in Europe, its components and politicians. and inter-regional functional linkages systems and mentions in particular mixed impact on the way Europe faces global chal- (Halbert et al., 2006). The latter idea is tak- spatial structures, the dynamics of urban lenges. 3.4.2 Future research needs according to en forward by Hoyler et al. (2008) in an- systems, the measurement of functional researchers other special issue, who move beyond the coherence within regions, and the relation- The POLYCE project point at the enormous The research agenda of Kloosterman and immediate parameters of the POLYNET pro- ship between the spatial organisation of ur- data limitations that hampers the study of Musterd (2001) was already mentioned at ject when defining a research agenda. ban systems and urban and regional perfor- polycentric metropolitan areas and the me- the beginning of section 3.3 and will not be – In the first place, they call for a further mance. tropolisation process. In particular the avail- repeated. The POLYNET project ‘Sustainable understanding of the relationship between ability of flow data is a concern, particularly management of European polycentric mega- the first city in a polycentric metropolitan Meijers (2007) calls for more detailed re- also cross-border relational data and regions’ ran from 2003 to 2006 and exam- area and the rest. It seems that there search into complementarities, in particular through time. This also means that there ined changes in functional connections and is a further concentration of high-end defining them in functional terms rather are still many research challenges ahead. A information flows (physical/transportation producer services in these cities, while than in a sectoral way. Also, he stresses the major challenge is the process of metropoli- and virtual/ICT) between and within eight low-added related activities disperse over need for more research into the spatial or- sation. Second, the issue of relational polycentric metropolitan areas in North West the region. This may eventually threat the ganisation of polycentric metropolitan areas, polycentricity needs to be explored at a vari- Europe (NWE). As suggestions for future first city as it becomes less diverse, even particularly whether this organisation tends ety of spatial scales. They also call for an research, it includes: though the whole metropolitan area may towards the so-called network model. in-depth research on the role of medium- – A deeper need for understanding solu- become the scale at which diversity is Finally, he lists the linkage between spatial sized cities as carriers of polycentric devel- tions to economic and social inequity organized. structure and agglomeration benefits and opment, which is deemed essential for ter- across Europe; – Second, they demand attention for issues costs as a crucial challenge for further re- ritorial cohesion. Another issue is more – Need to extend knowledge on analyses of of social cohesion and equity, for instance search. methodological and concerns the develop- functional specialisation and spatial com- whether there is increased polarisation. ment of more sophisticated methods to de- plementarities; – Thirdly, they define several challenges Finally, also the applied research projects on limit metropolitan areas, based on morpho- – The role of (investments in) transport and related to new trends that may affect polycentric metropolitan areas have listed logical and relational aspects. e-infrastructure in developing city region- the internal relationships in polycentric research ambitions. al economies; metropolitan areas, such as rising energy Also the ESPON Metroborder project stress- – Polycentricity alone fails to provide a sus- prices, the option of multiple location The Eurocities Working Group Metropolitan es the lack of the right data to analyse tainable solution to territorial inequities households and the management of Areas paper remarks that development of polycentric metropolitan areas. It was in (social and economic). Therefore, scepti- resources. In addition, they mention the new knowledge, such as better understand- particular stressed that time-series data was cism exists about planning for polycen- need for new methods to study the scale ing of the ‘metropolisation’ process in needed in order to do more research into tricity. of polycentric metropolitan areas and call Europe, and exchange of experiences is causal relationships. for research beyond Europe on polycentric needed. Future research on this theme is As an offspring of this project, a special is- metropolitan areas. required. The role of functional metropolitan Finally, the METREX project underlines sue was published, edited by Halbert, areas is becoming more important across the importance of more research into re- Convery and Thierstein (Built Environment, A number of recent PhD theses has been most European Member States, as all levels lations between cities. It was found to be 2006). The last paper of this special issue published on the subject of polycentric met- of public administration are adapting to new rather difficult for experts to grasp rela- further details some of these general ropolitan areas, in particular in the circumstances and policy challenges and tions between centres, and to identify the POLYNET recommendations for research. Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Most have seeking to find better and more effective promising complementarities and syner- Next to functional and spatial complementa- been referred to yet. Some of these theses solutions. Next to exchanging experiences gies. rities, they call for a better understanding of also include a research agenda. Burger among cities, academic surveys and analysis the interrelationships between advanced (2011) argues that future analytical work should be funded in order to better under- business services and the wider economy. should focus more on the causes and conse- stand current changes in the ‘metropolisa-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 42 43 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 4 Polycentric metropolitan areas in Europe in practice: viewpoints of urban professionals

4.1 Introduction

In the fall of 2011, a questionnaire was sent out to urban professionals working in the 100 largest European metropolitan areas, addressing issues regarding the morphology of the urban system in their metropolitan area, the strength of functional integration, the level to which regional governance was existent and the cultural unity of the metro- politan area. Also, we asked them to indi- cate the knowledge questions that they con- sider essential for further academic re- search. This chapter presents an analysis of the results of this questionnaire.

4.2 Selection of cities, respondents and response

The questionnaire was sent to respondents Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe identified in each of the 100 largest metro- politan areas in Europe. The selection is of est FUAs is quite different from a list of 100 these metropolitan areas is based on the MUAs (cities). For instance cities such as work carried out in the ESPON 1.4.3 project Ghent or Eindhoven rank not among the 100 on Urban Functions (IGEAT et al., 2007) in largest MUAs, but the FUAs of which they which a classification of Functional Urban are part (‘the Flemish Diamond’ and ‘North Areas (FUAs) all across Europe (EU25 + Brabant/Brabantstad’ are high on the list of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Lichtenstein) 100 FUAs (5th and 30th respectively). In or- is presented. This classification reckons the der to acknowledge the fact that some FUAs polycentric character of many metropolitan are clearly polycentric, we approached all areas in Europe. Basically, metropolitan ar- cities (in fact, the central cities of MUAs) eas were defined as functionally coherent with over 300.000 inhabitants that are entities. The report also discerns ­located in the top 100 of largest FUAs in Morphological Urban Areas (MUAs), which Europe. For instance, in the Randstad area are contiguous built-up areas and which in the Netherlands, we approached resemble cities and adjoining suburban Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and ­areas. Utrecht. In some cases, FUAs did not con- tain a MUA of at least 300.000 inhabitants, The largest FUA is London, the #100 is and in these cases we sent out the question- Strasbourg (607.000). The list of 100 larg- naire simply to the largest MUA (for instance

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 44 45 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 4 Distance to other cities in the Figure 5 Average distance (km) to all other metropolitan area (km) cities in the metropolitan area

Nijmegen). In total, we approached 123 metropolitan area is depicted in Figure 5. cities (MUAs) in 100 FUAs. The question- This shows that some respondents have naire was sent to urban professionals em- identified their really close neighbours, while ployed by local or metropolitan govern- many others think of the metropolitan area ments, and generally working in the field of as a larger entity in which inter-city distanc- strategic spatial, economic development or es of around 50 km are common. urban/regional planning. E-mail addresses were largely gathered through internet For each city that was identified, we asked searches. In the end, we got entirely filled- about the extent to which the prime city in questionnaires from 47 MUAs, located in (where the respondent was located) is re- 43 different FUAs. Hence, the response rate lated to that other city. We asked the re- is 43% (FUAs) or 38% (MUAs), depending spondents to score the extent to which their on the perspective. The response was well city and each individual other city in their balanced and no parts of Europe were over- wider metropolitan area are functionally or underrepresented. integrated with respect to a. the labour mar- ket, b. the housing market, c. business-rela- Figure 6 Level of integration (5=strongly integrated, 1 = hardly integrated) tions between firms, d. the use of leisure between cities and distance decay 4.3 Results amenities (shopping, culture, sports) and e. the market for education and health care. 4.3.1 Related cities and degree of ‘relatedness’ In such a way, we had 199 relations be- In our questionnaire we asked the urban tween pairs of cities evaluated by local ur- professional the open question of which cit- ban professionals. We added distances be- ies in the wider metropolitan area are most tween each pair of cities ‘as the crow flies’ related to the city they are working for/ to our database, since distance appears to working in. Respondents could fill in up to 5 be a key factor for integration to occur. A other cities. The vast majority was able to first finding from our questionnaire is that identify 5 cities (66%), 4 cities were identi- the ‘distance decay’ factor is different for fied by 8.5% of the respondents, 12.7% these five ‘markets’, see Figure 6. identified three other cities, 8.5% identified two other cities and just 4.3% identified Figure 6 shows that a pair of cities within a only one other city. This underlines that metropolitan area tends to be more strongly there is a tendency towards metropolitan integrated in terms of the labour market and areas that are constituted by multiple cities. spatial scope of business relations than in On average, the distance to these other cit- terms of the market for leisure activities and ies was 28.2 kilometres, with a Standard in particular for education and health care Deviation of 22.3 km, which gives an idea of as well as the housing market. Common, the average size or surface of European however, is a strong decline of the level of metropolitan areas (Figure 4). The maxi- integration over short distances. From rath- mum distance amounted to 129 km, the er strong integration with close-by cities, we closest by city was just 2 km away. The av- see that the level of integration drops sharp- Distance between cities (km) erage distance between cities in the same ly towards a distance of about 30 km, and

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 46 47 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe then start to increase again. This may have Figure 8 Extent to which cities in metropolitan Obviously, this is something that could be to do with the fact that cities located more areas present themselves externally Box 1. Explanatory variables expected far away tend to be larger or more impor- as coherent metropolitan areas (1= tant than those located nearby, as we sel- no, not at all; 5= yes, to a high Spatial fragmentation: ratio of the size of 4.3.3 Cultural identity: between rivalry dom see larger cities in the immediate sur- degree). the largest morphological urban area rel- and a sense of belonging together roundings of the main city in the metropoli- ative to the functional urban area. Acts as We measured the feeling of belonging to- tan region (these close-by cities tend to be an indirect proxy of the level of monocen- gether on a five point scale ranging from 1 more satellite towns). Another explanation tricity (high values) and polycentricity (a culture of strong rivalry between cities) to of the rise of the level of integration with (low values). 5 (a strong sense of belonging together). cities at a 30-60 km distance could be that None of the respondents reported a strong some urban professionals have considered Institutional fragmentation: ratio of the cultural rivalry – see Figure 9. only close-by satellite town types of cities, size of the municipality in which the main whereas others have considered sets of city was located relative to the size of the A first conclusion is that while really strong more distant and distinct cities. To control functional urban area. A low value indi- rivalry between cities does not seem to ex- for this, we applied ordinal logistic regres- cates that the metropolitan area is di- ist, rivalry can still be found in many metro- sion in which we control for the ‘regional vided in many local jurisdictions. A high politan areas (26% scored ‘2’). A strong scope’ of the respondent by including the value indicates that a large share of the sense of belonging together was only re- average distance to the cities they men- population lives in one of these jurisdic- ported for one metropolitan area (Bilbao). tioned. In addition, we added dummy vari- Not coherent ext. Coherent ext. tions. Most metropolitan areas can be positioned ables to control for the location of a metro- presentation presentation in between. politan area in Europe (North, East, South, Location in Europe: dummy variables in- Again we explored whether spatial fragmen- West). The results showed that to go 1 step bour market 35 km, and on the market for dicating whether a metropolitan area is tation, institutional fragmentation or location down on the 1-5 scale of the level of inte- leisure activities 36 km. By far least spatially located in Northern, Eastern, Southern or gration, the distance decay on the housing constraint is the market for relations be- Western Europe. Figure 9 Rivalry and belonging together market is 26 km, on the market for educa- tween firms: 66 km. We can visualise these in metropolitan areas (1= strong tion and health facilities 30 km, on the la- differences in distance decay as the radius rivalry; 5 = strong sense of belonging of these markets around cities, see Figure 7. together). Figure 7 Comparison of distance decay of integration between cities for different 4.3.2 External positioning of the We sought for explanatory variables for this ‘markets’ metropolitan area pattern, using ordinal regression techniques, We asked our respondents whether the cit- and included the level of spatial fragmenta- ies in their metropolitan area (which they tion, the level of institutional fragmentation mentioned) position themselves externally and the location in Europe. Box 1 explains as a coherent metropolitan area. Scores their measurement. It turned out that loca- were rather normally distributed, see Figure tion in Europe and institutional fragmenta- 5, and the number of respondents that stat- tion do not affect the external positioning of ed that they certainly do position them- metropolitan areas. selves externally as a coherent metropolitan There was weak evidence of spatial frag- area (scores 4 and 5) was similar as those mentation (being more polycentric) leading who did not (both 31.9%). Most respond- to lower scores on the extent to which cities ents opted for the average score of 3. position themselves externally (Wald statis- Rivalry Strong sense of tic 2.903; p= 0.088; linking option=probit). belonging together

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 48 49 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe in Europe (see Box 1) had an influence on the urban system, nor to the institutional while also the development of joint regional Figure 10 Characteristics of cooperation in the cultural identity. However, this was not division of the metropolitan area. This is projects such as the joint development of European metropolitan areas. the case. perhaps remarkable, especially in more regional business parks or a joint project on Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient be- fragmented metropolitan areas. metropolitan transit is common in almost tween cultural identity and external posi- two-thirds of the European metropolitan tioning is significant: 0.497** (N=47). In 4.3.4 Cooperation within the metropolitan areas. Cooperation also takes the form of other words, it seems that a feeling of be- area joint regional spatial development strategies longing together culturally is important to be Our respondents were asked to characterise or joint spatial visions in about one-third of able to market a metropolitan area exter- the cooperation between the cities of their the metropolitan areas. Less often, coopera- nally. There are no significant correlations metropolitan area, and they were able to tion takes the form of joint marketing strat- (Pearson) between cultural identity and spa- tick several pre-given options describing the egies for tourism, business or education tial fragmentation, institutional fragmenta- cooperation, as well as add new options (28%) or in joint regional development tion (see box 1) and average distance to themselves. Figure 10 gives the results of agencies that control regional development other cities in the metropolitan area. In oth- this question. funds (19%). Perhaps the most far-reaching er words, the sense of feeling that one be- form of cooperation is through an overarch- longs together with other cities, and the The most common form of cooperation be- ing regional authority that has formal pow- absence of rivalry between them, is not re- tween cities within metropolitan areas is ers for metropolitan development, and this lated to distance, or to the morphology of bilateral cooperation on a voluntary basis, is the case among 17% of the respondents. Only 6% stated that there is no cooperation at all.

Respondents were also given the option to tial fragmentation), the shape of the institu- include other types of cooperation in their tional system (institutional fragmentation) metropolitan area. Generally, this was a par- nor to the part of Europe in which the met- ticularisation of the cooperation, for instance ropolitan area was located. However, we the stage in which a type of cooperation was found some evidence that bilateral coopera- or the issues that these platforms for coop- tion on a voluntary basis was more common eration were addressing. in less institutionally fragmented metropoli- As was the case with the other issues, we tan areas (Sig.=0.077). The same holds for also explored whether the type of coopera- joint marketing strategies (Sig.=0.081). tion is dependent on spatial fragmentation, Joint regional development agencies were institutional fragmentation or location in more established in less spatially fragment- Europe (see Box 1 for the definition of these ed areas (Sig.=0.078). Hence, it seems that variables). Now, we used binary logistic re- metropolitan areas with a dominating urban gression models including these three fac- core and in which a large part of the popula- tors as independent variables explaining tion lives within one and the same local ju- whether a particular type of cooperation risdiction can more easily develop such existed. It was found that the options ‘no forms of cooperation. cooperation’, ‘joint regional projects’, ‘joint spatial strategy’ and ‘overarching regional 4.3.5 Needs for future research authority with formal powers’ were not re- Our final question in the questionnaire was Source: Shutterstock 3148280 lated to the shape of the urban system (spa- about the themes that should be addressed

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 50 51 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe by academic researchers as these would areas. The respondents are particularly keen Figure 11 Response to the question ‘Which themes should be addressed help the urban professional to guide and to get a better understanding of the func- by academic researchers to help you guide and improve future improve future metropolitan development. tional dimension (the spatial organisation of metropolitan development?’ Figure 11 gives the results of this question, the metropolitan area) and the governance indicating the quest for more academic re- dimension (including instruments for region- search into the topic of polycentric metro- al coordination). Particularly the question of politan areas. metropolitan transit and infrastructure, which covers both functional and govern- About 60% up to two-thirds of the European ance dimensions, is on the list for further metropolitan areas demand more research research. Less interest is in the cultural as- into the theme of polycentric metropolitan pects of polycentric metropolitan areas (only

19%), but as we will see below, the urban considered whether responses to the need professionals that are interested in this for research on any of these themes were question tend to be located in metropolitan influenced by the level of spatial fragmenta- areas that are characterised by a high level tion, institutional fragmentation or the loca- of spatial fragmentation (in practice, areas tion of a metropolitan area in Europe. It was that are polycentric, i.e. have multiple urban found that the request for more research on clusters). a) the functional integration between the cities in a metropolitan area, b) successful Those that suggest other themes for aca- regional governance, c) policy instruments demic research list sustainability, the legal- for regional coordination and d) metropoli- institutional framework, urban-rural coop- tan transit and infrastructure was not influ- eration, regional spatial-economic dynamics, enced by any of these variables. In other and instruments to make trade-offs (2x), for words, these needs are universally felt instance to coordinate future retail develop- across Europe. However, the request for ment. Different metropolitan areas, different research on the role and functions of indi- needs? vidual cities within their metropolitan area Source: Shutterstock 12165007 Using binary logistic regression models, we was felt less strong in Eastern Europe than it

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 52 53 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 5 Introduction to the case studies

is in particularly Northern and Western of metropolitan areas in different parts of 5.1 Cases The second criterion was the incorporation Europe. The need for research into ‘local Europe. This suggests some convergence of different types of polycentric metropolitan attachments versus regional identities’ at the European scale, and makes the devel- Across Europe six case studies were con- areas (fusion mode/incorporation mode). turned out to be more strongly (or even opment of a knowledge and research agen- ducted to gain better insights in the chal- Milan and Porto are both ‘incorporation only) felt in metropolitan regions that are da for polycentric metropolitan areas clearly lenges these cities are facing, and to identify mode’ regions as the metropolitan area con- spatially fragmented, or in other words a pan-European affair. The different contexts their knowledge needs with respect to the sists of one central city extending its sphere polycentric in the sense that multiple urban also show that it is worthwhile to comple- theme of polycentric metropolitan areas. of influence over a larger territory. The other clusters can be found in the metropolitan ment the broad overview generated through The in-depth studies complement the more four case studies are ‘fusion mode’ regions area. a general questionnaire with in-depth case generic questionnaire amongst urban pro- since these regions consist of a constellation studies. fessionals. Case studies are written about of multiple central cities that have started to the following six metropolitan areas: become more interwoven, or have the po- 4.4 Conclusion: challenges for tential to do so. It can be assumed that urban practitioners 1. Linköping-Norrköping in Sweden challenges and key questions differ to some 2. Tri-City Region (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot) extent between those different types of The questionnaire that was sent out to the in Poland polycentric metropolitan areas. major cities in the 100 largest metropolitan 3. Mitteldeutschland (including Leipzig, areas in Europe was well-responded to. It Halle, Dresden) in Germany has provided a broad overview of a wide 4. Rotterdam-The Hague in the Netherlands 5.3 Structure of the case studies range of dimensions that are relevant to the 5. Porto in Portugal development of polycentric metropolitan 6. Milan in Italy The case studies serve three objectives. areas including a functional dimension, a First, they are meant to identify the main cultural dimension and a regional govern- During these on-site visits, EMI interviewed challenges that come coupled with the tran- ance/institutional dimension. The knowledge 10-20 key experts and metropolitan stake- sition from monocentric to polycentric urban needs of the respondents indicated that holders located in these metropolitan areas. structures, and to explore which new per- polycentric development and integration These key experts have different back- spectives on solving urban problems arise between cities are important issues that grounds varying from various government when these urban issues are regarded from should be explored and analysed more in- authorities (policy makers at local, metro- a larger, regional perspective rather than a depth within the coming years. There is still politan and regional level), research insti- local perspective. Second, to learn what a lot unknown about the actual dynamics tutes and universities (academics in this cities do to let the (theoretical) potentialities behind metropolitan development and the research field) and (semi)-private organisa- of a polycentric urban structure materialize. way how policies could foster synergies be- tions (amongst other chamber of commerce In practice, this means exploring the level to tween the cities of a polycentric metropoli- or regional investment agencies). See Annex which the individual cities within these tan area. It has shown that even though 1 for a complete list of all interviewees. polycentric metropolitan areas have become polycentric metropolitan areas are becoming integrated. Third, there is the obvious rea- the general type of metropolitan areas in son to identify the knowledge needs of cities Europe (with varying degrees of morphologi- 5.2 Selection criteria with respect to the themes of polycentricity cal polycentricity and different paths of evo- and integration. lution), it is by no means true that function- The six European metropolitan areas have al, cultural or institutional/political contexts been selected on the basis of two criteria. When pursuing the three objectives above of these regions are similar. With some mi- The first is geographic spread across we focused on multiple dimensions of inte- nor exceptions, however, these differences Europe: Figure 12 illustrates the location of gration. These have also been discussed in do not appear to be related to the location the different case studies across Europe. chapter 3, but we re-introduce them here

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 54 55 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 6 Linköping-Norrköping

Figure 12 Geographic spread of selected case 6.1 Introduction to the region which is responsible for health, medical care studies across Europe and starting in 2012 also public transport in Linköping and Norrköping lie in the heart of the region; and the Regional Council (called Sweden, some 200 kilometres southwest of Östsam), which is in charge of regional de- Stockholm. Furthermore, Linköping is the velopment issues, with political representa- capital of the county of Östergötland. It cov- tion from the local authorities­ and the ers an area of about 10.000 km2 and has County Council. approximately 430.000 inhabitants. The region consists of 13 municipalities, of which Both cities and their immediate surround- Linköping and Norrköping are the largest. ings differ substantially. While Norrköping a Both cities have around 130.000 inhabit- traditionally was the larger city and the in- ants. The regional level includes three differ- dustrial and cultural core of the region, the ent authorities: the County Administrative role of the city has declined in the post-in- Board, which is the national government’s dustrial era as some manufacturing firms representative office in the region and also a closed down, as well as several public ser- supervisory authority; the County Council, vices, such as the army. Nevertheless,

Figure 13 Linköping and Norrköping in Sweden

shortly. In the process of metropolisation for governance arrangements at the metro- three different dimensions of integra- politan scale, or an overarching branding tion can be defined. First, there is the spa- strategy of the area. tial-functional dimension which addresses the size and territorial distribution of the Third, there is the institutional dimension of urban centres across the territory as well as integration. Many (spatial) issues these days the functional relations between them (with- call for an approach that is formulated and in the field of labour market, housing mar- implemented at multiple scales and/or ket, amenities, services etc.). Regions that across administrative tiers. Obviously, gov- are highly functionally integrated often func- erning a polycentric urban region is an intri- tion as one daily urban system meaning that cate affair. Putting such multi-level govern- there are many crisscross relations of people ance into practice is a complex task, even if and firms within the region. They are used politicians and administrators agree on its to travel around between the cities that are usefulness. All chapters three of the case part of the broader metropolitan region. studies discuss the three dimensions of inte- gration. Second, the cultural dimension tackles the identification and attachment that people have with the wider metropolitan area. If such a regional identity is present, this can for example be translated into more support Source: Google Maps, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 56 57 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Norrköping and its surrounding towns are attracted to a more ‘metropolitan’ climate Figure 14 Old industrial area of Norrköping, now part of the Linköping University Campus (l) and still home to important transport companies that particularly Stockholm can offer. Linköping Cathedral (r) due to the presence of a large harbour, and Similarly, headquarters of the larger firms manufacturing companies like Siemens (lo- tend also to move out of the region towards cated nearby Finspång). Today, Norrköping Stockholm. The region is unable to provide is recovering from the crisis of the 1970- them with the right business climate, which 80’s. The opening of the Linköping requires the close presence of other deci- University campus in the heart of the city sion-making institutions (private and pub- brought new energy, and the many old in- lic), easy access to highly educated profes- dustrial buildings along the river in the cen- sionals and the support of highly specialized tre of the city now form an attractive atmos- business services. phere for new businesses in the field of – amongst others – media and visualisation. However, the region does have an attrac- Linköping traditionally was the smaller city, tion on families with small children, and but has always been the regional capital. some of the professionals that migrated But with a local economy based on R&D, the before to larger metropolitan areas in University and the Saab airplane manufac- Sweden return in this stage of their life. turing division it has recently taken over the This has much to do with the presence of traditional dominant (economic) position natural assets and good value for money on from Norrköping. Linköping also profited the regional housing market, even though from the decentralisation of public services salaries are about 15% less than in out of Stockholm. Due to its recent growth, Stockholm. The relatively short distance to the city has a less ‘urban’ character than Stockholm also allows an increasing num- Norrköping, with the latter boasting a his- ber of people to commute between the re- toric inner city. gion and Sweden’s capital, while for in- stance also people may go several times a Regional challenges and integration year to Stockholm for shopping. For com- The region and both cities share common panies, strong pull factors of East Sweden problems. First, the region is well devel- are the lower costs for rent and salaries in oped, but shows signs of lower growth num- East Sweden. Some have voiced the idea Source: © Thuresson (l) and Paul Richter (r) bers than the rest of Sweden, in particular that eventually, and dependent on the con- the three larger metropolitan areas in struction of a connecting high-speed rail Sweden, of which Stockholm, Göteborg and link, the region may become part of the For now, both cities are located close to identified above highlight this. The fact Malmo are the centres. Second, there is a wider metropolitan area of Stockholm. each other, without another large city that both cities are situated in the same shortage of skilled labour, which in the near Decision-makers are well aware that this nearby. Due to processes of scale enlarge- county is beneficial for cooperation and is future is expected to grow due to a growing may mean that more employment may be ment, the two cities are functionally inte- stimulated by the Regional Council number of retirements the coming years. lost to the capital if the region is not attrac- grating (for example regarding the labour Östsam. The Council until recently posi- Another problem is the substantial number tive enough, and are trying to be well-pre- market), and the cities feel that coopera- tioned itself as the fourth city region of of graduates (50-60%) that migrates to oth- pared for this stage, amongst others by tion increasingly is a necessity. They joint- Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg and er metropolitan areas in Sweden because joining forces between Linköping and ly developed a common (municipal) level Malmö. But since the fourth position is not they are unable to find sufficient employ- Norrköping. spatial plan, which had not occurred in that distinctive, the region now refers to ment opportunities, or because they are Sweden before. The common problems itself as ‘East Sweden’.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 58 59 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Linköping-Norrköping as case study of regional development issues, with political palities to which the government has trans- The single most important action that has Until recently Linköping and Norrköping representation from the local authorities and ferred certain tasks and mandates. The linked both cities more strongly has been were cities with their backs towards each the County Council. Regional Council allows for cooperation be- the opening of a campus by the Linköping other, with fierce rivalry between them. The tween civil servants and local administra- University in the neighbouring city of last 15 years a shift is going on, however. The County Council is an old institution dat- tors from 13 municipalities and makes Norrköping in the mid-1990s. This is done in Despite their differences the two cities have ing back to the 17th century and is the ad- them aware of the fact that they are part of such a way that the campus is home to started to cooperate, by sharing certain ur- ministrative body of the County of a larger region. It also coordinates external some top research, making it a full-grown ban functions in order to achieve economies Östergötland. It has policy making powers in promotion of the region. In order to do so it campus rather than a subsidiary. The cam- of scale (e.g. public salary administration, the field of health care and, since the start has adopted the strategy to become the pus is also complementary in location: it is fire defence). It is interesting to see how of 2012, public transport. Because the coun- ‘fourth largest city region in Sweden’, with located in the heart of Norrköping’s city cen- cooperation occurs in two cities that are ty encompasses a region which more or less the objective to create a functional region tre. This also leads to further integration very different in character. Strategic devel- overlaps the functionally integrated area of with economic growth and competitiveness. between the two cities. Students are in- opment policies aimed at their integration Linköping and Norrköping, this body helps in They consider it important to achieve con- creasingly required to take courses in the have been in place for several years, so this promoting regional integration. The Council’s sensus between stakeholders in the pro- neighbouring city as well, and free shuttle allows to evaluate its results. Furthermore, health care strategy of specialisation of the cess. The Regional Council is focusing on buses provide for quick and convenient albeit both cities may be relatively small hospitals in the region, aimed at achieving a the following areas of activity: spatial de- transport. from an international perspective, they are more rational spread of health care, effec- velopment planning, culture & creativity yet exemplary for the processes at play tively forces people (patients) to adopt a and entrepreneurship & employability. One can mention some very concrete exam- when relatively equally sized cities start to more regional focus when they require Regarding the latter, Sweden has divided its ples of achieving advantages of scale, which merge together. But very useful knowledge treatment, since not each and every hospital territory into functionally integrated region- is that both cities now share one fire bri- may be gathered there, that could be ap- provides the full array of medical care. Its al labour markets, based on statistics on gade, municipal salary administration and plied at a larger scale too. This is why decision making powers for regional trans- commuting. Östergötland currently consists have arrangements for people who want to Linköping-Norrköping has been selected as a port help to promote commuting within the of two labour markets around Linköping switch kindergartens between the two cities. case study for the research agenda on region as well. and Norrköping. The Regional Council Polycentric Metropolitan Areas. Östsam deploys instruments to promote Another interesting strategy by the private The Regional Council Östsam itself acts as a further integration, and it is expected that sector is the merging of the business clubs platform in which all municipalities of both will merge in the near future. In order of the professional ice hockey team in 6.2 Strategies for regional Östergötland can coordinate their activities. to address the shortage of skilled labour, Linköping and the professional soccer team cooperation and integration The Regional Council was established in the aim is to raise the general educational in Norrköping, thereby avoiding strong re- 2002 based on a new law – Law on coordi- level in the region as well as the skills level gional competition for limited sponsor mon- A distinction can be made between institu- nation entities within the counties – which within specific industries. In addition, effi- ey and allowing for a platform for business tions that are already in place, promoting gave regional bodies possibilities to assume cient matching between skills supply, edu- men and women to meet both in summer regional cooperation and integration, and responsibility for regional development is- cation and labour market demands is also a and winter. specific strategies/instruments that are de- sues. In the Law on coordination entities key issue. The ‘Growlink’ programme caters ployed by these institutions. The regional within the counties it is supposed that mu- to this need. level includes three different authorities: the nicipalities and the County Council jointly 6.3 State of integration County Administrative Board, which is the establish a municipal association that by Next to the activities deployed by these re- national government’s representative office the government becomes appointed as co- gional authorities, there are a number of 6.3.1 Spatial-functional integration in the region and also a supervisory author- ordination entity and as such assumes cer- private or semi-public strategies that have The travel distance between Linköping and ity; the County Council, which is responsible tain national tasks. The Östsam Regional perhaps not been explicitly aiming for re- Norrköping, a distance of about 35-40 km, for health and medical care in the region; Council started its operations on the 1st of gional integration, but that turned out to be can be covered within half an hour, certainly and the Regional Council, which is in charge January 2003, as an association of munici- of great significance for actual integration. by car, and shuttle trains run every 20 min-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 60 61 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 15 a modern train operated by Östgötatrafiken (l) and Linköping City Airport (r) Yet, both cities have developed out-of-town internet, but only ends up with people al- shopping malls that are rather similar. There ready actively searching for this information. is no strong sign of the development of top- level urban functions that build on the criti- While in the past few years the region posi- cal mass of the entire region rather than tioned itself as ‘the fourth city-region in individual cities. The airport discussion is a Sweden’, this was later considered to be not good example. Both cities have airports, sufficiently appealing. There is now discus- with limited connections (to Helsinki and sion about a new ‘brand’ that may unify the Copenhagen from Norrköping, and to region and its inhabitants, and for instance Copenhagen and Amsterdam from ‘East Sweden Business Region’ has come up Linköping), and it could be argued that it is in this discussion. more efficient to operate one airport. A re- cent study advised to merge the two organi- 6.3.3 Institutional integration sations running the airports. However, the The region profits from the fact that it is Source: ©Skistar (r) matter is so politically sensitive that there is part of the same old (17th century) adminis- no discussion about concentrating air travel trative authority – the county, which means on one of the two airports. that there is regional organizing capacity utes next to long distance trains that halter Both cities and their surrounding labour and regional development powers at the at both cities. All interviewees agree that markets have a ‘natural complementarity’ in 6.3.2 Cultural integration scale of the polycentric metropolitan area. the level of interaction between the cities their local economies. Linköping is oriented Despite decreasing feelings of rivalry (that What is more, the regional authority actively has been rising steadily over the years. The more towards R&D, government and other by now is becoming a sort of folklore), there promotes integration, which is not self-evi- just mentioned travel of students between business functions, while Norrköping is is still a threat that these feelings will live up dent. At this moment, there is talk of an the two university campuses is exemplary. strong in avant-garde cultural businesses, again if one city outperforms the other. This enlargement of the county (as part of a re- Also of great relevance here is the soon-to transport and industries. This natural spe- has been the case over the last decades, as gional reform to limit the number of regional expect official statistical merging of the la- cialisation is likely to stimulate economic Linköping was often more on the ‘lucky’ authorities), but this might imbalance the bour markets of Linköping and Norrköping, development in both cities, as the cities to- side, as for instance central government new region and the activities aimed at re- which reflects increased commuting between gether offer a more diverse business envi- organisations were decentralized to the city gional integration. In fact, opinions differ these formerly strictly separate labour mar- ronment, and hence, are able to cater to the (computing centres, military defence, new between Linköping and Norrköping in which kets. Also interaction with cities in surround- diverging locational needs that business university), while in Norrköping manufactur- way the region should be extended, ing regions has been increasing. It was al- have. Linköping and Norrköping are also ing companies were closing down. This gave Norrköping traditionally being more focused ready stated that in the future it could well complementary in their residential environ- rise to same feelings of neglect in on the northern and eastern areas, whereas be that the region will come under the ments and cultural atmosphere. While Norrköping, which had to reinvent itself in a Linköping is more oriented towards the sphere of influence of Stockholm. But also Linköping has a more ‘small-town’ character, way several times in the last decades. south and the west. interaction with other cities such as Norrköping has always been the cultural Jönköping, Örebro and Katrineholm is in- capital of the region with more urban at- Regarding the media, it is interesting to note The regional development policy of the re- creasing. Health care is at this moment mosphere and amenities. It used to be the that both cities have their own journals, gion appears to be adopted by all relevant planned for a larger region including Östsam third largest city of Sweden a century ago. which are in fact owned by the same com- stakeholders, meaning that the regional and Jönköping and Kalmar county. This Today this is enhanced by the industrial her- pany. But apparently, it is not considered coordination has been effective. There ap- might change in the future given the current itage that Norrköping possesses. The sur- important for inhabitants of Linköping to pears to be a well-developed sense of be- discussions on a new regional division in rounding smaller towns and villages offer an learn more about what is happening in longing together and a shared understand- Sweden. attractive environment in particular for fami- Norrköping, and vice versa. Obviously, such ing of the challenges of the region and the lies. information is easily spread through the way forward.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 62 63 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 6.4 SWOT analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

• Natural complementarity: equal size, both economically • Branding of the region (economically and as a (different sectors) as for the housing market (L=more place to live) is not yet developed. suburban, N=more dense and urban) and culturally Less growth of jobs and innovation than on (N offers more qualities and old abandoned factories). average in Sweden. Complementarity limits competition and stimulates • Uncoordinated planning of functions (airport, 6.5 Conclusions out well: albeit there is cultural rivalry (that cooperation. shopping centres), also new joint spatial strategy by now is becoming a sort of folklore), there • The fact that the old administrative region of Östergötland does not aim for increasing development of the Before talking about best practices and is no strong competition. However, when the county captures the functional region of the two cities rather area between the cities. well. This means that formal governmental powers have • Region is too small to be a fully-fledged labour knowledge questions that derived from this issues go beyond this natural complementa- been in place since the 17th century, and hence promotes market and offers too few metropolitan qualities case study, we highlight four main impres- rity and require coordination in spatial plan- regional cooperation. What is more, this regional level of to compete with Stockholm, Gothenburg and sions. Despite differences in history, econo- ning, there is no real cooperation. An exam- government actively strives after regional coordination and Malmö. my, residential qualities and urban amenities ple is the airport, which is such a sensitive integration, and does not appear to be in conflict with the between the major cities Linköping and issue that it is not on the political agenda at cities over competencies. • There is a common strategy and shared understanding of Norrköping, and some rivalry that comes all, and the uncoordinated building of large challenges. with this, the cooperation between them scale shopping facilities at the opposing • Good balance between agglomeration advantages and works quite well. An important reason for sides of both cities. A first step is being set agglomeration disadvantages: both cities are not too small this is that Linköping (the more academic, with a joint municipal spatial plan. and not too big. governmental and suburban city) and • In regional cooperation there is a focus on functional elements, which create bonding and trust. Norrköping (the more historical, industrial Another reason why regional integration • Surrounding villages are often already connected to the and cultural city) complement each other in seems to work is the strong focus on func- region (either Linköping of Norrköping) because of the large a ‘natural’ way. Both naturally focus on de- tional elements. The focus on integrating the share of commuting. veloping their own strengths and this works regional labour markets, through the coop- Opportunities Threats

• Increasing functional integration and successful co-operation • Linköping might become used to success and may in the past allows to address the more politically sensitive forget to anticipate on future developments that issues on the table that require trade-offs between the are unfavourable for the city. Also, when one city cities. is outperforming the other, it may not want to be • Enlarging of the mental maps of people: still, many people associated with that city. If interests of both cities are not looking at the scale of the region when it comes to in co-operation become more imbalanced, the co- jobs. operation may come to an end. • Critical mass of the region is not yet fully exploited: there is • Mismatch labour market: need for skilled scope for organizing more specialized urban functions in the vocational trained people, but people are either region. too highly educated or too low. • The University promotes cooperation between Linköping and • Insufficient region-wide information making Norrköping and further integration is also in their interest. people unaware of the opportunities (for work, • While the region is able to attract students from all over the leisure, shopping) in the region. country and increasingly also abroad, it is not able yet to • Integration with Stockholm might harm the provide them with sufficient (job) opportunities to stay after region, stimulated by the high speed rail link. graduation. Only 50-60% of university the graduates remain Businesses and young people may leave for in the region. There are jobs, but students are attracted to Stockholm at an even higher rate. the big companies that are settled in Stockholm. • Most low hanging fruit is already being picked, • Potential to foster a more regional attitude of people and more politically sensitive issue may come on the firms is not yet fully used – for instance local media could table, but then interest in the common strategy inform people better about opportunities in the wider region may fade. The airport discussion can also become by merging local newspapers and TV-station. a political breakpoint. • Integration with Stockholm might benefit the region, • A lack of an inspiring leader to further stimulated by the high speed rail link. People may leave cooperation. Stockholm and settle in Östergötland, while continue to work • Enlargement of the county might bring in Stockholm. imbalances to the new region. • Shared focus on improving internal transport to further integrate the region. Source: Shutterstock 9026578

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 64 65 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 7 Porto Metropolitan Area

eration within the Growlink initiative, has back offices remain in the region and young 7.1 Introduction to the region course port wine, as well as mechanical in- created stronger working relationships be- families move back, some of them still work- dustry. The accession to the EU, and in par- tween civil servants within the various mu- ing in Stockholm. This creates more interac- Porto is the second largest metropolitan ticular the introduction of the euro, has con- nicipalities. The decision in the mid 1990’s tion with the capital. If this process contin- area of Portugal and located in its northern tributed to the steady transformation of to place a University campus in Norrköping ues, the region needs to compete with other part. Although Lisbon is the capital with all Portugal into a service economy. This does has tightened the bonds between the two suburban cities near Stockholm (most nota- governmental and financial institutions, the not necessarily appear to be to the benefit cities. The new campus stimulated the re- bly Uppsala) but has the disadvantage of northern Portuguese region (ranging from of the Porto region, since the area is home vival of the old industrial town that being located rather far away. The high- in the north to Aveiro in the south) is to many traditional industrial sectors that Norrköping was, putting the old disadvan- speed rail linkage with Stockholm can then the economic powerhouse of the country. A nowadays seem to be a bit overlooked. Yet, taged feelings towards Linköping somewhat become vital in this respect for both cities. large part of the Portuguese research capac- in this era of financial crises, it is clear that to the background. Other initiatives are the By joining forces, Linköping and Norrköping ity is based here and the region boasts the industrial exports of the northern region merging of the two cities’ fire brigades and can become the ‘best of the rest’ after some important industries like the produc- are key to Portugal’s recovery from the cri- the municipal salary administrations. It cre- Stockholm, despite the large distances. tion of shoes, furniture, textile, cork and of ses. Historically Porto is more oriented to- ated trust between the two cities and sup- port for cooperation among citizens, but has In general, the strong role of the public sec- also created a problem: the low hanging tor has a positive influence on the functional fruit has been picked; now they need to integration of the region. The Swedish state think of more difficult issues to integrate has divided the territory into several labour (for example the airport). It could turn out markets, which form clearly defined plat- that moving beyond what are clearly win- forms for cooperation. In the end it is up to win situations and to address several locally the municipalities themselves to use this win-lose situations that have benefits for the platform. In Östergötland this is done region at large may turn out difficult and through the Growlink network. But the gov- may jeopardize regional co-operation and ernmental influence in regional integration is coordination. also noticeable in the sphere of health care. The county of Östergötland has defined a For the long term future, both cities and the strategy for the public regional hospitals and region as a whole are aware of the extra ‘first contact points’ based on complementa- need of cooperation. It is widely acknowl- rity, meaning that every hospital has its own edged that the region in the long run cannot specialisation. The county is also responsible compete with the three major Swedish cities for arranging the regional public transport, Figure 16 (Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö) if good and together with local municipalities there Porto metropolitan cooperation does not position the region is a heavy support for enlarging the modal area in Portugal better, certainly when the region may gradu- split of public transport within the region. ally be incorporated in the wider Stockholm Furthermore, the extensive amount of finan- metropolitan area. A critical issue is that cial support for businesses that are starting Östergötland does not offer the metropolitan up appears to be working well. qualities and quantitative, specialised labour market to match Sweden’s largest cities. The postal addresses and management functions of large (>250 employees) firms are already moving to Stockholm, but often Source: Google Maps, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 66 67 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe wards northern Europe, whereas the focus responsible for the management of Regional Figure 17 A modern landmark in Porto: the Casa da Musica of Lisbon was more on the Portuguese colo- Operational Programmes. Rather, it acts as a nies. regional think-tank, carrying out studies on a wide range of spatial development issues. The municipality of Porto in itself is not very At the local level Portugal counts over 300 large. For some decades it faced heavy sub- municipalities. Their local tax base is limited. urbanisation. In 1991, Porto counted over Direct fiscal transfers from the central state 300.000 inhabitants, but right now the num- account for 85-90% of local revenues. The ber of inhabitants has dropped to around central state thus has a strong influence in 238.000. The metropolitan area as a whole local policy making, while a strong regional is nevertheless growing and counts a large layer is absent. share of relatively young, well educated people. In total it counts around 1,3 million Regional challenges and integration people and consists of a multitude of mu- The region of Porto needs to modernize its nicipalities. Porto is a very polycentric region economy. The current industries mentioned for quite some time already: from the indus- above are focused on serial industrial pro- trialisation onwards Porto served as the ser- duction, while there is a need to base the vice hub amidst industrial ‘new towns’. local economy more on knowledge, research Currently, the area directly around Porto is and R&D. Moreover, the accession to the EU strongly urbanized (including the towns of and the arrival of the euro have not had , Maia, , Vila Nova de overly clear benefits for the northern part of Gaia, Gondomar). In fact, the largest mu- Portugal. European funds have led to invest- nicipality of the Porto metropolitan area is ments in infrastructure and the airport, but not Porto but with more these have not intrinsically changed the na- than 300.000 inhabitants. Around this urban ture of the regional economy. Growth in the Source: © Osvaldo Gago core lays an outer layer of smaller towns service economy is mainly thanks to the rise and more rural areas. of tourism. Moreover, the transition of At the metropolitan scale there is the AMP Portugal to a democratic republic in 1974 led petitors too. Despite these negative process- the harbour together with other industries (Área Metropolitana do Porto), a platform for to the nationalisation of many institutions, es, strengthened by the current euro crisis, started to move out of Porto, more towards the sixteen mayors of the metropolitan area causing many of them to be located in and there are positive aspects as well. As said, the sea. This caused a serious decline in em- that allows for discussion about metropolitan around Lisbon. Porto used to have a strong the Porto metropolitan area is growing, and ployment in the city centre. Second, Portugal policy issues. It does not have any formal banking sector, but because of nationalisa- has a large supply of young labour. With its has a peculiar housing policy that leads to powers. Portugal is divided into eighteen tion policies these were relocated to Lisbon. good entrepreneurial spirit it offers opportu- rather low rents. In large municipalities as districts, of which is one. This process of politically steered centralisa- nities for people with new and innovative Lisbon and Oporto, rents were “frozen” since These districts however lack formal powers tion fuelled the distrust of many people from ideas. 1948. In 1974, rent controls were extended except in the field of public security. The Porto towards Lisbon. But besides these po- to the whole country. Later on (in 1981 and state has also appointed a North Regional litically steered processes of centralisation, Another challenge is posed by the continuing 1985, but also in 1990 and 2006), new legis- Coordination and Development Commission there is also an increasing market force that process of suburbanisation away from Porto’s lation softened these controls. Now, in the (CCDRN), aimed at adding a regional focus steers towards further clustering of services city centre. Both inhabitants and businesses case of new contracts, rents can be freely on national planning and development. (e.g. financial institutions) at a higher spa- leave the inner city and relocate to the sur- established; there is the possibility of an an- However, this body has no official policy tial scale. Not only Lisbon is a competitor for rounding municipalities. There are several nual increase of rents, based on an indicator making competencies, although they are Porto, but Madrid and Barcelona are com- reasons for this. First, several decades ago published by Statistics Portugal; and there

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 68 69 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe are specific measures directed to “old rents”. Porto University is very much rooted in Porto tween local politics and local realities seems to palities to become a member of the AMP. Problematic is that the successive legislative and its health and cultural facilities (hospital lead to the conclusion that regional integration There are some examples of cooperation changes did not have a significant impact on São João, the Casa da Música and does not necessarily have to be followed by, and coordination in the field of metropolitan the “old rents sector”. Low renting prices Foundation), together with the integrative or be preceded by political integration, even if services. The system became mean that house owners have no incentive to function of the Porto Metro, make sure Porto the region’s problems clearly state the need operational in 2002 and operates multiple improve their housing stock, nor money to remains the most central city within the re- for integrated regional governance. Porto metro lines throughout the metropolitan spend on maintenance, and hence the quality gion. But businesses and retail are moving seems to have it all: good road infrastructure area. With these lines there is an increase is downgrading. The result is that anyone more and more to large shopping malls in and a growing airport, a downgraded but po- visible in commuting between Porto and the able to pay for higher quality housing is mov- the suburbs. Each municipality is developing tentially highly attractive inner city, an inte- suburbs, thus contributing to regional inte- ing out, and by now the inner city is inhab- its own mall and increasingly they are com- grated metropolitan labour market, a regional gration. When the opportunity arose to build ited mostly by vulnerable social groups, while peting. Due to the economic crisis, the malls hinterland (the Douro region) that is distinc- the metro, there was a sense of unity within there are also many abandoned buildings, are not faring well, because of their over- tive as a brand, strong human capital, but yet the AMP. Also the extension of the airport particularly in the UNESCO-world heritage supply of retail space and the malls also it fails to reap the benefits due to its weak and development of a cruise terminal were neighbourhood Ribeira. In many other places being rather non-descript and lacking char- regional organizing capacity. supported by all municipalities in the metro- in the world, this district would probably be acter and atmosphere. It would be most politan region. However, the main key to gentrified. A new proposal is now in discus- beneficial for the whole region if these mat- success within these three regionally sup- sion, aiming to develop the private rented ters were to be coordinated through shared 7.2 Strategies for regional ported projects was that the investments market. And third, the surrounding munici- policies on the housing and real estate mar- cooperation and integration were not subjected to political debate. The palities have benefited from a local building kets and for instance a metropolitan devel- airport and cruise terminal were only feasi- tax, which sometimes accounted for 80% or opment plan. This of course does not mean that there are ble at one location, and the Porto Metro was more of the municipal revenues. Hence, the However, the process of suburbanisation has no regional policies involved. Below we high- mainly financed by EU funds. Furthermore, easy supply of suburban housing led to a paradoxical impact on regional integration. light some of the platforms and policies that all sixteen municipalities have decided to strong suburbanisation in the economically On the one hand, as described above, the are being or have been implemented to use the same companies for waste manage- good times, but it also has led to a huge region lacks integration on the political and strengthen regional coherence and regional ment and water supply. oversupply of housing: by now 12.7% of all planning side. Local politicians don’t seem to governance. houses in the Greater Porto area is vacant, be aware of the strength of a coherent met- As mentioned, the CCDRN is a long-standing and in the Porto municipality it is even as ropolitan area. But on the other hand, sub- The Área Metropolitana do Porto (AMP) is effort to regionally coordinate spatial plan- high as 18.8% (figures for 2011). urbanisation has led to a metropolitan area the backbone of the metropolitan region and ning and development. It is the only initia- with a relative similar cultural background consists of sixteen municipalities. It acts as tive thus far that acts on a regional scale This move away from the city centre leads (many people that originally come from a platform on which various regional topics within these fields, but it is no independent to negative developments that require policy Porto). Many people live and work through- are discussed between the mayors. With its regional authority but rather a local agency attention. A metropolitan area needs a out the region and to the outside world; (limited) annual budget of 2 million euro representing the central state. The healthy centre to function smoothly and to inhabitants from the region refer to them- (the municipalities contributing half of the Commission does however produce valuable perform the gateway functions of a central selves as being from Porto. So from a func- amount per year) it performs studies for studies that contain starting points for com- city for its neighbouring municipalities. Yet, tional and cultural perspective, the Porto regional integration, such as a study for dif- mon regional policies and have a role in the the importance of Porto as a gateway is not metropolitan area already functions as a ferent management models for the Porto management of the Regional Operational recognized by the surrounding municipalities quite well integrated metropolitan area. Airport, and the municipalities involved co- Programmes. who prefer to follow their own agenda of operate for EU funded projects. But since Recently another body has been erected development and fail to coordinate large Porto Metropolitan Area as case study the platform does not have any formal re- that is not so much a platform for coopera- scale developments, leading to suboptimal This interesting paradox is an important rea- sponsibilities, it acts more as a political fo- tion, but could rather promotes regional outcomes at the metropolitan scale. son to further study the integration of the rum rather than a decisive administrative integration. The Autoridade Metropolitana However, Porto certainly is no Detroit: the Porto metropolitan area. This mismatch be- body. There are no clear criteria for munici- de Transportes Porto (AMTP) or

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 70 71 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Metropolitan Authority of Transports Porto The metropolitan area as covered by the have started a collaboration in which they in the absence of regional layers of govern- has the task to harmonize the public trans- Área Metropolitana do Porto (AMP) does not make use of each other’s strengths: Porto’s ment, which are common in other port system of the Porto region. The follow- function as one coherent urban area. The university is strong in engineering, architec- Mediterranean countries like France, ing paragraph will detail on this a bit more. urban ring as defined on previous pages ture, telecommunications and health and life and Italy. The Porto region is likewise not (surrounding municipalities that are part of sciences, Aveiro’s university in aeronautics hampered by inter-municipal cultural rival- the same built-up area as Porto) is very well and telecommunications and Braga’s/ ries. Due to suburbanisation and the criss- 7.3 State of integration integrated in terms of commuting patterns, Guimarães’ university in software. This coop- cross patterns of businesses and commuters, but the outer ring of more rural municipali- eration of universities can be linked with the there is a large cultural equality throughout 7.3.1 Spatial-functional integration ties has less strong ties with Porto. The need region’s (traditional) industries to make them the metropolitan area, strengthened by the The current state of metropolitan integration for regional coordination appears to be more competitive. At an even higher scale, fact that the region offsets itself mainly is largely steered by the suburbanisation stronger with the ‘first urban ring’, where Porto envisions to be the centre of part of the against Lisbon (a unifying force), and the patterns that have developed. The move- the high degree of functional integration has northwestern part of the , central role of the strong and successful local ment of businesses and people out of Porto evolved more or less unplanned. The task is within the -North Euregio. soccer team FC Porto within the metropolitan has led to a very integrated crisscross pat- now to coordinate this process better: new area. To highlight this integration, inhabitants tern of commuting patterns. Hence, people services should complement each other and 7.3.2 Cultural integration from the Porto metropolitan region mostly and businesses operate very ‘polycentric’ the municipalities should specialize in at- Portugal is a country in which regional identi- refer to themselves as being from Porto when (undertaking activities at multiple places) tracting certain businesses and services. ties do not play a large role. This is reflected introducing themselves to ‘outsiders’. and you can easily speak of one integrated Between the urban core and the more rural labour market. However, this is supported outer layer there is instead much less func- foremost by car mobility. The role of public tional integration. The urban core is more Figure 18 Ponte Dom Luis I transport is not very significant: the Porto focused on services and industries, while the Metro is relatively recent and does not have rural layer around (Douro region) boasts a fully developed network, and the national attractive landscapes and traditional indus- train network mainly provides connections tries. The urban core can profit more from with towns located further away. Bus con- these rural characteristics by integrating nections are fragmented: state-owned com- both territories better, through better infra- panies compete with private companies and structural connections or coherent (tourist) often have a concession for individual lines promotion. At the moment this is done for instead of coherent areas. The result is that northern Portugal as a whole, but promotion a multitude of operators operate within the at the metropolitan scale might be better for region, often operating lines that overlap, regional integration. For instance, visits to with different tariff systems. The recently the Douro river valley could be promoted in erected Metropolitan Authority of Transports combination with a trip to Porto. (AMTP), an agency established by the cen- tral state, has the task to harmonize public From a larger regional perspective it is pos- transport in the Porto urban area. A first sible to enlarge the functional region by in- step is being set by harmonizing the tariff corporating the cities of Braga and system for the whole region. This could help Guimarães in the north and Aveiro in the the region to integrate, but a more coherent south. Taken together this is the economic public transport network is needed. An ex- powerhouse of Portugal in research and ex- tension is however costly. ports. The three universities from Braga (with a campus in Guimarães), Porto and Aveiro Source: © Mano Darbas

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 72 73 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe electorate either at the local level or the proposal to merge the two authorities that national level, and regional integration is not manage the Lisbon and Porto harbour sepa- something that has a strong impact on peo- rately. By locating the new office in Lisbon, ple’s everyday lives. It means that local poli- the Porto harbour would be controlled from ticians, although in words supporting region- Lisbon. But the Porto harbour is an asset ally coordinated policies, in practice prior- that is of regional importance for the Porto itize the daily problems within their own area, and the proposal would make it very municipalities. These factors largely explain hard to formulate a harbour development why unity for regional projects within the strategy that is beneficial for Porto and its metropolitan area of Porto is only present surroundings. Many aspects that together when it doesn’t affect a municipality in a define the competitiveness of the regions in negative way or when the nature of the pro- Porto are a national competence, such as ject doesn’t allow for geopolitics, as de- the tax system and education policies. scribed in paragraph 2. Future possibilities for metropolitan Role of the central state and governance Source: Shutterstock 23924953 municipalities It is generally perceived that the Área The constitution of 1975 defines three levels Metropolitana do Porto (AMP) should have for the organisation of the government (cen- more competences in order to better fulfil a ‘Porto’ is quite a strong brand name for a First, there is a strong individualistic culture. tral, regional and local), in which the dis- central role within the Porto metropolitan city that in reality is not very large. Porto Cooperation is not something that people, tricts are supposed to be replaced by re- area. At the moment, there is a national has a strong image that is distinctive from and hence policy makers, have grown up gions. However, the regional level of admin- debate, fuelled by the “rescue agreement” other cities, with its distinctive inner city with; also within municipalities there is a istration was never enacted. Instead there is with EC-ECB-IMF, on the organisation of that is on the UNESCO World Heritage list strong separation between the activities of a regional agency representing the central local authorities. The AMP commissioned a and the Douro region around the corner. each policy sector. There have been some state, in the north in the form of the study involving the University of Porto and a Tourist promotion, combined with a regional experiments with public private partnerships CCDRN. A referendum that was held in the university in Madrid to contribute to this perspective from the Douro region, is con- (PPP), but to the public these left a negative 1990s about the creation of a regional body debate, and it suggests transferring respon- sidered to be very useful for the region. taste. These projects (construction of high- with formal powers was voted against. sibilities in the field of education, economic Tourists can revitalize the inner city and ways and hospitals) were associated with Therefore, the Portuguese state in practice development and tourism from the central tourism is growing, thanks to the new air- higher prices that flowed into the pockets of is shaped by the central state and the 300+ government to the level of the AMP. port and connections by Ryanair and other the private operators. municipalities. These municipalities are rela- low cost carriers. Besides being a city of tively large from the European perspective. All in all, this would entail both that the state soccer and port wine, the city wants to pro- Second, local political leaders often have There have been some discussions about and municipalities would transfer some re- mote itself as science city too. As said, this national political ambitions. Politicians with merging municipalities, but the general feel- sponsibilities to the metropolitan level. Within is now done for northern Portugal as a national ambitions are nominated in Lisbon, ing among the population is that merging two years there are local elections, and a whole, but would fit the metropolitan area and once elected often adapt themselves to would lead to municipal services being lo- new national law states that mayors are not very well. the ‘Lisbon way’. Without the presence of a cated too far away. to be appointed for longer than three terms. strong ‘mediating’ regional layer, these dual- As a result, many mayors need to leave and 7.3.3 Institutional integration istic attitudes (local vs. national) become The state’s strong competences can directly a new generation should get an opportunity. The fact that political cooperation within the even more pronounced. All in all, this does limit possibilities for regionally coordinated This could be a decisive moment to discuss metropolitan area is not very well developed not benefit the development of co-operation policies. An example illustrates this best. new responsibilities of the AMP. can largely be explained by two factors. in the region. Politicians are focused at their The government in Lisbon has put forward a

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 74 75 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 7.4 SWOT analysis 7.5 Conclusions structed are facing difficulties. The transition towards a service, tourism and research Strengths Weaknesses Functionally, the metropolitan area of Porto based economy seems to ask for integration

• Good infrastructure (highways), growing airport • Individualistic culture has led to few experiences in is quite well integrated. Due to suburbanisa- from multiple perspectives. At the level of with good (cheap) connections cooperation tion processes the towns directly around the built-up area, cooperation should focus • Porto and the region are well-known, positive • Fragmented public transport system (tariffs; Porto have merged, together with Porto, into on better balancing the development of sub- brands operations) and management limit regional one coherent urban area. People move in urbs and the Porto city centre. From a tour- • Growing metropolitan population, high integration crisscross patterns across the region, which istic point of view, integrated and coordi- percentage of young people and high human • The region’s economy is heavily based on industries skills and high entrepreneurial spirit (but see also opportunities) may be fostered by and continues to foster nated promotion of both urban amenities • The metropolitan area already operates as one • Porto politicians seem unable to influence decision a shared regional identity. To the outside and rural attractions (Douro valley, tradi- functional region (particularly the city and its making at the national level, which is often world, people from all over the region refer tional industries) will benefit the whole met- first ‘sub’urban ring, the urban core), partly favouring Lisbon to themselves as being from Porto. However, ropolitan area. Finally, for economic com- thanks to the development of the Porto metro • Housing and building policies promote building and housing policies promoted sub- petitiveness cooperation is needed on an system uncoordinated suburbanisation of businesses and • Shared cultural identity within the metropolitan people and hamper redevelopment of inner city. urbanisation but at the same time impeded even larger scale. Porto needs to hook up area, thanks to many people suburbanizing from The organising capacity to tackle this is missing. renewal of the central city of Porto. Both with its neighbouring cities of Aveiro in the Porto and the local FC Porto football club • AMP and CCDRN due to lack of competences cannot businesses and inhabitants have moved out south and Braga in the north. The coopera- promote regional integration and cooperation (but and continue to do so. Although the city of tion between the three universities in the see also opportunities) Porto remains the most important centre for region offer a promising start. Linking the services (hospitals), education (the activities of these universities to the entre- Opportunities Threats University) and culture (Serralves, Casa da preneurial spirit in the region (through busi-

• Economic crisis as combined with • Domination of the central state that centralizes Musica), this position is steadily being un- ness-to-research platforms) with a specific entrepreneurial spirit poses opportunities for services. Especially in these times of cutbacks. dermined. A competitive metropolitan area regional focus could help the region to diver- innovation and could create sense of urgency • Businesses that continue to leave (to suburbs, needs a strong urban centre, but the rise of sify and renew its economy. Porto can profit among municipalities to cooperate Lisbon and Madrid) may in term lead to depart of offices and shopping malls in the suburbs at from Guimarães as the current capital of • Large research capacity, also on a larger human skill too, because an attractive central city is the cost of businesses in central Porto and culture. scale: Improve regional economy by linking vital element for competitiveness up northern Portugal and three important • Neglect of the core city (Porto), whose fortunes are the outmigration of people will lead to the universities (in Porto, Braga’s/Guimarães and decisive for surrounding municipalities also. opposite. Regionally coherent policies are A culture of governance is lacking in Porto to Aveiro) • Governance culture and institutional structure needed to balance these developments, but stimulate regional cooperation and coordina- • Tourism can be a vehicle that promotes regional does not allow reasoning from a metropolitan the metropolitan area doesn’t have a fitting tion. Although entrepreneurial, the prevail- integration, especially between urban core and perspective, while this will be increasingly institutional platform to do so. This partly ing culture is also quite individualistic. more rural outer layer (linked with the Douro necessary region) reflects the lack of recognition of the role Therefore, cooperation is not in the ‘genes’ • Platforms like the AMP, CCDRN and the public Porto plays as a gateway to the world for of Portuguese people. The dualistic relation- transport agency AMTP provide opportunities the whole metropolitan areas. ship with the national government in Lisbon for future integration, when granted more adds to that. As said, politicians are either competences Besides the internal process mentioned focused on the national or local (municipal) • Next local elections will see the departure of many mayors. New mayors can bring a fresh above, external pressures also force the level, and the regional perspective loses out new breeze in regional cooperation. region towards more cooperation, coordina- because this has no strong impact on peo- • The traditional industries form a logical basis tion and integration on various levels. The ple’s everyday lives. Although officially sup- for future strategies of smart specialisation, economic crisis has led to a huge problem porting regionally coordinated policies, local in which the traditional industries are to be on the housing market (about 12% of the politicians in practice prioritize the daily modernized. houses in the region are vacant) and shop- problems within their own municipalities. ping malls that have recently been con- This makes it difficult to create a clear inter-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 76 77 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 8 Milan Metropolitan Area

mediate layer of government or governance do Porto (AMP) in the development of a bal- 8.1 Introduction to the region financial, commercial and juridical services, in between. anced metropolitan area (and maybe be- marketing and bio-health. Furthermore, yond), fuelled by the entrepreneurial spirit The Milan Metropolitan Area, also known as Milan is famous for its fashion and design All in all, it seems that the cooperation ef- that always prevailed in the Porto region and ‘Grande Milano’ or ‘Greater Milan’, is the businesses, which are strongly linked to the forts within the metropolitan area of Porto upcoming local elections for mayors two urban agglomeration around the city of textile and furniture clusters in the munici- are coming to a decision point. The current years’ time could offer a road towards re- Milan. The metropolitan area of Milan is palities in the northwest and northern part economic crisis that severely hits Portugal forms and eventually economic growth. But home to 7 million inhabitants. The city of of the region. can be a blessing in that respect, because it the crisis may also lead to further entrench- Milan is its dominant urban core in terms of can create a sense of urgency as never be- ment of the various stakeholders, leading to economy, but in terms of population or terri- The metropolitan area is characterized by a fore experienced throughout the region. A ever more splintered metropolitan govern- tory Milan is rather small with ‘only’ 1,3 mil- high institutional fragmentation. The area joint investment of sixteen municipalities ance. lion inhabitants. Located within the wealthi- includes in total 248 municipalities; all mu- that together form the Área Metropolitana est region of Italy – the region of nicipalities in the and the – Milan is the capital city and it is widely province of e Brianza, 49 municipali- considered to be the driver of the regional, ties in the province of , 43 municipali- and even national, economy. The metropoli- ties in the province of and 45 munici- tan areas’ strong economic sectors include palities in the province of . Dealing with

Figure 19 Milan Metropolitan Area in Italy

Source: Google Maps, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 78 79 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 20 Two of Milan’s main tourist attractions: the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II (l) lower- and middle income households out. Milan Metropolitan Area as case study and the Duomo (r) Also, the negative externalities of uncoordi- The Milan Metropolitan Area is a prototype nated spatial development such as conges- of an ‘incorporation mode’ polycentric met- tion, pollution and a lack of green space ropolitan area, meaning that this polycentric was a driving force of suburbanisation. The area is dominated by a large city that ex- suburbanisation processes have had a tends its sphere of influence to once rather strong impact on the mobility patterns distinct other, but much smaller cities in the within the region. More and more people wider metropolitan area. Milan’s dominance take the car to drive to work, shops or en- is not only in terms of population, but also tertainment, which results in major conges- the fact that Milan is the driver of the na- tion problems. In the region all roads and tional economy. Since Milan is gradually run- rail lines are pointing towards Milan. This ning out of space to accommodate new de- radial infrastructure system causes major velopments, the city is increasingly more problems and solving them is considered a dependent on possibilities offered in the major issue for Milan to remain attractive broader region. This requires Milan and the for people and business. Moreover, the me- surrounding region to cooperate better with tropolis is facing environmental problems each other. since the city is extremely polluted. There is also a lack of recreation green space in The case study is based on in-depth inter- the city. Issues such as ‘liveability’ and views with key-experts in Milan Metropolitan ‘quality of life’ are increasingly important to Area.3 A broad range of actors has been attract high-skilled people or expats to the interviewed; from representatives of gov- the institutional fragmentation in the region tripetal process caused dynamics on the real city, and these issues have been under ernment authorities of three different levels is a main challenge for all authorities. The estate market, leading to very high and rising pressure. Challenges relating to the im- (local, provincial and regional) to academics drastic extension of Milan’s metropolitan area real estate values in the central core. provement of quality of life need to be seen specialized in urban and regional planning during the last decades can be explained by in the context of the transformation of a as well as metropolitan associations. Besides two processes. First, the growth is inspired Regional challenges successful industrial city towards a service- interviews also policy documents available in by the establishment of large industries The Milan Metropolitan Area is facing sev- oriented city, even though industrial activi- English and other documents on Milan’s which caused a growth in population as well. eral challenges. The main challenge for the ties are still an important economic sector polycentric urban structure are used to de- Second, the rise of household income caused region is to remain competitive on a longer of Milan’s economy (OECD, 2006) The velop this case study. high dynamics on the real estate market. term and be attractive for people and busi- strong economic growth of Milan in the last During the process of suburbanisation many ness, especially in the light of the current decades has caused significant problems households from the city of Milan moved economic crisis. From the 1970s onwards such as a lack of available land for new 8.2 Strategies for regional away towards small- and medium sized mu- the population of the city of Milan has been developments and negative externalities of cooperation and integration nicipalities in the surroundings of the city. declining although this process has stabi- growth such as pollution, congestion and a These small villages transform to large sub- lised nowadays due to immigration and lack of affordable housing. The coming Regional strategy urbs which are closely integrated to the daily counter-urbanisation. For the strong subur- years Milan needs to face these challenges The Region of Lombardy defines the (spatial) urban system of Milan. Currently, there is a banisation a multitude of causes can be in order to remain competitive on the long- strategy for the entire region which consists process of counter-urbanisation going-on listed. Firstly, the car made it possible for er term. Obviously, such challenges cross of 12 Provinces and 1546 municipalities. which can be explained by changes in the people to commute to work, allowing them municipal borders and hence cannot be Italian regions are highly autonomous and residential preferences and the rise of house- to reside in the suburbs. Secondly, the ever solved locally, but need a coordinated re- hold incomes. Among other factors, this cen- rising housing costs in Milan pushed the gional response. 3 See Appendix 1 for list of interviewees

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 80 81 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 21 Five urban poles within the Region Lombardy large implications on local land use develop- 2005, is the ‘City of Cities Strategic Project’. ment nor on investment decisions (like big In this project the Province cooperated with infrastructure projects) taken by the the Department of Architecture and Planning European Union, Italian national government of the Polytechnic University of Milan (see and the transport department of the Region Balducci et al, 2011). The name of this report of Lombardy itself. The best way for the ‘City of Cities’ refers to the polycentric struc- Region to steer developments are its compe- ture of Milan’s metropolitan area. The mes- tences on infrastructure development and sage is clear: ‘Grande Milano’ cannot be seen regional public transport. The idea is that as one city but consists of various cities. new connections will improve the (economic) performance of the region and further pro- In total, 248 municipalities are part of the mote regional integration. Surprisingly Milan Metropolitan Area. The municipalities enough, the region has no specific or detailed are small in size and large in numbers, policy or framework for the Milan which creates a patchwork of relative au- Metropolitan Area. The metropolis is just one tonomous areas. The provinces have little of the five urban poles within the region. competences to enforce cooperation be- tween the municipalities. The municipalities Provincial and municipal strategy are relatively autonomous to define their The Region of Lombardy consists of 12 prov- own plans, policies and land use. In prac- inces; two of these provinces are fully part of tice, this often means that each municipality the metropolitan area of Milan and three plans its own industrial area at the outskirts New urban pole Objective provinces (Commo, Lecco and Varesa) are of the centre, which results in negative spill Milan conurbation New transport connections in order to relieve congestion of the existing road partly dealing with the influence of the me- over effects (e.g. noise, pollution) for neigh- network. tropolis. In the case of the Milan Metropolitan bouring municipalities. There is coordination Malpensa Develop a high level and dense urbanisation accompanied by a satisfying Area, the north-eastern municipalities de- between municipalities in the field of social accessibility system. cided to split from the Provincia di Milano by welfare and labour markets. For example

Lodi-Crema-Cremona Develop a main pole for agriculture innovation biotechnologies and food forming a new province: Provincia di Monza e the Piani di Zona which is a zoning plan that tourism Brianza, which became operational in 2009. each municipality has to make to coordinate Italian provinces define territorial policies in welfare delivery, overlooked by the province. -Mantova-Venezia Develop better airport connections. which they can protect agricultural land and This form of coordination is obliged by law, Lomellina- Make optimal use of new transport projects (e.g. TEN railway system regulate infrastructure programming and and hence does not reflect pro-active initia- Genova-Rotterdam). Develop Novara as a complementary pole of Milan in environmental issues. Due to reforms in the tives for inter-municipal cooperation. The terms of jobs and service functions light of the economic crisis, the central gov- Accordo di Programma is another tool that is Source: Regione Lombardia, 2011 ernment plans to drastically reduce the role frequently being used to implement public- of the provinces. The Provincial parliaments private projects in a coordinated way. This have strong competencies as regards the the five new poles which are introduced in will not be directly elected anymore but need administrative procedure allows municipali- coordination of spatial planning, transport the plan. By pursuing the development of to act more as regional platforms for coop- ties to bypass differing policies or regula- planning, health and education. The various urban poles spread throughout the eration. The provinces have mainly a coordi- tions and coordinate public and private ac- Lombardia Territorial Plan aims to promote a territory a more equal development of the nating role with limited powers and they do tivities in complex decision making process- polycentric structure of the region by assign- region is aimed for to counterbalance the not have much powers to steer land use de- es. The frequent use of the Accordo di ing strategic areas that should be developed dominance of Milan. However, this plan is a velopments. An important strategy for re- Programma reflects a tendency for pro-ac- into new urban poles. Figure 21 illustrates purely strategic document and does not have gional cooperation that was launched in tive cooperation between public and private

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 82 83 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 22 The old town of (l) and the Parco di Monza (r) are two regional assets Province of Milan and other public entities. are oriented towards Milan, but they are not These organisations will be mentioned in as fully integrated in the metropolitan area this report later on in more detail. Key mes- as the territories of the provinces. Those sage is that although they perform activities cities often have a specific history and offer that support a metropolitan thinking, they qualities in their territories that are not don’t have the scope and capacity to de- present in the two provinces, such as for velop fully fledged metropolitan develop- example the historical city of Bergamo and ment strategies. Como, which is located at the edge of the Alps and the touristic Como Lake. Another explanation of less functional relations 8.3 State of integration between Milan and cities such as Varese, Novarra and Lodi is the distance between 8.3.1 Spatial-functional integration them. The city of Bergamo pursues a policy The extent of spatial-functional integration of complementarity with regard to Milan, Source: © Ashley Pomeroy (r) within the Milan Metropolitan Area differs and to do so cooperate with smaller towns for various scales. A distinction can be around the city (‘Bergamo Grande’) to made between four levels of scale. On improve transport and coordinate services. actors. It is, however, not a proof of more nicipalities. The strategies and policies are the megacity scale Milan and Turin are The three airports that serve Milan are coordination between different municipali- often tied to specific sectors such as land- considered to be part of one urban system. located at this scale (Malpensa, Linate and ties. use planning, transport or economy. There is The cities cooperate with each other since Orio al Serio) and these are all operated a lack of coordination and cooperation be- they both have important functions in terms by the ‘SEA Aeroporti di Milano’, a good Metropolitan strategy? tween these separated departments. of research, commerce and fairs. There is not example of coordination at this scale. The Across Europe various metropolitan authori- Although the Lombardy Region has defined (yet) much information available about this city of Bergamo, however, pursues a strategy ties appear, but there is not one formal or an overarching spatial strategy which is a megacity scale, but the exact relationships that should direct passengers more towards informal institute at the level of Milan guidance for lower tiers of government, it between both cities are being studied. The Bergamo, instead of the airport simply being Metropolitan Area. In Italy there is not any does not have the competences to imple- second scale roughly encompasses the a terminal for passengers to Milan too. In policy stimulating metropolitan governance ment this strategy. Furthermore, the coordi- Province of Milan, the Province of Monza e order to do so it has recently changed the (yet). In the early 1990s a law was put in nating role of the Province of Milan is heavily Brianza and the larger cities that are located name of the airport from ‘Milano Orio al place for the development of metropolitan undermined due to the dominance of the around both provinces such as Varese, Serio’ to ‘Bergamo Orio al Serio.’ areas, but the law was never implemented city of Milan and limited competences. At Novarra, Lodi, Lecco, Como and Bergamo. The third scale encompasses the Province (Dell’ Agnese and Anzoise, 2011). If such a the moment, regionally coordinating efforts From a functional perspective both provinces of Milan and Province of Monza e Brianza. A law was adapted, it could have formed the are pursued by more informal means of mu- are highly integrated in the metropolitan diversity of locally rooted economic clusters basis for more equal and institutionalised nicipal cooperation. The Milano Metropoli area of Milan whilst the surrounding cities is home to these territories (see Table 3). cooperation in the metropolitan area. For agency is a platform for cooperation and the moment cooperation is still dependent handles the interests of the municipalities Table 3 Economic clusters in the surroundings of Milan on voluntary efforts of the different govern- around Milan. At the moment, its focus is on

ment levels. Such efforts, or policies for co- small, acupunctural projects within the North of Milan ‘Brianza region’ Furniture operation, have been developed by the Province of Milan. Centro Studi PIM is an Region of Lombardy, the provinces and the organisation erected in the 1960s with a North-East of Milan ‘Vimercate’ Communication, media, ICT

municipalities. Many of the strategies for similar objective. They deliver scientific- North-South of Milan ‘’ Textile, elector mechanical industries regional cooperation are related to the com- technical and operational support towards petences of the region, provinces and mu- the associated municipalities as well as the South of Milan Agro-food business

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 84 85 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe These businesses are often characterised number is four. The growth of jobs can be sation and there were actually plans to relo- beyond the influence of the municipality of by a small size, family-oriented structure explained by an autonomous growth of busi- cate the Museum of Contemporary Art and Milan itself. Besides these success stories, and local orientation. They are lacking nesses outside Milan and because of the several university campuses to places out- other attempts to decentralize metropolitan a managerial culture and many of these suburbanisation of businesses out of Milan side the city. In the end these plans were functions failed. For instance, the building of businesses compete with each other at this (such as the large retail stores). This subur- not implemented. In fact, it marked the another new university campus in local scale, while in the light of globalisation banisation also holds true for other urban start of a new phase of centralisation. A Gorgonzola failed. The municipality of Milan it would make sense for them to cooperate functions, despite the fact that Milan is re- good example is the effort the municipality extended a metro line to the proposed site and compete at a more global scale. In order luctant to see them leave. Although various of Milan put in attracting the broadcasting of the campus. At the end, the campus was to remain internationally competitive, it is scales can be identified, this case study fo- company Sky to the city. In this case there never realised and the site remains empty. deemed vital to induce scale enlargement in cuses mostly on the scale that includes was a clear competition between Milan and An adverse situation for both municipalities; these businesses by letting them cooperate Milan and its suburban hinterland, i.e. the municipalities in the north-eastern part of the municipality of Gorgonzola has to deal and compete with foreign businesses instead. territory corresponding with the Province of the area where more media-related compa- with empty land around the station that Milan and the Province of Monza e Brianza, nies are clustered. As long as there is still they cannot develop and the municipality of The economic integration at this scale is far while occasionally referring to cities in the place for new developments in Milan the Milan invested in the extension of a metro- from perfect, and cross-sector connections layer around the third scale level. process of centralisation will continue. For line and in land around the station while can be further developed. While there is economic reasons as well as symbolic rea- they cannot earn their investments back much interrelationship (commuting, busi- Metropolitan functions sons Milan wants to have investments of the since the campus is less likely to be build. ness links) between the suburban towns and Milan is making use of the critical mass of real estate sector within their territory. The Milan, there is quite little interaction be- the broader metropolitan area. Only 15 per- strong competition between the municipali- Mobility and transport tween the suburban towns. Moreover, the cent of the total population actually lives in ties can be explained by their fiscal prob- Each day, Milan effectively doubles in size by suburban area offers little variation in the the city of Milan and consequently Milan lems. The municipalities have less tax-in- incoming commuters. Mainly motorised traf- housing market and has few regionally im- strongly depends on its surrounding region. come, but can earn substantial amounts fic such as cars and the famous Italian portant services or attractions. The only The main metropolitan functions, such as for money by giving planning permissions for scooters are entering the city. The munici- exception is Monza, with its historic centre, example (inter)national headquarters and new developments. This partly explains why pality of Milan has recently imposed a road the Villa Reale (albeit empty now), the Parco high-end cultural amenities, are still located municipalities pay more attention to local price system for the inner city in order to di Monza en the Monza racing circuit. within the city. The policy of the municipality rather than regional interests. discourage people to enter the city with the Increasingly, large retail stores are develop- of Milan strongly focuses on keeping the car. Milan did not notify the surrounding ing next to highways, in response to the high-end functions within its borders. This The replacement of the fair of Milan to the municipalities about their decision to intro- rising land prices in the city of Milan. leads to continued agglomeration of high- adjacent municipality of Rho might be a first duce a road price system. This is remarkable end urban functions in Milan, thus raising sign of a changing attitude of the municipal- because they are particularly dealing with The fourth scale is the city of Milan itself. land and housing prices in the already ity of Milan. Also some university faculties the consequences of the road pricing. People The city is the ‘immaterial centre’, the meet- crowded city. Low-end functions, like large- have left the city for a location in one of the are parking their cars in these municipalities ing place and international marketplace, as scale retail, are therefore gradually pushed surrounding municipalities. The medical fac- and take public transport from there to get well as ‘material centre’ for services in the outwards to the suburbs. The result is that ulty of Bicocca University has moved to into the city. Consequently, this causes more field of finance, insurance and marketing. A disparities between Milan and its surround- Monza, and another faculty is planned to be congestion in these neighbourhoods and a higher growth rate of jobs in the suburban ings will gradually exacerbate. moved to Desio. The philosophical faculty of high pressure on the available parking plac- area seems to hint at more balanced devel- the San Rafaelle University is housed in es. opment within the region. This is supported Since the crisis the municipality of Milan is Cesano Moderno. These developments Within Milan Metropolitan Area regional and by the fact that commuting out of Milan is especially very keen on maintaining and strengthen the relationships between Milan local public transport is badly integrated. relatively growing. Twenty years ago, Milan attracting new metropolitan functions to its and its suburbs. There was, however, no Public transport is underused at a regional had only two outgoing commuters for every territory in order to remain competitive. A metropolitan development rationale behind scale due to lack of integration between the ten incoming commuters and nowadays this decade ago there was a period of decentrali- these developments, since they happened various transportation options. Especially

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 86 87 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 23 Map of Metro network of Milan

structure of Milan as for now all roads are within the Milanese metropolitan area. While pointed towards Milan in a radial pattern. Monza and Milan are very much integrated The promotion of a more concentric rather from a functional perspective, there is no than radial infrastructure pattern will reduce metro line running to and from Milan to the travel time between various parts of the Monza city centre. Instead, this M1 line region. It is, however, unknown when the stops in the middle, at . Pedemontana highway will actually get im- It would make sense to lengthen it towards plemented. The highway is an initiative and Monza, but the municipality of Monza is project of the Region of Lombardy without hampering this process. At the moment, an involvement of the municipality of Milan. extension of the metro line is under con- struction but the line will bypass the city 8.3.2 Cultural integration centre of Monza. With regard to the cultural integration within From a marketing perspective, the ´brand´ the region, Milan has a quite homogenous Milan is quite strong due to the city’s history Source: © Jcornelius cultural identity. Cultural differences within as important industrial city and its current the metropolitan area gradually have been economic position. Businesses located in the the connection between the national/region- able to continue their journey beyond Milan. mitigated due to increased functional inte- surroundings of Milan are generally making al trains and the city’s public transport (e.g. Criticism has been given to the new gration and suburbanisation the last dec- use of this brand. However, this brand is not metro, trams, and buses, operated by the Milanese transport plan which mainly focus- ades. Many people that do not live in Milan (yet) translated into one coherent marketing Milanese municipality) is weak. Additionally, es on improving the connections within the but for example Sesto San Giovanni, will say strategy of the Milan Metropolitan Area. The regional trains also run on low frequencies. city rather than improving the connections to the people from outside that they are Universal Exposition ‘Expo 2015’ in Milan The current infrastructure system of Milan with the broader region. While precisely this from Milan. Especially immigrants, which could be an important event to spur this hampers a further regional integration. The regional perspective in (rail) transport be- make up an ever increasing share of the regional marketing identity. This upcoming city of Milan is trying to tackle this by build- comes increasingly necessary to combat population of the metropolitan area, have no exhibition poses opportunities for more co- ing parking spaces near metro stops at the traffic jams and promotes the development connection to ‘old’ local identities. For them, ordinated efforts towards a joint regional outskirts of the city and by extending the of sites outside the city for new services. the whole metropolitan area (and even be- marketing identity. Official institutional part- three metro lines to surrounding municipali- There are plans to erect a regional transport yond) is referred to as Milan. ners of the Expo are the city and Province of ties. For example the red line towards the authority that should integrate the regional Milan, the Lombardy Region and the national municipality of Sesto San Giovanni and Rho transport operators. A further integration of This situation differs for the municipalities in Ministry of Economics and Finance. Until (location new fair) and the green line to- local and regional trains into a one ticket the northern part of Milan with historic cities now, the event is largely focusing on the wards Abbiategrasso (see Figure 23). system would be an ideal situation. For now such as Monza and Brianza. Traditionally opportunities that Milan provides. Remarkable is the investment of private the Milan transport operator (ATM) has a there is a strong local identity present in this Surrounding towns and municipalities, with- money in the extension of the green metro standardized ticket that is valid in buses, area and the local inhabitants often oppose in the Province of Milan and beyond, are line to the south. By providing a better con- trams and metro. themselves to Milanese domination. The now developing their own strategies to pro- nection with the surrounding municipalities There are also plans to improve the road Monza region is traditionally home to more mote their territories, while a coordinated the change might be that people move out infrastructure within the region. For exam- prosperous people and this allows them to effort could prove more valuable. Also the of the centre of Milan to the end of the lines. ple, the Pedemontana is a new highway in be more independent from Milan. Their own city of Bergamo wants to profit of the up- The Passante is a new underground rail line the north of Milan’s metropolitan area that identity was the main reason for a group of coming Expo 2015 and is therefore develop- that connects various terminus stations with will improve the east-west connection. This municipalities in the Brianza region to split ing a strategy to draw more attention (and each other (see the blue line in Figure 23). highway also connects Malpensa airport with away from the Province of Milan and erect tourists) to the city. The line is developed to improve the region- the airport of Bergamo. The highway is likely the Province of Monza e Brianza. This deci- al rail infrastructure. Regional trains are now to reduce the pressure on the (road) infra- sion hampers a future regional integration

Sustainable Urban Mobility 88 89 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 8.3.3 Institutional integration tive, and today has a much wider perspective cation of services. But the fact that each to stimulate coordination and cooperation The decisions of the municipalities to split than brownfield redevelopment. Milano municipality has developed its own office across scales and sectors, but their activities from the Province of Milano to form the Metropoli is a development agency with vari- parks does lead to negative externalities for have relative little impact. At the moment Province of Monza e Brianza is characteristic ous public shareholders that tries to stimu- neighbouring municipalities. Centro Studi the problems of metropolitan governance or for the extent of institutional integration late coordination between the municipalities. PIM aims to avoid this kind of problems by governance coordination have not been within the metropolitan area. Municipalities Various municipalities around the city of integrating the different plans. The activities solved yet. In any case, there is not a single have problems with the dominant role of the Milan are member of the organisation as well of Milano Metropoli and Centro Studi PIM metropolitan authority responsible for a fu- city of Milan and prefer to be on their own. as Province of Milan and the Milan Chamber show that there are interesting experiences ture integration of the entire region. Because of the many small municipalities of Commerce. But the fact that the city of that are located around Milan and their frag- Milan is not participating as a partner does 8.4 SWOT analysis mented spatial planning policies, there is no not help institutional integration in this re- strong need for Milan to cooperate with spect. Milano Metropoli does not formulate Strengths Weaknesses them to ‘get things done’. Instead, Milan policies, but links together the municipalities • Strong functional integration in terms of housing • There is little sign of awareness that ‘what is prefers to cooperate directly with the re- through various projects in (amongst others) market and labour market. good for Milan is good for its surroundings’ and gional authority and the national govern- land use, marketing and industrial services. • Complementarity of economic sectors within the vice versa. region (Milan: city of design and fashion with • Hierarchical way of working between layers of ment in Rome. The lack of cooperation be- The shareholders provide capital for individu- furniture and textile clusters in the surroundings). government which causes a lack of coordination tween Milan and its direct neighbouring mu- al projects, but for stability reasons the • Milan is the focal point of the region and an and collaboration. nicipalities is therefore not so much caused agency is thinking about regular fees. The international gateway for local economic clusters. • Large amount of small municipalities with by a political cleavage such as left and right activities of these intermediate bodies are • Strong (inter)national brand of Milan and important individual land use plans, which leads to wing politicians or differing stakes. Instead, very much project-oriented and do not (yet) driver of the national economy. fragmented spatial planning and negative externalities. it is caused by the fact that Milan is so dom- have a strong impact on policy development. • There appears to be strong local competition inant that, for their own territory, they can Better coordinated efforts should also be pur- between firms (often family-oriented and lacking operate independently from neighbouring sued within the field of business services. At a managerial culture), instead of reaping the municipalities. The new mayor of Milan who the moment the Chamber of Commerce op- benefits of clusters together. is elected in May 2011 is more open for co- erates at the provincial level, but in practice • The regional public transport system is not well integrated with the Milanese public transport operation which might change the institu- all municipalities have their own regulations. system; trains run on too low frequencies. tional situation slightly. This is confusing for firms that want to estab- lish themselves in the region. Opportunities Threats One of the reasons why there is not a strong institutional integration within the region is Another example of intermediate bodies that • Milan starts thinking and acting beyond their • Negative externalities in Milan such as pollution, the hierarchical relation between the three aim to stimulate coordination and coopera- municipal borders (see example fair and extension congestion, lack of affordable housing require a of metro lines). regional approach, but the conditions for such tiers of government. There is limited coop- tion within the region is Centro Studi PIM, • Suburbs could become less dependent on Milan an approach are hardly present. eration between the region, the provinces which is an organisation that is erected in since they experience a relatively higher growth of • Continuing institutional fragmentation, such and the municipalities. Within the Milan met- the 1960s by several municipalities. They employment than Milan. as splitting up the Milan province in 2009, ropolitan area, voluntary cooperation gained deliver scientific-technical and operational • Expo 2015 can create a stronger regional marketing and a lack of a culture of cooperation makes momentum in the early 1990s. The redevel- support towards the associated municipali- brand. metropolitan governance complicated. • Strong feeling of urgency to improve the • Lack of space for new development in Milan, opment of brownfield sites was one particular ties as well as the Province of Milan and oth- infrastructure system (road and rail) in order to and continued policies for centralisation of theme on which municipalities started to co- er public entities. One of their main tasks is reduce congestion (counts mainly for Region of higher-order urban functions may hamper their operate, since brownfields became an in- to coordinate the local spatial plans of vari- Lombardy). development. creasing phenomenon around Milan due to ous municipalities although there are not • Future governance arrangements can build on the deindustrialisation processes. The Milano any significant market failures such as an activities of existing inter-municipal platforms such as Centro Studi PIM and Milano Metropoli. Metropoli agency was born out of this initia- extreme oversupply of office space, or dupli-

Sustainable Urban Mobility 90 91 Sustainable Urban Mobility 8.5 Conclusions actual implementation of all proposed infra- tion platforms is a sign of its individualistic that stimulates cooperation between munici- structure projects whether or not the situa- behaviour. palities and make integrated policies that The city of Milan seems to make use of the tion will change within the coming years. Overall, it would be wise for Milan, as well enhance the region as a whole. This re- critical mass available in the broader met- Moreover, it is questionable whether it is as other cities, to recognise the crucial role quires, however, more insights in the actual ropolitan area. The concentration of high- wise for Milan to put much effort in main- other municipalities play in the broader met- benefits of stronger functional, cultural and end business services, high-level cultural taining central urban functions within its city ropolitan region. A process should be started institutional integration of the region. amenities and important (governmental) borders, as the surrounding areas present institutions makes the city important, also development opportunities that may allow on the international stage. The surrounding these urban functions to perform better. The municipalities have few resources to com- opening of a trade fair outside of Milan is a pete with Milan since their offer of housing case in point. On the longer term, the city is quite undiversified and they have little will increasingly lack available space for new regionally important services to offer. So, it developments and nowadays it is already seems that Milan ‘borrows size’ from its dealing with many negative externalities of surroundings and not vice versa. Although growth, such as pollution, congestion and a Milan is the undisputed central city of the lack of affordable housing and public green northern part of Italy, it is questionable spaces. whether the city can hold this position without using the opportunities provided by The Milan Metropolitan Area is integrated in its wider metropolitan area. There appears term of cultural identity and marketing. to be a lack of understanding of the impor- People and firms consider themselves as tance of the city and the region for each being part of Milan. Only the municipalities other, which is reflected in the lack of co- in the Province of Monza e Brianza prefer to operation at the metropolitan scale, and be autonomous and do not share the the at times individualistic operation of the Milanese identity. The regional identity can city. be enhanced by better exploiting the oppor- tunities offered by for example the Expo The Milan Metropolitan Area is spatial-func- 2015. The institutional integration is lacking tionally integrated with regard to the labour behind in the metropolitan area of Milan. market, the housing market, business rela- Municipalities, the provinces and the region tions and amenities. Due to the complemen- all work in quite a hierarchical way and tarity of the different economic sectors pre- there is no metropolitan coordination within sent in the region there are strong linkages. the area. The municipalities are small in size Since economic clusters are an important and large in numbers, which creates a asset of the region, their potentials should patchwork of relative autonomous areas. At be regionally exploited. Regional policies the same time, provinces have little compe- could let to more functionally integrated tences to enforce cooperation between the clusters and better overall competitiveness municipalities. Metropolitan coordination is of Milan Metropolitan Area. Furthermore, being pursued by voluntary and intermedi- there are initiatives taken to enhance a fur- ate institutes such as Milano Metropoli, but ther functional integration of the region by their actual influence is rather limited. The reducing the congestion. It depends on the fact that Milan is not part of such a coopera-

Sustainable Urban Mobility 92 93 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 9 Tri-City Region (Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot)

9.1 Introduction to the region Warsaw, is located at 300 km distance, and Poznan is 250 km away. This implies that The Tri-City Region in Poland is located at there are no larger urban centres in the wid- the Baltic Sea. As the name Tri-City Region er area surrounding the Tri-City region, also implies, the region consists of three major making it the undoubted core urban area of cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. Gdańsk is its region. the capital city of the Pomeranian Region; one of the sixteen Voivodeships (regions) in The Tri-City Region counts nearly one million Poland. The three cities are closely located residents: Gdańsk counts 450.000 residents, to each other with a distance of 22 km from Gdynia 250.000. The population figures for the city centre of Gdańsk to the centre of the three cities are in decline due to subur- Gdynia, with the city of Sopot in between banisation, a process that is partly triggered (see Figure 24). The capital of Poland, by the availability of affordable housing in

Figure 24 The Tri-City Region in Poland

Source: Google Maps, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 94 95 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe suburban towns and villages. The population nomic hinterland led to a deep economic Figure 25 Polycentric structure of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the metropolitan region as a whole, in- crisis for Gdańsk. After the Second World cluding several suburban towns, is rather War, Gdańsk became part of the People’s stable. The Tri-City Region is the largest Republic of Poland. The city was resettled by academic and scientific centre of northern a Polish population, itself mostly expelled Poland as well as the main cultural centre. from the pre-war Polish eastern territories Gdańsk appears to be the leading city but annexed by the . In economic Gdynia is a strong competitor with a compa- development terms, a special impetus was rable economic and demographic profile. given to the extension of the port and indus- The health-spa and tourist resort Sopot is trial sites, notably the shipyards. The com- one of the richest cities of Poland and is the munist central state decided to foster devel- residence of several key figures of the Polish opment in Gdańsk as well as in Gdynia. This cultural and political elite. The profile of the resulted in the fact that both cities grew cities is strongly determined by the history spatially together, with the city of Sopot of the region. in-between them (Tölle, 2008).

History Tri-City Region as case study The history of the region is highly relevant This case study discusses the polycentric for understanding the dynamics within the development of the Tri-City Region by de- region. In the 19th and early 20th century scribing the state of the art of the integra- Gdańsk and Sopot were part of different tion of the three cities into one metropolitan administrative forms managed by Polish and area. Gdynia is developed to be the com- German rulers. After the First World War petitor of Gdańsk and therefore it is inter- Gdańsk (German name Danzig) came under esting to analyse the role of cultural identity the sovereignty of the League of Nations. in this region. The case study is based on The ‘Free City of Danzig’ was a semi-autono- in-depth interviews held with the key-actors mous city-state that existed between 1920 within the Tri-City Region during a three Source: Pomeranian Voivodeship, 2009 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port days visit to the region.4 Moreover, policy of Danzig and surrounding areas (amongst documents and (academic) papers about the others Sopot). Due to the troublesome col- region are used for this study. regional government is rather weak since they the cities. Since the regional government can- laboration over the joint use of the port of do not have much (financial) means to steer not directly interrupt development processes Gdańsk the new Polish government quickly developments. In 1998 the act on regional they cannot force the actual implementation decided to build its own port, and chose as 9.2 Strategies for regional government has been adopted and sixteen of the plan at the local level. its location the then little Polish seaside re- cooperation and integration Voivodeships (regions) were assigned in sort village of Gdynia. Gdynia was to be- Poland. The regional authority is responsible The main objective of the ‘Spatial come the maritime capital of the Second Pomeranian Region for the European Union regional development Development Plan for Pomeranian Polish Republic. The city was being built After the reform of Poland in 1989 a process policy programmes, such as the Regional Voivodeship’ (approved in 2009) is to shape from scratch and grew quickly from 6.000 to of decentralisation started which gave the Operational Program 2007-2013, and the a functional-spatial structure of the region in 250.000 inhabitants. While Gdynia devel- local government level substantial powers. In preparation of the Regional Development order to “create favourable conditions for oped into a power symbol for a reborn comparison with the local government, the Strategy till 2020. The Pomeranian Region balancing utilisation of spatial qualities, val- Poland, the emergence of a competing port mainly focuses on developing strategic guide- ues and resources with economic growth,

right on its doorstep and the loss of its eco- 4 See for a list of interviewees Appendix 1 lines for the region that should be followed by higher standard and quality of life and per-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 96 97 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe manent preservation of natural environmen- the National Assembly. This act defines a Figure 27 Example of joint regional project within the Tri-City Region tal values” (Summary; p.7). The plan em- new mode of governance for metropolitan phasises the role of the Tri-City Region and areas and gives regional authorities compe- its polycentric diversity with regard to the tences to prepare a more detailed spatial competitiveness of the entire region. Figure development plan for Polish metropolitan 25 illustrates the hierarchy of centres, ag- areas. In 2003 the Marshall Office of the glomeration area and functional urban areas Pomeranian Region initiated a ‘Metropolitan in the Pomeranian Region. In this document Board’ with the aim of stimulating the inte- the centre hierarchy is defined as follows: gration of the cities within the Tri-City re- Gdańsk is the supra-regional centre, Gdynia gion. Representatives of the Pomeranian the agglomeration centre and Sopot is an agglomeration supplementary centre. The Region and the cities are present at three cities are all part of one larger func- these meetings. The board is not a legal tional urban area. Noticeable is the hierar- institution but is based on voluntary chy made between the three cities rather participation of the cities. In addition to than defining the cities as one supra-region- the ‘Metropolitan Board there is an ‘Expert al centre of the region. Council’ that consist of several experts that come together every two or three weeks. Metropolitan planning The aim of the council, established in According to the Polish Planning Act defined 2011, is to push forward cooperation at the in 2003 the marshal of the Voivodeship metropolitan level. should prepare a special planning document for metropolitan areas which is more de- tailed in comparison with the plans for the Figure 26 Members of the Gdan´ sk Metropolitan entire Voivodeship. The same act also de- Area Association (l: communes, clares that the borders of metropolitan areas r: counties) should be indicated in the National Spatial Metropolitan Area Associations Gdańsk Metropolitan Area, and on their turn, Planning Concept and in first instance only Taken into account the growing attention for Gdańsk did not want to use the name Warsaw was indicated as a metropolitan metropolitan areas at national level, the city Gdańsk-Gdynia Metropolitan Area. Gdańsk area. Last years the Polish government rec- of Gdańsk decided in 2011 to initiate a met- argued that they have a much stronger (in- ognizes more ‘metropolitan areas’ across ropolitan area by themselves by setting-up ternational) brand in comparison to Gdynia. Poland, and they also acknowledge the Tri- the Gdańsk Metropolitan Area Association. Another reason why they do not join the City Region as one of them. These metro- The association consist of 35 communes, same metropolitan association is the poor politan areas are selected on the criteria to including municipalities (see Figure 26 for all (personal) relations between the two may- be strong centres of entrepreneurship and members of the association). From the out- ors who barely work together. innovation influencing both Poland and sider perspective, and in contrast with the Europe. As a metropolitan area the Tri-City Spatial Development Plan of Pomeranian The aim of the Gdańsk Metropolitan Area Region does receive more attention but no Voivodeship (2009), it is surprising that Association is to create an attractive market additional funding. To stimulate the metro- Gdynia is not part of this metropolitan area. for investors in the region and to stimulate politan areas across Poland, the national One of the reasons why Gdynia did not want the integration of the labour market, educa- government proposed a Metropolitan Act in to be part of the Gdańsk association is the tion and business (Municipality of Gdańsk, 2008, but this act is not (yet) adopted by Source Gdan´ sk Metropolitan Area Association, 2011 name. Gdynia did not want to be part of the 2012). The members of the association pay

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 98 99 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe a fee in order to create commitment and to this is not an easy task. Since the spatial Figure 28 Picture of the old city of Gdan´sk (l) and a more classic ship in the city of Gdynia provide the association with financial means. development plan is not an act of local law, Every month there is a meeting with the the plan can only relate to issues of supra- Management Board of the Gdańsk local and regional importance. The munici- Metropolitan Area Association which consist palities must follow these regulations in of nine people with the Marshal of Gdańsk their local planning documents. as the chair. Municipalities and communes are making their own spatial plans and there is not As a reaction on the Gdańsk Metropolitan much inter-municipal or regional integration Association, Gdynia started their own metro- between these plans. Still, there are some politan association with cities in their sur- promising first signs of cooperation between roundings, called ‘Norda’. The collaboration the policy-makers of the three cities. For with these municipalities is mainly focused example, the joint efforts to create a region- on the integration of the physical infrastruc- al cycling infrastructure and a shared road ture and coordination of regional services traffic management system. Source: © Rafal Konkolewski (l) and Tomasz Kolowski (r) such as collecting garbage, water reservoirs et cetera. Striking enough some municipali- ties are member of both metropolitan asso- 9.3 State of integration the national government invested heavily in spread out. People are leaving the city for a ciations. This indicates that there is a certain the road and rail infrastructure of the re- much bigger house in a saver, greener and amount of overlap between them. The 9.3.1 Spatial-functional integration gion. Central and regional governments are relatively quieter environment. The housing Pomeranian Region is not involved in one of The labour market is highly integrated look- making plans to develop a new ring road in prices in Sopot are more expensive in com- the associations, since they do not want to ing at the commuting patterns between the order to improve the connectivity of the cit- parison with Gdańsk and Gdynia; they even support such separated initiatives of the three cities; many people live in Gdańsk, but ies, and its suburbs. Besides the road infra- belong to the highest property prices in cities. They want Gdańsk and Gdynia to ac- work in Gdynia (and vice versa). During structure, the rail infrastructure will be im- Poland. According to the interviewees, the tually work together within one metropolitan rush hours there are major commuting proved as well with the development of the amenities of the three cities differ from each association. Since both metropolitan asso- streams between the cities. The SKM train Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway, which is a other and there is not much duplication. ciations are just recently set-up, it is un- line between Gdańsk and Gdynia, crossing new rail line (20 km) that will link Gdańsk This seems to be the result of luck rather known how they will develop within the Sopot halfway, is an important public trans- and the airport of Gdańsk with the already than good coordination between the cities. coming years. At the moment, Gdańsk port link. The train frequently runs between existing rail line towards Gdynia. In total The cities strongly belief in the coordination Metropolitan Area Association is thinking of the three cities and is, especially during rush eight new train stations will be developed power of the market. It is believed that the preparing their own act on metropolitan ar- hours, very busy. The SKM can be seen as and they are likely to give a major impulse market prevents the development of an eas and prosing this act to the Polish parlia- the backbone of the Tri-City Region. Along to the area. oversupply of housing, cultural amenities ment. The Gdańsk Metropolitan Area the line and its stations the area is highly and sport facilities. Association still hopes that Gdynia will be- urbanized; offices, housing and shopping As well as the labour market the housing come one of their members on the longer malls are all build in its proximity. The ca- market of the Tri-City Region is rather inte- Enterprises and institutes are not limited at term but whether this would actually happen pacity of the road infrastructure between the grated. There is, a regional market that is all by the municipal borders of the three is questionable. cities is insufficient, cert0ainly given the even bigger than the Tri-City Region itself. cities when doing business. They chose their rapid increase of car-ownership, and every This can be explained by the good informa- location on the basis of the given conditions. To sum up: The Tri-City Region is lacking day there are long traffic jams. The nomina- tion system within the region, such as fairs The cities start to cooperate with each other one coherent regional platform for coopera- tion of Gdańsk as one of the playing cities of that present new projects available in the with regard to the (inter)national profiling of tion. The Pomeranian Voivodeship tries to the UEFA European Football Championship entire region. Caused by a process of subur- the region. Since the cities are using differ- stimulate cooperation within the region but 2012 gives a major impulse to the city since banisation, the housing market is rather ent brand names the profiling is rather

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 100 101 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe weak. The city of Gdańsk is convinced that Gdynia port, given the lack of space to Figure 29 City Centre of Sopot Gdańsk is the strongest brand for the entire move. In this respect, the deep-water con- region and they prefer this brand above the tainer terminal of Gdańsk is important for Tri-City Region or Pomeranian Region. the region. Interesting is the fact that in the Gdynia, however, refuses to use Gdańsk as Socialist era, the ports were unified in one a brand name which limits the cooperation port authority, and they got separated after to attract business together. the changes in 1989. In general, the public opinion seems to be that competition be- The cities have a rather similar economic tween the ports is better than for instance profile which can be explained by the his- merging the port authorities. toric reason that Gdynia was developed as a rival port city to the port city of Gdańsk. Within a few years, it is highly likely that Both cities depended for a long time on there will be two airports in the Tri-City powerful shipyards. In 1979 in port of Region. Gdańsk has its own airport and cur- Gdynia the first container terminal in Poland rently Gdynia is strongly supporting the (Baltic Container Terminal) started to oper- transformation of the military airport in ate. It strongly influenced on the specialisa- Kosakowo, a commune adjacent in the north tion of the Gdynia port as a general cargo of Gdynia. The planning is to transform this port. In the Gdańsk port the bulk cargo former military airport into a passenger and dominated. In 2007 Gdańsk completed the cargo airport. They want to develop a sup- development of a new deep-water container plementary airport that can be used in times terminal. At that moment, the port of of emergence, or when weather conditions Gdynia handled 80 percent of the container do not allow to land at the nearby Gdańsk traffic for all Polish ports. By developing a airport. In first instance, the city of Gdańsk new terminal in Gdańsk, the port authorities and the Pomeranian Region did not support are often in competition with each other and the plan of (re)development of this military the capacity of all terminals together is not airport. With the development of the city of Gdynia even has a share in the air- where in the post-War period, are hard to being fully used (yet). Stories go that ships, Pomorskie Metropolitan Rail’ that connects port of Gdańsk, and hence, profits from this trace. The name tended to be used infor- when they arrive in the area, start to negoti- both airports with each other, they implicitly airport doing well. Obviously, one may doubt mally by its inhabitants to indicate of which ate with both ports and then decide to opt approved the (re)development of the air- whether a metropolitan area of just one part of Poland they come from. Within the for the one that promises the cheapest han- port. The recently renewed airport of million inhabitants is capable of supporting Tri-City Region there is not a culture of col- dling of their containers. Rather than devel- Gdańsk has a limited capacity since there is two airports, and this seems to be a crucial laboration, and this can be explained by the oping another terminal, it would probably not much space for expansion such as a sec- issue for regional coordination. cultural-historical background of the region. have been wiser to invest in the connecting ond landing ground, an additional cargo ter- Gdynia is developed to be a competitor of land infrastructure. The lack of good hinter- minal or new parking plots. Taken this into 9.3.2 Cultural integration Gdańsk and consequently the cities are used land connections, such as motorways, account, it is considered that the airport of At first impression, the name ‘Tri-City to be each other competitors rather than makes the Tri-City region not very competi- Gdynia can be complementary to the airport Region’ may seem to be a modern label to co-operators. Given the history of both cities tive compared to other seaports in north- of Gdańsk. Nevertheless, there is a higher market the area externally, and to foster a it is understandable that there are not much west Europe. There is a discussion going-on chance for competition since low cost carri- sense of belonging together within the re- examples of metropolitan coordination. As about specializing the ports in order to make ers that are now flying on Gdańsk are likely gion. In reality, however, the label ‘Tri-city stated before, mainly the mayors are used them more complementary. Fact is that the to switch to Gdynia/Kosakowo if they can Region’ (Trójmiasto in Polish) circulates al- to compete rather than cooperate with each tallest ships have difficulty to enter the offer a better price. Interesting is that the ready for decades and its origins, some- other. The recent election took place in

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 102 103 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe November 2010 and in both cities the same before, the cultural rivalry is mainly notice- between the policy-makers at the city’s are reluctant to give some power away mayors were re-elected. The attitude of the able amongst the politicians of the cities. departments. Again the historical context is again to other governmental levels. Given mayors towards each other and the cities important here, since municipalities were this situation, it is understandable that it they are representing seems to help them to 9.3.3 Institutional integration weak during the Communist rule and they will take some time before politicians see get re-elected. Hence, this seems to reflect The institutional integration within the re- only got powers again after the reform of the advantages of cooperation and coordi- popular feelings of identity and rivalry. gion is rather weak due to a lack of political 1989. This explains why the municipalities nation. willingness to join forces. The recent initia- It is certainly true that the citizens of tive to set-up two metropolitan associations Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot tend to have a within the same metropolitan region is char- 9.4 SWOT analysis strong local identity leading to pride. acteristic for the regional cooperation within Although Gdańsk and Gdynia are both port the Tri-City Region. Unfortunately, the Strengths Weaknesses

cities, the cultural identity differs. Gdynia’s Pomeranian Region has not enough power to • Functional-spatial integration of the region in • Establishment of two metropolitan area residents are proud of their efforts to de- change the current situation. Due to a weak terms of labour market, housing market, retail associations rather than one, which represents velop the urban economy so quickly in the political integration there is a lack of metro- and leisure as well as business relations. the limited willingness to cooperate at the 1930s and again after Second World War. It politan coordination in the region, especially • Business and people are thinking and acting metropolitan scale. ‘regionally’ (strong cross-border behaviour). • Similar urban economic profile (two seaports, two is considered a truly Polish city, whereas at the strategic level. One regional plan for airports) leads to strong competition and leaves Gdańsk obviously was a former German city. the entire Tri-City Region requires that ei- room for firms to play off the cities against each In fact, the first shootings of Second World ther Gdańsk or Gdynia has to take the lead. other leading to suboptimal outcomes for the War occurred in an attempt to regain the But since both cities do not want to be dom- metropolitan areas. then Free city of Gdańsk. After the war, inated by each other it is difficult, and may- • Use of different brands for the region (Pomeranian Voivodeship, Tri-City Region, Gdańsk Gdańsk was repopulated by people from be even impossible, to define a joint (spa- Metropolitan Areas) weaken the (inter)national central Poland, what is now Latvia and tial) strategy. Exemplary of a lack of a joint profiling. Ukraine, and cities such as Vilnius and Lviv. strategy is the development of two container • The current institutional framework does not The new inhabitants made great efforts to terminals and two airports within the region. support metropolitan cooperation very well.

rebuild the devastated city. Now, Gdańsk, as Also the introduction of a public transport Opportunities Threats the capital city of the Pomeranian Region, is card that is valid in all three cities took ten more a city for public administration and years of discussion. Finally, the cities and • High potential of the region: skilled working force • Lack of urgency to join forces since the cities with a good working mentality and a flexible are doing relatively well in terms of economic related services. The city centre is still the public transport companies agreed on attitude. development. largely populated by the people who rebuilt the introduction of the Metropolitan Ticket. • Enough space for new developments within the • Political rivalry between mayors and politicians the city after the war and their children, The ticket is, however, more a tourist ticket region in combination with major infrastructure can instigate the cultural rivalry between citizens which also implies that gentrification is since it is too expensive for the daily com- investments made by national government for the and business. hardly an issue. It also means that the po- muters between Gdansk and Gdynia to buy European Football Championship 2012. • Lack of a culture of cooperation between the • Plans to improve (physical) connection between cities; cities are used to competition. tential for commercial and tourist functions this card. For them it is still cheaper to buy the cities by road- and rail infrastructure projects. is more limited than one would normally two or three different tickets, when travel- • New elections might bring new political leadership expect to find. Despite the strong local cul- ling through multiple cities. that is more open to avoiding wasteful duplication tural identities, people and firms do not feel and regional cooperation and coordination. limited by the boundaries of their city. On the longer term, institutional integration • First signs of cooperation between the cities in several projects or programs (e.g. bicycling lanes, People live in Gdańsk, work in Gdynia and might improve within the coming years, (inter)national profiling, metropolitan ticket). go for entertainment to Sopot. The cultural since the politicians will get used to work • Improved hinterland connections may enhance identity of the people does not hamper the together. There is, for example, an increas- competition with other metropolitan regions in further integration of the region. As stated ing amount of interaction and coordination Poland, which may raise awareness of better positioning the metropolitan area jointly.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 104 105 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 10 Case study Mitteldeutschland

9.5 Conclusions are hampering this process. Perhaps it is 10.1 Introduction to the region Triangle,’ which was introduced by the Saxon just a matter of time that Gdańsk and State Development Plan in 1994. This Interesting in the Tri-City Region is the fact Gdynia forget their traditional role as being The metropolitan region ‘Mitteldeutschland’ Triangle comprised a partnership between that strong functional integration comes each other competitors and that they see is located in the eastern part of Germany the cities of Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, coupled with a severe lack of regional gov- the advantages of regional coordination (see Figure 30). The name of the region is Chemnitz and Zwickau. In 2005 federal poli- ernance and cultural unity, which may at rather than competition. The merge of perhaps somewhat misleading since the re- ticians suggested to enlarge the ‘Saxon first sight raise questions over the impor- Gdańsk Metropolitan Area with ‘Norda’ gion is no longer located in the central (mit- Triangle’ by involving the largest cities of the tance of regional cooperation and coordina- (Gdynia’s metropolitan association) within tel) part of Germany, but rather in its east- federal states of -Anhalt and tion as it does not seem to hamper func- the Gdańsk-Gdynia Metropolitan Area might ern part close to the border with the Czech as well. At the moment, the met- tional integration. Despite the lack of politi- be a good first step, but this step is not Republic and Poland. The region has a his- ropolitan region Mitteldeutschland consists cal will to work together, business and peo- foreseen in the near future. As long as the torical-cultural name rather than a geo- of eleven cities which are located in three ple are thinking and acting ‘regionally’. They cities refuse to cooperate with each other graphical name. federal states (see Table 4). are not hampered by the municipality within one metropolitan area association, boundaries and see the Tri-City Region as the Pomeranian Region has a difficult, per- The discussion concerning the The population of the Metropolregion one regional functional entity rather than haps impossible, task to stimulate metro- ‘Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland’ has its Mitteldeutschland is approximately 2,4 mil- three different cities. The lack of political politan coordination. Their role, however, roots in a former spatial concept; the ‘Saxon lion and the total number of inhabitants of cooperation can be explained by the histori- strongly depends whether the Polish govern- cal-cultural background of the region. ment will finally approve the ‘Metropolitan Gdynia is developed to be a competitor of Act’ as was proposed in 2008. Obviously, it Gdansk and therefore the economic profile is unknown what could have been achieved of both cities is similar. Due to its history already when regional governance in the and a lack of metropolitan coordination be- Tri-City Region would have been developed tween the cities there is less complementa- better already. It seems that a lot of poten- rity between Gdańsk and Gdynia; they are tials of the metropolitan region are now not both seaport cities with a container terminal fully exploited. and, in the near future, an airport. Last de- cennia, small steps are taken forward to- wards a more integrated, polycentric devel- opment of the Tri-City Region, and the Pomeranian Region has particularly been steering into that direction, even though Figure 30 power lies almost entirely with the munici- Metropolregion palities. After years of discussion a Mitteldeutschland ‘Metropolitan Ticket’ is launched that is valid in Germany in the public transport of all three cities and also in new infrastructure projects the cities are intensively working together. The case study of the Tri-City Region teaches us that political commitment is not the most impor- tant factor for metropolitan development, since the functional integration of the region is occurring even when the political leaders Source: Google Maps, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 106 107 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Table 4 Partner cities of the Metropolregion chanical engineering, metal processing, part of Germany. At present, there are not a academics specialized in urban and regional Mitteldeutschland chemicals and vehicle manufacturing being sufficient amount of jobs available for all planning as well as representatives of the the most significant industries. In addition graduate students. In economic and demo- metropolitan association. Besides inter- Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Thuringia to these more traditional industries, the re- graphic terms, Dresden has become one of views, policy documents and academic arti-

Chemnitz -Roßlau * gion is increasingly focusing on the renew- the growth poles in an otherwise shrinking cles on Mitteldeutschland’s polycentric urban able energy industry (such as solar industry) region. But in comparison with prosperous structure have been used to develop this Dresden* Halle and on attracting high-tech companies. German cities like Munich, or case study. The study discusses the Leipzig * Hamburg, the position of Dresden is still Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland with a par- Regional challenges challenging. According to the interviewees, ticular focus on the cities Leipzig and Halle. Zwickau From 1949 till the reunification in 1990 the one of the main challenges of the region is It is interesting to analyse how these two * = capital cities of the federal states region belonged to the German Democratic to attract more firms, and especially (inter) cities, located closely to one another, are Republic. After the breakdown of the national headquarters. In order to attract functionally, culturally and institutionally Communist regime, the collapse of non- headquarters or other metropolitan func- integrated, and how they function within the the three federal states is 8,7 million. competitive former GDR-industries tempo- tions it is important to create a strong(er) broader metropolitan region. Dresden is the largest city in the region with rarily caused severe economic problems. In critical mass. It is a challenge to let the 530.700 inhabitants followed by Leipzig with the last decades, the region rapidly trans- eleven cities function as one large city with 522.900 inhabitants. Weimar, with 65.000 formed towards a modern market economy. 2,4 million inhabitants and to make optimal 10.2 Strategies for regional inhabitants, and Dessau-Roßlau, with Massive investments in infrastructure have use of the diversity of the economic clusters. cooperation and integration 87.000 inhabitants, are the smallest cities in taken place, new firms have been attracted the region. Generally, the distances between to the region, and new clusters emerged. Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland as case This chapter discusses the metropolitan de- the cities are considerable. Between Despite a successful economic transforma- study velopment strategies that are in place by Dresden and Leipzig, for example, it is 112 tion the region is still facing some major The Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland has describing the formal and informal ways of km, while one needs to travel 238 km from challenges. The region wishes to shift to- been selected as one of the case studies of regional cooperation within the metropolitan Magdeburg to Zwickau. In contrast, the cit- wards a more knowledge-driven economy EMI’s Knowledge and Research Agenda on region. According to Egermann, polycentric ies Leipzig and Halle are located relatively and is therefore giving high priority to sci- ‘Polycentric Metropolitan Areas’. The region metropolitan regions are expected to “play close to each other at 38 km distance. It is ence and education in order to create “a is a good example of a fusion type region an important role in spatial development in also a short distance between Chemnitz and large workforce consisting of well-qualified consisting of a constellation of once rather Germany and in Europe. The question re- Zwickau and between Erfurt, Weimar and and highly-motivated specialists.” distinct medium and small-sized cities, mains unanswered whether these polycen- Jena (also known as the ‘ImPuls-Region’5). (Wirtschaftsinitiative für Mitteldeutschland, which are now becoming increasingly de- tric regions can be building blocks of a met- The Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland can be 2010). Public expenditure on research and pendent upon each other. The regional coop- ropolitan policy” (Egermann, 2009:277). considered as a kind of polycentric mega- development in Mitteldeutschland is higher eration within the Metropolregion city region composed of several smaller than the national average and outstrips Mitteldeutschland is often called a ‘network National and federal state(s) polycentric city-regions (Leipzig-Halle, countries in Eastern Europe, like the Czech of cities’ or a ‘network of networks’. It is Following the policy of the European Union, Chemnitz-Zwickau, ImPuls-Region) as well Republic and Poland. With these investments interesting to analyse how the German cities the German national government supports as a number of relatively more self-standing Mitteldeutschland is aiming to become “one are functionally, culturally and institutionally regional cooperation and the set-up of cities such as Magdeburg and Dresden. of Europe’s most attractive and pioneering integrated and what kind of metropolitan ‘European metropolitan regions’ across the Characteristically, the region has a strong industrial regions, combining dynamic strategy or vision is behind it. country. In 1997, after years of discussion, position in heavy industrial sectors with me- growth with a high quality of life.” the German government officially acknowl- (Wirtschaftsinitiative für Mitteldeutschland, The case study is based on in-depth inter- edged seven European metropolitan regions 2010). During the last decades the region views with various key experts in the region, in Germany. These regions are seen as the 5 Since 2004 the cities Erfurt, Weimar and Jena are had to deal with a brain drain with highly- from representatives of government authori- engines of societal (economic, social and working together in the ImPuls-Region. skilled people moving towards the western ties (city of Halle, Leipzig and Dresden), to cultural) development which ought to con-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 108 109 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe tribute to the acceleration of the European signed a cooperation agreement outlining Dessau-Roßlau, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland integration process (Egermann, 2009). The closer cooperation in the future. Gera as well (see Figure 31). From 2005 The Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland is the Halle/Leipzig-‘Saxon Triangle’ was one of the In 2005 the situation changed drastically onwards there were many discussions about main driver for regional cooperation be- seven metropolitan regions. The region con- following a discussion by the prime minis- the formal extension of the metropolitan tween the involved cities. There are, how- sisted of five cities: Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, ters of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and region and how the decision-making struc- ever, strategies for regional cooperation at Chemnitz and Zwickau. In first instance, the Thuringia. They considered the metropolitan ture needed to be organised. Step by step the city-region level as well. The Saxon Triangle remained a planning concept region concept as a special opportunity for the four new cities were accepted as full Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland regards its but after a while the cities started to cooper- the ‘Central German’ economic area to posi- members of the metropolitan regions, while role as that of “stimulus provider for innova- ate by creating a standing working group. tion itself favourably within the European the cities of Erfurt and Weimar are still rep- tion and sustainable economic development The mayors of the cities agreed on a pro- economic area as a whole. They suggested resented by the city of Jena in both the within the entire region”. As a ‘network of gramme of action for the ‘Saxon Triangle’ that the ‘Saxon Triangle’ metropolitan region steering committee and the management networks’ it aims to bring together energy, metropolitan region and subsequently should include the cities of Magdeburg, board. Within the ImPuls-Region, Erfurt, identities, potential and interests from the Weimar and Jena are internally discussing economy, science, politics and society issues. This enables Jena to represent all (Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland, 2012). In Figure 31 Eleven cities of the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland three cities within the Metropolregion. comparison with other German metropolitan (red = formerly Saxon Triangle, black = new member cities, blue = new partner cities) Currently, it is still point of discussion partnerships (like in Munich, and whether or not Erfurt and Weimar will be- Hamburg), the Metropolregion come official members. Mitteldeutschland is a small organisation. The three federal states do not develop or Only two or three persons work for the coor- support one integral regional (spatial) strat- dination office of the region, while in other egy for the whole metropolitan region. German metropolitan regions this number is Consequently, there is less coordination be- tripled or even quadrupled. The cities pay an tween the spatial plans of the federal states. annual fee for the coordination office of the According to the interviewees, the federal metropolitan region. Being part of a metro- borders remain considerable institutional politan region is considered to be of strate- barriers hampering further regional coordi- gic and (potentially) financial importance. nation and cooperation between the cities. The management board of the Due to the federal borders between the cit- Metropolregion comprises the nine mayors ies Leipzig and Halle it is less likely that of the member cities. They meet two or these cities will integrate to become a single three times each year, which enhances the city-region, although there is a lot of poten- coordination between the cities, builds trust tial. The federal states appear to be hesitant among the partners and creates more com- about the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland. mitment to the partnership. The steering While ministries responsible for spatial plan- group consists of the city planners of the ning clearly support the partnership, the nine cities and they meet about six or seven federal governments of the three states do times each year. Representatives of the not wholeheartedly support the metropolitan eleven cities work together in five working region. This is mainly because in some eyes groups, which also include participants from the metropolitan region is considered a pre- government, industry, science and society. stage of unification of the three federal states, which would mean loss of power and Workings groups Source: Google Maps, 2012 with own additions competences. The themes of the working groups and the

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 110 111 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Table 5 Main objectives of the five working groups the contribution to the development of all the region, such as theatres and sport stadi- sub-regions in accordance with their indi- ums. People are unlikely to travel to another Working groups Main objective of the group vidual starting position.” (BMVBS, 2011:4). city to attend a concert when it takes more Business & science Increase the economic power and competitiveness of the region The development of a suitable organisational than one hour. But even when it comes to model was one of the projects of the cities in close vicinity to each other (Leipzig- Culture & tourism Successful marketing of the existing cultural and tourist potential of the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland. Halle) one can see a duplication of amenities region and living environments. The cities are not Transport & mobility Optimisation of the accessibility of all areas of the region and To sum up: The German reunification is still used to coordinating such metropolitan func- improvement of domestic and international links fresh in the minds of many. In 1990, after tions; they are more used to competing Family friendliness Creation of family-friendly living and working conditions by ensuring that forty years of Communism, the federal rather than cooperating with each other. family and career are compatible states and municipalities received autono- This can be explained by the historic back- Trans-regional cooperation Creation of suitable governance structures by the further development of my, which enabled them to determine their grounds of the cities and the autonomy they organisational forms of the region own policy. In comparison with the munici- received in 1990 after the German reunifica- palities in the western part of Germany, the tion. They are not (yet) willing to give up eastern part of the country does not have as their autonomy and they do not see the ad- main objectives are formulated by the cities regional cooperation to a higher level. Even much of a culture of cooperation. The mu- vantages of intensive cooperation and coor- (see Table 5).6 Generally speaking, the am- though most of the groups have faced some nicipalities in, for example, the Ruhr-area dination. Leipzig and Halle are both located bitions of the working groups are high; the start-up problems, they are now producing had more time to develop such a culture. in different federal states and the federal objectives of each group are then translated promising first results (like joint publica- Perhaps it is just a matter of time before the borders between the cities, to a certain ex- into smaller and more concrete projects. tions). For various reasons there is a lack of municipalities start to cooperate more inten- tent, limit further functional integration. According to the interviewees, the working priority amongst the cities for setting up sively with each other. Despite the difficult Both cities can offer different business con- groups do not address the main problems additional working groups or other regional start-up phase Metropolregion ditions due to different federal financial and and challenges of the region; they are more activities. Mitteldeutschland experienced, this platform subsidy structures. A good example of inter- focused on quick-wins such as joint publica- could play a pivotal role in supporting re- city competition is how both cities are at- tions and marketing and branding activities. The working group ‘trans-regional coopera- gional cooperation and coordination. The tempting to attract a new BMW factory (au- Some of the (preliminary) results of the tion’ is the result of a national demonstra- institutional framework of the organisation tomotive company). When BMW announced working groups will be discussed in the fol- tion project (MORO) of the national Ministry forces representatives of the eleven cities to that it intends to open a new factory in the lowing chapters. for Transport, Building and Urban cooperate and collaborate with each other at region, many cities offered the company a Development. They recently finished the a metropolitan level. new plot for the building of its factory. Both The city representatives of the working project “Trans-regional partnerships: inno- Leipzig and Halle put much effort into at- groups discuss progress every six weeks. vative projects on regional cooperation, net- tracting the company by offering the best However, some cities are slightly reluctant working and shared large-scale responsibil- 10.3 State of integration plots. BMW finally decided to build its fac- to put much effort, time and money into the ity”. Several German metropolitan regions tory in Leipzig. Halle consequently ended up working groups. This point to the danger of were part of this project and the 10.3.1 Spatial-functional integration with an empty plot of land. It is question- free-rider behaviour of one or more cities. Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland was one of The functional relations between the cities able whether such form of competition be- Others are very enthusiastic and try to bring these ‘model regions’. The aim of this pro- are rather limited due to the large distances tween the cities is advisable. The employees ject was to prove that supra-regional part- between the cities. It is, for example, un- of the new BMW factory are likely to live in 6 Although Erfurt and Weimar are not part of nerships can actually work. The project ad- common to live in Dresden and to work in Leipzig and Halle. So, in theory, it is not that the management board and steering group dressed the question ‘how’ to generate blue- Magdeburg. The distances between these important whether the factory is located in of the partnership, they actively contribute to prints and partnerships that “generate cities are too extensive for having frequent Leipzig or Halle since both cities will still the five working groups of the Metropolregion growth and innovative capacity for the re- connections. This might be the main reason profit. In practice, Leipzig is pleased to have Mitteldeutschland. gion as a whole as well as optimally promote for the existing duplication of amenities in the factory within their municipal boundaries

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 112 113 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 32 Train between Halle and Leipzig during rush-hour two km railway tunnel connecting Leipzig facilitated by numerous networks of excel- Central Station to the Bayern Central lence and cooperation projects. Still, there is Station. The tunnel improves the accessibil- not so much cooperation between the uni- ity of Leipzig by rail and creates a better versities in the region. The national govern- connection between Leipzig and Halle with ment recently challenged regions to create Chemnitz and Zwickau. This improved infra- ‘centres of excellence’ and this initiative trig- structure connection can enhance the func- gered them to intensively cooperate with tional relations between the cities. each other.

In the case of the airport Leipzig-Halle, the Besides the Metropolregion cities are used to cooperating with each oth- Mitteldeutschland, the ‘Wirtschaftsinitiative er. In order to demonstrate that the airport für Mitteldeutschland GmbH’ supports a is a joint project of both federal states, the strong external marketing strategy for the airport is located exactly on the federal bor- regional economy.7 The Wirtschaftsinitiative der. Although both cities cooperate when it is a private initiative with the objective to comes to this project, the amount of efforts promote and strengthen regional competi- put in by each city is rather lopsided. tiveness. Sixty members are part of this The working group ‘transport & mobility’ of organisation (including international private the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland tries to investors such as BMW and Siemens) as well stimulate a further spatial-functional inte- as the cities of Leipzig, Halle, Magdeburg, gration within the region. Until now, the Jena, Gera and Dessau, the chambers of groups are not (yet) very effective as there commerce and the three federal states. In is strong disagreement about priorities. Both order to make the region more attractive to Leipzig and Dresden want to improve their investors and creative forces the road connections with . But instead of Wirtschaftsinitiative selected eight success- agreeing on one strong lobby towards the ful clusters.8 By promoting these clusters given the tax income it generates and the Functional relations between the cities vary national government for a new connection, they try to attract more business and highly- prestige involved with having a new com- from commuting, leisure and business rela- the decision-making process has entered an skilled people to the region. This is done by, pany such as BMW open a factory in the tions. The number of traffic jams is very low impasse; each city resents the other an im- for example, organising excursions to inter- city. To the general public it seemingly re- and even during rush hour the trains be- proved connection. This is exemplary for the esting parts of the region and showing the mains unclear that benefits of a new com- tween both cities are relatively empty (see complicated cooperation within certain work- unused potential that can be drawn upon. pany located in Leipzig also signifies benefits Figure 32) – which probably also shows that ing groups. for a place like Halle. More research is need- functional interactions between the cities ed to develop instruments or mechanisms have not been fully developed. Interviewees The working group ‘business & science’ pre- 7 Since 2011 both organisations are located in that show the regional benefits of such loca- did feel that the cities share one regional sents the region as an innovation know-how the same building which supports short linkages tional decisions. This will make the process labour market; people from Leipzig look for centre with outstanding knowledge networks between their activities. They are exploring ways more transparent showing necessary trade- jobs opportunities in Halle and vice versa. In in business and science. With 48 universities of further cooperation. offs, but also help prevent suboptimal re- order to improve the functional integration and colleges along with well over 100 re- 8 The clusters of the region are (amongst others): gional outcomes. within the region, a new infrastructure pro- search centres, the region has a good automotive, biotech/life sciences, chemical ject is currently under construction with the (knowledge) basis. The practical transfer of industry and plastics, food industry, information Leipzig and Halle are relatively well con- potential to bring the region closer to each knowledge between industry and science is technology, solar energy, optoelectronics and nected with each other by road and rail. other. This ‘city tunnel’ project consists of a microelectronics

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 114 115 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 33 The city of Dresden Here, one needs to consider that the mar- 10.3.3 Institutional integration keting of the region is mainly focused on the From 2005 onwards there were many dis- external rather than on the internal, which cussions about the formal extension of co- may explain the lack of a regional identity operation, for example, about veto rights of among inhabitants. The strategy of the the new cities. Step by step, the four new Wirtschaftsinitiative strongly focuses on at- member cities were allocated a seat in the tracting new business and economic clusters management board and the steering com- to the region triggered by the urgency to mittee of the region. This process triggered catch up with other German metropolitan a new discussion about the name of the regions. On the longer term joint economic partnership. Cities in Saxony-Anhalt and profiling can create a shared regional iden- Thuringia (like Jena, Magdeburg and Gera) tity amongst residents as well. All cities did not want to cooperate under the label have a more or less similar history as former ‘Saxon Triangle’. They proposed the name GDR industrial cities, which are nowadays Mitteldeutschland. Dresden disagreed with transforming to more knowledge-driven eco- this name since the name could potentially nomic clusters such as the solar cluster. This harm their relationship with Polish cities as shared identity can create a mutual sense of Wroclaw. The name Mitteldeutschland im- belonging but for now it is too early to speak plicitly suggests that if Dresden is located in of a regional identity. the central (mittel) part of Germany, Poland The cities seem to be relatively complemen- inhabitants has never heard of the would as a consequence be East-Germany. tary to one another and the differences in ‘Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland’. Most The working groups of the Metropolregion After long debates, all partners finally economic sectors have actually increased likely, the former Saxon Triangle was more Mitteldeutschland also try to stimulate cul- agreed with the name. Another point of dis- over the last years (Franz and Hornych, appealing to them. The brand tural integration. The working group ‘culture cussion was the location of the coordination 2009). However, it remains unclear to which ‘Mitteldeutschland’, introduced in 2009, is & tourism’ aims to reinforce the culture of office of the Metropolregion extent the potential of a complementary still very new and it takes a while before democracy in the region and to promote Mitteldeutschland. Since the cities could not economy profile is utilized. Urban actors still inhabitants and firms start using it. integration processes by, for example, stim- find agreement they decided to have a ro- struggle with the question how the diversity ulating integrated cross-border offers for tating office, that is, change the location of economic clusters can be used in the In contrast to the limited shared identity residents and visitors of the region. One of every two years. The office was firstly lo- most optimal way. among inhabitants is the conviction among the products of the working group is a travel cated in Leipzig, then in Chemnitz and firms that this part of Germany requires brochure for the entire region. However, the Dresden, after which it relocates to Leipzig 10.3.2 Cultural integration better external positioning and marketing. publication of this brochure led to rising ten- again. Dresden did not complete their two- The metropolitan region is not characterised They demand action from the government, sions between the cities. Some cities year term, since the other cities complained by a shared regional identity. People strong- and organized themselves in the claimed that there was a disproportionate that they did not put enough effort in coor- ly identify themselves with their federal Wirtschaftsinitiative together with local au- amount of attention paid to certain cities in dinating all activities. The two-year circula- state or the city in which they live. The fed- thorities and business chambers. They are the brochure. These cities would have liked tion of the office has turned out to not be eral states of Thuringia and Saxony in par- striving for a successful development and a more prominent position in the publica- very efficient. The start-up phases in the ticular traditionally have a strong sense of marketing of the regional economy. tion. Due to these kind of disagreements it different cities and the frequently changing pride and regional identity, which may ham- Apparently, the key corporations in the re- took almost four years before the brochure coordinators meant a loss of valuable time per further regional integration. Amongst gion are aware that the fragmented spatial was finally finished. This example can be and expertise. The management board re- inhabitants there is little awareness that structure and urban system is detrimental to considered as exemplary for the cooperation cently decided that the office will be perma- they would be part of a metropolitan region. this external positioning. They feel the need within the five working groups of the nently based in Leipzig. Interviewees suggest that a majority of the to market the region as a single entity. Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 116 117 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe The strategies for regional cooperation are federal states. With the second Solidarity and it has been suggested that it would be cal problems characteristic for the start-up mainly based on voluntary participation of Pact which came into force in 2006, the fed- better for the cooperation if Dresden would phase of such initiatives. The five working the cities rather than on decisive powers. eral state will receive additional funding until no longer be a member. groups are likely to enhance a stronger in- The veto right of each mayor complicates 2019.9 In terms of budgets, the metropoli- stitutional integration within the region since the decision-making process of the metro- tan region is light years apart compared to To sum up: The institutional integration they provide a certain alignment for regional politan region. In practice it turns out that it the (budgetary) power of the federal states. within the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland, activities and cities must necessarily work is difficult to formulate plans that will be At the moment, the federal states are not with its eleven cities in three individual fed- together in these groups. Still, it is difficult approved by all mayors. The organisational very supportive of the metropolitan region, eral states, turns out to be complicated. to say something about the success of these structure of the metropolitan region might since they do not want the region to become Lengthy discussions took place concerning working groups since most of the groups change within the coming years since there too important. The mayor of Jena once sup- the name of the partnership, the location of have only been up-and-running for two or are proposals to set up an association. This ported the idea of a common federal state the coordination office and the organisation- three years. was one of the results of the working group ‘Mitteldeutschland’ and he argued that the al structure. But perhaps these are just typi- trans-regional cooperation within the ‘Supra- metropolitan region is one step in that direc- regional partnership’ pilot for the tion. The federal states as well as the capital Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland (BMVBS, cities of these states (Dresden, Erfurt and 10.4 SWOT analysis 2011). It is, however, uncertain whether the Magdeburg) do not support the idea of one

city councils will approve this proposal. By common federal state since they are fear Strengths Weaknesses giving the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland losing their superior position. Rumour has it • Traditional industrial profile of the region (like • Metropolitan region depends on a varying support a formal status, the city councils might fear that these capital cities want to keep an eye automotive, chemicals) in combination with various of the cities and federal states, and in fact, losing a certain amount of autonomy. on the process and therefore are participat- new economic clusters. strongly diverging support for further cooperation Another difficult decision that needs to be ing in the metropolitan initiative. The politi- • Cooperation in working groups; alignment of and integration. addressed concerns the role of the counties cal colour of the cities and the federal gov- (regional) activities. • Lack of a functional rationale, or at least in the metropolitan region. At the moment, ernments also impedes the institutional inte- • Good infrastructure connections between the cities. uncertainty about the extent to which the cities • Institutional framework of the metropolitan actually form a metropolitan region in practice. Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland is a net- gration. With the exception of Dresden all partnership with a management board, steering • Mitteldeutschland is a network of major cities work of main cities rather than a network cities are social-democratic while the three group, working groups and a coordination office. rather than a network of the entire region including presenting the entire region including the federal states and the city of Dresden are smaller municipalities. smaller counties. But if all counties join, the conservative. Because of the political colour • The institutional structure of the Metropolregion is cooperation platform will be enlarged from of Dresden, the federal states want Dresden point of discussion (e.g. veto positions of member cities). eleven to over one hundred members. This to be part of the metropolitan region so they problem of ensuring involvement of counties can influence the process that would other- Opportunities Threats can be solved by developing city-regions wise be entirely determined by the social- • Sense of urgency for more regional cooperation, • Working groups are not addressing the main around the eleven main cities, and subse- democratic party. This ‘strategic’ position of coordination and integration (especially focused issues but mainly focusing on quick wins as joint quently having the main cities represent the Dresden can harm the future institutional on the economy) in order to catch up with other publications and marketing. surrounding counties in their city-region. integration of the metropolitan region. Since German metropolitan regions. • Free-rider behaviour of cities: some cities only • Strong involvement of the private sector through profit from cooperation without putting any effort, Dresden obviously has shown little enthusi- the ‘Wirtschaftsinitiative für Mitteldeutschland’. time or money in it The institutional integration within the re- asm for the cooperation within the metro- • Increasing attention for metropolitan development • Lack of trade-off mechanisms to enhance regional gion strongly depends on the relationship politan partnership over the past few years, in European and national policy. cooperation and collaboration. between the cities and the three federal • Cities have shown that they can take difficult • Diverging (hidden) political interests and agendas states. After reunification, the three federal decisions even without the support of the federal of the three federal states versus the cities, and states. among the cities. states used to receive significant budgets of 9 The Solidarity Pact II provides the financial basis the national government and the western for the advancement and special promotion of the economy of the new federal states until 2019.

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 118 119 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 11 Rotterdam – The Hague Metropolitan Area

10.5 Conclusions cities. Nevertheless, the cities have proven 11.1 Introduction to the region ties (indoor skiing, water rides etc.). that they can take some difficult decisions in Furthermore, there are important clusters in Mitteldeutschland is a polycentric metropoli- the interest of the region and that they are The Metropoolregio Rotterdam-The Hague is clean technology, medical technology, archi- tan region that is weak in its functional, cul- willing to cooperate and collaborate in the located in the south-western part of the tecture and design and security. tural and institutional integration. The dis- working groups. These groups appear to be Netherlands (see Figure 34). Rotterdam tances between the cities are too long for focused on the easy quick-wins of coopera- (617.000 inhabitants) and The Hague The Metropoolregio has to operate in a having frequent functional interactions. In tion, and it remains to be seen whether they (500.000 inhabitants) are the main cities of very fragmented institutional structure. fact, the metropolitan region should be con- can sustain and address more difficult ques- the Metropoolregio together with another 22 The Metropoolregio covers most of the sidered a network of several polycentric city- tions and challenges. Although it is ques- small- and medium-sized municipalities. In urbanized (hence most important) parts of regions (Leipzig-Halle; Erfurt-Weimar-Jena; tionable whether such complicated issues total, around 2.2 million people live in the the Province of South-Holland. Within the Chemnitz-Zwickau) and some more mono- will ever make it on the metropolitan agenda metropolitan region. The region is located in Metropoolregio there are currently two centric city-regions (Dresden, Magdeburg). in the first place, given the diverging inter- the economic heart of the Netherlands regional authorities operational, which fall In the case of the three smaller polycentric ests and level of commitment of the mem- where a major part of the gross national under the ‘WGR+’ legislation: Stadsregio city-regions, more functional relations exist, ber cities. There is much to be said for fo- product is earned. The region is well con- Rotterdam (including Rotterdam and sur- but sometimes there are considerable insti- cusing and intensifying cooperation and co- nected; there are highways to the other rounding municipalities) and Stadsgewest tutional barriers (Leipzig-Halle) hampering ordination within several parts of what is major cities of the Netherlands, being (including The Hague and sur- the process of integration. now the Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland Amsterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven. rounding municipalities). The WGR+ re- and for limiting the focus of this entire met- Furthermore, an efficient rail network is pro- gions are currently point of political dis- The sense of urgency, that is the fear that ropolitan region to external positioning and vided and used with high intensity. A high cussion since there are plans to abolish the region will lose out to other German marketing. speed train connects Rotterdam with them in order to cut budgets and reduce metropolitan regions, is the main driver for Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Antwerp, bureaucracy. It is, however, still unknown a metropolitan strategy. The aim is to It is difficult to predict the future develop- Brussels and Paris. International destina- whether these plans will be executed. strengthen the economic competitiveness of ment of the Metropolregion tions can also be reached from the seaport Realizing that metropolitan governance is the region with a strong externally-oriented Mitteldeutschland. The municipalities and Rotterdam and Rotterdam-The Hague still needed if the WGR+ regions will be economic marketing strategy. Most activities federal states in the eastern part of Airport. abolished, the 24 municipalities intend to and products of the five working groups are Germany are not yet familiar with a culture join forces and continue to cooperate with- focused on ‘getting the region on the map’ of coordination or cooperation. As long as The Metropoolregio is an area with a mix of in a larger platform: the ‘Metropoolregio and attracting (and keeping) firms and high- the advantages of joining forces are not characteristics and a high diversity: Rotterdam-The Hague’ – from now on re- ly-skilled people in the region. The creation clear to them, it is unlikely that they will put Rotterdam and its surrounding municipalities ferred to as ‘Metropoolregio’ in this report. of one regional identity for inhabitants is more effort, time and money into the metro- boast a large sea port with many related The city councils, however, have not de- seen as important but obviously has a lower politan initiative. On the other hand, there is industrial and transport activities, while The cided yet on cooperation at a larger metro- priority. increasing attention for metropolitan devel- Hague and its surrounding towns are home politan scale. opment at the European and national level. to many national and international political Institutional integration, with eleven cities in This might offer multiple opportunities for a and juridical institutions. The city of Delft, Regional challenges three different federal states, turns out to be further functional, cultural and institutional which hosts many knowledge-generating One of the main challenges of the very complicated, especially since the capital integration within the region. institutions, lies right in between them. The Metropoolregio is to improve the interna- cities of the federal states take a more stra- Westland area and the area around tional competitiveness of the region and to tegic position in the partnership. Debates Lansingerland and Pijnacker-Nootdorp is increase their contribution to the national about the name, the location of the coordi- home to world leading clusters of horticul- economy. In Europe and worldwide metro- nation office, and the organisational struc- ture businesses, while Zoetermeer is a typi- politan areas are increasing seen as the ture of the partnership are illustrative for cal new town that recently profiles itself as a right scale to compete. The productivity the complicated collaboration between the ‘leisure city’ by boasting large leisure facili- growth in the South Wing is relatively low

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 120 121 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe and much focus is put on generating or vation for the cities in the south wing of the stitutional fragmentation within the region. (Amsterdam, Utrecht) and South Wing transporting high volumes instead of more Randstad to join forces. The relatively proximity of cities in the (, The Hague, Delft, Rotterdam, value-added economic activities (OECD, Randstad makes it difficult to define the and Gouda) separately. At this 2007). Problems concerning congestion, Another challenge the region is facing has a boundaries of the Metropoolregio. The 24 moment, opinions are strongly in favour of a mismatch in the housing market and lack of more spatial character since Rotterdam and municipalities do not form a ‘closed system’ focus on the both wings of the Randstad high-quality education and research and The Hague are steadily growing towards since cities as Leiden and Dordrecht can since this would reflect daily urban systems development (R&D) investments are all each other. Housing, retail and office devel- very well be considered to be part of the better. This was also underpinned by studies points of attention that threaten the com- opments (although currently tempered be- same region. The Hague has strong relations on functional coherence within the Randstad petitive position of the Rotterdam-The cause of the economic crisis), agricultural with Amsterdam as well and on a mega- which showed that the both wings were Hague region. At the same time, the and horticulture activities, green areas and region scale Rotterdam has relations with more appropriate units for metropolitan co- Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in the north- space reserved for climate adaption lay an Breda and Antwerp. The challenge is to deal operation than the Randstad as a whole ern part of the Randstad has been outper- increasing claim on the land that is only with all these different dimensions in a flex- (RPB/PBL, 2006). It is interesting to analyze forming its southern part over the last dec- scarcely available. The Metropoolregio will ible and adaptive way and to cooperate with how Rotterdam and The Hague are joining ade. The acknowledgement of the perceived need to deal with a variety of land use local, regional, and national authorities on forces at the metropolitan level since the slowly but steady decrease of the interna- claims that can contradict or harm each oth- the one hand and semi-public and private metropolitan initiative developed in a fast tional competitiveness is an important moti- er. Another challenge is to deal with the in- actors on another hand. This new coopera- pace recent years. tion builds on some tradition of cooperation, since there are already several other plat- Input for the case study is generated during Figure 34 Metropoolregio Rotterdam-The Hague in forms for cooperation in the South Wing a roundtable discussion attended by repre- the Netherlands region, and the area of the Metropoolregio sentatives of the local and regional authori- corresponds for a large part also with the ties.10 Policy documents and (academic) pa- economic core of the Province of South- pers about the region have also been used Holland. As we see it, the position of the for this study. Furthermore, EMI researchers Metropoolregio with respect to these gov- attended the ‘Metropoolregiodag’, a confer- ernance and government structures needs ence organized by the Metropoolregio to to be clear in order to make the cooperation inform all politicians in the region about the work, and to really tackle the challenges just progress of regional cooperation. Another mentioned. aim was to create a stronger commitment amongst all involved actors. Metropoolregio Rotterdam- The Hague as case study Randstad Holland, together with the Ruhr- 11.2 Strategies for regional area in Germany and the Flemish Diamond cooperation and integration in Belgium, is a well-known example of a polycentric region with four medium-sized This paragraph discusses the strategies that cities that are often considered part of one foster regional cooperation and integration larger mega-city region. Dutch planners at the metropolitan level. Within the have for decades wavered between the op- Metropoolregio, a range of formal and infor- tion of either positioning the Randstad Holland as the right scale for metropolitan development, or focus on its North Wing 10 See appendix 1 for a list of the participants of the Source: Google Maps, 2012 roundtable discussion

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 122 123 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe mal strategies and policies are pursed. nicipalities make sure these regions are able Gouda), Drechtsteden (cooperating munici- 2012b). It is the ambition of the Formal regional policies and strategies to operate and finance their coordinating palities around Dordrecht), and the cities of Metropoolregio to work on a sustainable and activities in environmental, economic and Rotterdam and The Hague. The South Wing international area, with an internationally In the Netherlands, provinces are a directly spatial planning. The Stadsregio Rotterdam platform has a focus on coordinating eco- competitive business climate. The document democratically chosen regional layer of gov- and Stadsgewest Haaglanden are not sepa- nomic policies, urban/green development identifies three strategies to foster the pro- ernment dating back to the late Middle rate layers of government as the responsi- and transport planning.11 The platform cess of metropolitan development within the Ages. The Province of has bilities are carried by the individual munici- strongly focuses on a transit-oriented devel- region: a coordinating role in various policy spheres, palities, while the Province of South-Holland opment strategy of the region. The project but its most notable activities are in the field and the national government are the over- ‘StedenbaanPlus’ aims for a concentration of The first strategy is to make better use of of spatial planning. The province makes ter- arching layers of government. urban developments around public trans- the daily urban system in the region. Every ritorial structure plans that in principle are port-systems. It should ensure the harmoni- day approximately 500.000 commuters are not binding for the municipalities, but in The WGR+ regions are used to cooperate sation and implementation of the spatial travelling around in the region to work, case municipalities make local plans that with each other since they are located in development policies of the participating sport or leisure. It is the ambition of the contradict the provincial plans, the province each other’s proximity. They have to cooper- cities and regions, while at the same time Metropoolregio to improve the connectivity is allowed to overrule municipalities and ate on issues such as public transport since respecting the provincial plans. of the region, for example by making sure make ‘integration plans’. To a certain extent, busses, trams and light-rail connections are all important assets of the region are acces- the province is responsible for infrastructure almost everywhere crossing the border of From 2010 onwards, the Metropoolregio sible within 45 minutes. The plan of the na- developments, like contracting the public the city-regions. The RandstadRail is the has taken off in a fast pace. Once started as tional government to assign a special trans- transport operators within its territory with most notable cooperation project. an informal cooperation between several port authority to the Metropoolregio is still exception of the WGR+ regions. As will be Stadsgewest Haaglanden and Stadsregio cities on a project-basis, the Metropoolregio point of political discussion. But in case this mentioned more in detail in paragraph 3.3, Rotterdam are strong supporters of the is nowadays a platform with strategies, poli- authority will be established, this implies a the Province of South-Holland is looking with Metropoolregio, partly because of the fact cies and a proposal for a legitimate institu- certain budget granted by the national gov- some suspicion to the Metropoolregio initia- that there already is so much interaction tional structure. The Metropoolregio is not a ernment to implement the authority and tive, as the metropolitan region covers most between the two territories, partly because new layer of government, but depends on contract public transport operators. The of the urbanized (hence most important) regional cooperation between the two areas the voluntary efforts of the participating transport authority will also make plans for parts of the province (see Figure 35). needs to be maintained if the WGR+ regions municipalities. The individual councils of the road projects. The second strategy of the will be abolished. participating municipalities all appoint a rep- Metropoolregio is to make better use of and The territory of the province contains two resentative for the daily management of the invest in the knowledge and innovation po- WGR+ regions; the Stadsregio Rotterdam Informal regional strategies and policies Metropoolregio. The tasks that flow from the tential of the region. As stated before, the includes 15 municipalities and the In the Netherlands there is a long tradition activities will be managed by the various region consists of various economic sectors Stadsgewest Haaglanden encompasses 9 of voluntary informal collaborations at the departments from the municipalities. In and many knowledge and research institutes municipalities. Their main tasks lay in coor- scale of the Randstad, the North Wing and December 2011, the mayors of Rotterdam are located in the region. The third strategy dinating environmental, economic and spa- South Wing. The ‘South Wing Platform’ is and The Hague presented a regional coop- is a better exploitation the amenities and tial planning; and to allocate budgets for a good example of informal ways of coop- eration strategy for the Metropoolregio. services that the region offers. Hereby it is youth care, infrastructure and transport eration and coordination. The platform is Focus of the document is to stimulate coop- important to put the metropolitan region on (BZK, 2010). For the latter they receive coordinated by various partners amongst eration in and integration of the region, the mental map of people and firms so they grants from the national government and others the Province of South-Holland, the thereby providing inhabitants and firms in can make optimal use of the amenities, ser- they have the same tasks and responsibili- Stadsregio Rotterdam, Stadsgewest the region with more opportunities vices and green offered in the region. ties as the Dutch provinces. Additional Haaglanden, Holland-Rijnland (cooperating (Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, budget from both the national government municipalities around Leiden), Midden- In order to implement these three strategies,

and contributions from the participating mu- Holland (cooperating municipalities around 11 See for more information the website: each strategy is linked to pillars and within www.zuidvleugel.nl

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 124 125 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Figure 35 Stadsgewest Haaglanden (green) and Stadsregio Rotterdam (yellow) within the territory of Table 6 Seven pillars of the metropolitan strategies of the Metropoolregio the Province of South-Holland. Strategies Pillars

Make better use of the opportunities of the daily urban system 1. Transport authority

Make better use of and invest in the knowledge and innovation 2. Regional economy potential of the region 3. Greenport 4A. Knowledge & innovation 4B. Education & labour market

Fully exploit the wide diversity in amenities, services and 5. Spatial planning & living landscape assets of the metropolitan region 6. Green 7A. Culture 7B. Sports 7C. Metropool-card

Source: Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, 2012b

a relatively small part of the budget which is the functional relations between cities such likely to decrease rather than increase within as Capelle a/d IJssel (Rotterdam) and the coming years. Rijswijk (The Hague) not so obvious. Other municipalities (like Delft, Westland, each pillar concrete actions are listed (see the WGR+ regions. At the moment, it is still Zoetermeer, Lansingerland and Pijnacker- Table 6). Cooperation within these pillars is unknown what the national government will 11.3 State of integration Nootdorp) can be considered part of both driven by the needs of all societal stakeholders decide. Currently, there are two political city-regions. They have functional ties with and the need for more efficiency. Within each scenarios; in the first scenario the WGR+ 11.3.1 Spatial-functional integration both city-regions and have more character- pillar representatives of the local and regional regions remain to exist and the regions will The spatial structure of the region is domi- istic economic activities. authorities are joining forces to translate the merge into the WGR+ Metropoolregio. In this nated by the two city-regions of Rotterdam strategies into policy and practice. For each case, the two regions will merge their budgets and The Hague which largely corresponds The ambition of the Metropoolregio is make pillar, two politicians from the region have and no major changes will appear with regard with the boundaries of Stadsgewest better use of the potentials within the re- been made responsible, in order to make to their current tasks and responsibilities. In Haaglanden and Stadsregio Rotterdam. The gion. The second and third strategy, as in- sure that there are ‘problem-owners’ and the second scenario the WGR+ regions will city-region of Rotterdam consists of troduced in the previous chapter, should to prevent that issues remain unaddressed. be abolished and the municipalities continue Rotterdam and the neighbouring municipali- make sure that potentials within the The (voluntary) cooperation within the seven cooperation within the Metropoolregio with ties (such as Capelle a/d IJssel, Schiedam spheres of regional economy, knowledge, pillars is still in its infancy, so it is difficult the transport authority as its fundamental and Vlaardingen) that are morphologically spatial development and cultural amenities to predict the success of these attempts of pillar. In this scenario, the region will receive part of the Rotterdam conurbation, and that are better coordinated. Because of these regional cooperation, although the regular an annual funding of the national government do not have a strong, characteristic econom- efforts, the functional linkages within the meetings of the pillar-groups look promising. specifically for organizing regional transport. ic profile. The same goes for The Hague, Metropoolregio can be strengthened as Informal cooperation regarding spatial where municipalities like Rijswijk and well, both between the larger cities and The future of the Metropoolregio largely planning and other matters will continue as Leidschendam-Voorburg are physically and between the smaller municipalities of the depends on the political decision to abolish well. In both scenarios the municipalities pay functionally closely connected to the city. city-regions. As stated before, the region is The identification of both city-regions makes not a closed daily urban system, since sig-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 126 127 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe nificant commuting patterns are crossing Rotterdam and The Hague, is an important make use of it, thereby helping to further Economic competitiveness the borders. Consequently, it is important project that enhanced the functional integra- integrate the region. One of the strategies of the metropolitan for the Metropoolregio to facilitate and co- tion of the region. The Stadsregio Rotterdam region is to make better use of, and invest ordinate these functional linkages at a re- and Stadsgewest Haaglanden jointly cooper- During rush hour, the capacity of the road in, the knowledge and innovation potential gional scale. ated to transform a formerly national rail infrastructure is insufficient resulting in of the region. The region consists of a di- line from The Hague to Zoetermeer and many traffic jams. There are plans to im- verse pattern of economic clusters and sec- Transport and mobility Rotterdam into a light rail connection that prove this by creating more highways (see tors varying from the port-related industries Every day around 500.000 people are trav- connects the central rail stations of both Figure 36). Most notable is the extension of and services in Rotterdam to the govern- elling crisscross the metropolitan region by cities (see Figure 36). Both public transport the A4 highway from The Hague, via Delft mental services in The Hague. It is the ob- public transport, by car and by bike. operators of Rotterdam and The Hague towards Rotterdam. This plan got in a politi- jective of the metropolitan region to make Between Rotterdam and The Hague there is needed to make use of part of this line, cal impasse from more than fifty years since optimal use of the complementarity of the a dense network of road and rail infrastruc- which required extensive (technical) coop- the highway negatively affects the green economic sectors within the region. ture. In order to facilitate strengthened eration. The RandstadRail service became areas of Midden-Delfland (area in-between Complementarity is considered to be more functional linkages, the Metropoolregio aims operational between 2006 in 2011 and the Rotterdam and The Hague). Despite these efficient and more competitive, since it leads to increase the capacity of infrastructure and results are very positive, with large increas- environmental concerns, national politicians to diversity and avoids the duplication of to reduce travel times within the area. The es in passengers compared to the former recently decided to extend the high-way services. Moreover, the Metropoolregio aims RandstadRail, a light rail connection between national rail line. Many more people now based on a proposal developed by the re- at generating extra spinoff by better con- gional authorities under supervision of the necting the universities and other educa- Province of South-Holland. The extension of tions to the various economic sectors and Figure 36 Proposed and planned projects to improve the accessibility of only 7 km of high-way will be finished in create triple helix constructions. Recently, the region 2015 and is likely to have a positive impact the Leiden University (with a campus in The on the further functional integration of the Hague), Erasmus University Rotterdam and region. Another major infrastructure project Delft University of Technology have put for- is the expansion of the rail capacity between ward their intention for closer collaboration. The Hague and Rotterdam. The Schools of Arts of Rotterdam and The Hague decided to merge, since they have Politicians and policy-makers in the region the idea that they can offer a better quality continue to work intensively together on together than alone. The schools will inten- issues concerning transport and mobility. sively start to cooperate with each other, for Even when they do not know whether the example by exchanging teachers and a joint plans of the former national government to lobby towards the national government for assign a transport authority to the metro- more (art) subsidies. The diversity in the politan level will be implemented. With a region offers opportunities for spin-offs be- transport authority it would be easier to tween different economic sectors. For exam- coordinate all the different (local) transport ple, a spin-off firm from the Delft University services, but the example of the of Technology could do work (or research) RandstadRail shows that the transport ser- that benefits the horticultural clusters in vices are also able to cooperate with each Westland and Lansingerland, settle in the other without such an overarching author- harbour area of Rotterdam and benefit from ity. the patent registration knowledge available in Rijswijk and The Hague. The diversity of Source: Metropoolregio Rotterdam-Den Haag, 2012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 128 129 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe economic activities within the port of Rotterdam are very often more con- assets also as an important indicator of region and the region’s knowledge-driven Metropoolregio can result in innovations nected to related firms in Dordrecht and quality of life. This explains why ‘green’ is and innovative potential. At the moment, within and between economic sectors. Antwerp rather than The Hague. Vice versa, one of the seven pillars of the metropolitan various organisations actively promote var- the firms and institutions in The Hague strategy. The cities, in close cooperation ious parts of the Metropoolregio area. For However, a study by the predecessor of the might be more connected to the service- with the province, want to keep the green example the West-Holland Foreign Netherlands Environmental Assessment oriented cities Leiden and Amsterdam. This areas open, enhance the agricultural use of Investment Agency (WFIA), which pro- Agency from 2006 showed that business example is indicative for the multi-scalarity the landscape and support an efficient and motes the area of The Hague, Westland, relations between The Hague and Rotterdam of the metropolitan region. It might mean effective maintenance of the landscapes. Zoetermeer, Lansingerland and extends it are not as fully developed as expected, that the Metropoolregio is more about inte- Moreover, they jointly promote the leisure to Leiden. The Rotterdam Investment based on the mass of both cities (RPB/PBL, grating the labour market, the housing mar- function of these areas, for example by im- Agency (RIA) is responsible for the brand- 2006). This ‘underachieving’ could have to ket and the market for services and ameni- proving the cycling lanes in order to improve ing and marketing of the city of Rotterdam do with the differing economic profiles of ties than that it should foster inter-firm link- the accessibility of the areas. Also ameni- and immediate surroundings. The presence both cities/city-regions boast: political-gov- ages on a large scale. ties, cultural services, sport- and leisure of various organisations within the ernmental institutions in/near The Hague do activities determines the (inter)national at- Metropoolregio is seen as a positive thing: not have much in common with harbour and Diversity in the region: significant choice tractiveness of the region. Although the re- “Cooperation in promotion and acquisition transport related activities in/near of housing, amenities and landscape gion offers a widespread variety of theaters, offers mutual opportunities, but at the Rotterdam. It suggests that we need to assets cinemas and cultural events, common devel- same time some degree of competition is move away from an understanding of com- The third strategy of the metropolitan region opments can further enhance the attractive- an incentive for providing the best offer to plementarity as just being different to an is to fully exploit the wide diversity in amen- ness and quality of them and prevent dupli- organisations settling in the region.” understanding of complementarity as being ities, services and landscape assets of the cation of similar events. (Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, different, but related. This apparent lack of region. The diversity of the region offers an 2012b). Both organisations work together ‘relatedness’ might mean that firm linkages attractive and significant choice for people With regard to the housing market, the based on a covenant signed for the period between Rotterdam and The Hague will re- and is an important indicator for quality of Metropoolregio wants to match the demand 2010-2014. Within the Metropoolregio, main limited. The firms located in the sea- life. The Metropoolregio considers landscape and supply on the regional housing market cities are busy coordinating the different by coordinating the housing programs of the cultural activities and to promote each oth- municipalities. A wide variety of living envi- er’s events. Rotterdam supports, for exam- Figure 37 Diversity in the region: Inner-city living/working environment, Rotterdam (l) and ronments offers consumers a significant ple, The Hague to become Cultural Capital greenhouse horticulture activities within the Westland area (r) choice and has a positive influence on the 2018 while The Hague on their turn sup- attractiveness of the region. At the scale of ports Rotterdam in its bid for the Olympic the city-regions, the municipalities make Games of 2028 (in cooperation with already such agreements about, amongst Amsterdam). others, the spread of different types of housing or amount of office space across the The expectation is that the external mar- region. The question remains what the right keting strategy will ‘trickle down’ to citizens level of scale is for coordination and coop- on the long run. There is not regional iden- eration on the housing market as the metro- tity in the Metropoolregio since identities politan scale might be too comprehensive. are very much attached to the two largest cities Rotterdam and The Hague, while also 11.3.2 Cultural integration Delft has a distinct identity. Suburban mu- The external (international) marketing nicipalities like Rijswijk or Wassenaar (near strategy of the Metropoolregio is important The Hague) or Capelle a/d IJssel (bordering Source: © Michelverbeek (l) and CC-by (r) to promote the economic diversity of the Rotterdam) are predominantly culturally

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 130 131 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe linked to their larger neighbour rather than the region. From 2010 onwards, the process position and the business climate of the re- development of the metropolitan region. the broader region. The inhabitants of of institutional integration accelerated, trig- gion since this is of importance for all cities. In order to deal with the multi-scalarity of Rotterdam are proud of their hands-on gered by the national discussion about abol- Defining a ‘common denominator’ could tie the region, the Metropoolregio introduced mentality, which is linked to the industrial ishing the WGR+ regions and the quest for all involved stakeholders together. a three-ring-model that can deal with the and harbour related history of the area. an authority that covers the metropolitan different levels of institutional integration The Westland area is a distinct area with a scale (including its daily urban systems) and Dealing with multi-scalarity (Metropoolregio Rotterdam-Den Haag, high degree of entrepreneurship in horticul- that is capable to deal with certain tasks and The metropolitan region operates within 2012b): ture and a strong sense of community. responsibilities in return for significant budg- a densely populated area that extends There is no intention that the citizens call ets. to Leiden, Dordrecht, Gouda, Breda, 1 Mandatory cooperation between the 24 themselves inhabitants of the Amsterdam, Utrecht and on a larger scale cities whereby budgets, tasks and re- Metropoolregio, but it is important that Political leadership even to Antwerp. The 24 municipalities sponsibilities are shared and designated they see the advantages of a strongly inte- The mayors of Rotterdam and The Hague do not form a ‘closed system’ since The (for example the transport authority or grated region. The region offers them a played a catalyst role in the metropolitan Hague has strong relations with Leiden investments in green spaces). broad choice of amenities and services. The initiative. Without the strong political com- and Amsterdam while Rotterdam is more 2 Mandatory cooperation and joint decision- main objective of the pillar group ‘culture’ mitment of these political leaders, the cur- focused on cities as Dordrecht and Antwerp. making of the 24 cities without shared is to make the advantages of the region rent intensively cooperation between cities Consequently, there is not one appropriate budgets (for example with regard to pro- visible. For example by introducing a would be less likely. The mayors both under- spatial scale of cooperation. There is a gramming real estate; housing, offices, ‘metropool-card’; a discount card for cul- line that cooperation and coordination is tension between looking inward to the retail, business parks). tural amenities in the region. Another tool needed to remain competitive in today’s participating municipalities and outward, 3 Voluntary cooperation between certain to strengthen the regional identity is the globalizing world. The mayors of Delft, which could cause a status quo in the municipalities and business, knowledge- bundling of the magazines of the two Lansingerland, Westland, Vlaardingen and WGR+ regions in a new magazine named Capelle a/d IJssel are also very supportive ‘#MRDH’ (abbreviation for Metropoolregio to the metropolitan region. Noticeable is Figure 38 Rotterdam-The Hague Airport and the Randstadrail Rotterdam Den Haag). This is primarily tar- that there is less political commitment geted to politicians and civil servants within amongst the politicians of the smaller par- the area and emphasizes the need for co- ticipating municipalities. They fear that the operation among politicians and policy local councils will be overruled by a domi- makers in the area. Another step to create nant metropolitan authority and that a fur- a joint regional identity is the renaming of ther integration means that ‘big city prob- the airport from Rotterdam Airport into lems’ (like crime, pollution) will be exported Rotterdam The Hague Airport (see Figure to their municipality. Until now, the 38). This may appear as a symbolic action Metropoolregio is mainly an initiative of the at the first sight, but is at the same time a larger municipalities, and the smaller mu- powerful message to the public at large nicipalities have the feeling that they may that both cities belong together. get less out of the cooperation and might lose their influence. In order to get more 11.3.3 Institutional integration support of the smaller municipalities more Various joint projects and policies (such as prove of the added-value of the metropoli- the RandstadRail, the Metropool-card and tan region is needed. Hereby it is important the joint efforts to keep the area between to make clear how they can benefit from the Rotterdam and The Hague green) has en- Metropoolregio. Together they should define hanced the institutional integration within ways how they can improve the competitive Source: Shutterstock ID 1787965 Source: Shutterstock ID 6504124

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 132 133 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe and research institutions which are not steer the coordinated efforts of the 11.4 SWOT analysis part of the metropolitan region. Metropoolregio in a better way. Strengths Weaknesses

In the third ring the Metropoolregio can co- In recent years, the metropolitan initiative • Strong diversity in terms of housing, amenities, • Competitive position of the region is under operate with private sector actors, universi- has taken off in a fast pace. The cities de- retail, leisure activities, and services pressure ties, semi-public organisations within a triple fined ambitions, strategies and objectives in • Already strong functional, cultural and • Branding of the region is still in its infancy helix construction. It enables the region to seven different pillars (with often several institutional integration • Lack of critical mass to offer high-end amenities take a central position in society by bringing subdivisions). It can be questioned whether • Catalyst role of the mayors of Rotterdam and The and services in the region Hague • Multi-scalar context of the metropolitan region; various actors and initiatives together. In the scope of the Metropoolregio is not too • High degree and tradition of (in)formal there are major overlaps with cities close by this way, they can make optimal use of the broad. All the different initiatives could stall cooperation. Metropoolregio can build on earlier (Leiden, Dordrecht) and further away (Amsterdam, actors and their ideas and activities. In prin- the process and could result in bureaucratic cooperation at the scale of both city-regions Breda, Antwerp) that interfere governance ciple, the three-ring-model provides a way and ineffective decision-making as long as • Cooperation is made visible for citizens: arrangements and cause fragmented governance to incorporate other partners in the process. all 24 city councils have to agree with it. Rotterdam-The Hague airport, RandstadRail, patterns. Metropoolpas • Sensitive relationship between the Metropoolregio Moreover, it is clear for all partners in which This is a danger since some of the smaller • Strong commitment between actors to prevent and the Province of South-Holland cases there are shared budgets, tasks and municipalities are questioning the added- green spaces in order to keep the region responsibilities. The model is still point of value of the Metropoolregio. Noticeable is attractive (quality of life) political discussion since not all municipal the shift from a project-orientated form of Opportunities Threats councils have approved it yet. Therefore, it cooperation towards a more institutionalized is (yet) unknown how this model will work in way of cooperation with difficult discussions • If the WGR+ regions will be abolished, the • Uncertainty with regard to the future status of Metropoolregio can take over. The transport the WGR+ regions. If these continue to exist, the practice, but it can be seen as a good exam- about democratic legitimacy and shared authority could significantly strengthen the status of the Metropoolregio may be harmed. ple of institutional integration as the model budgets, tasks and responsibilities. position of the Metropoolregio, because specific • The necessity for cooperation and benefits of offers opportunities for different ways of (in) According to the interviewees, the institu- financial resources need to be managed. integration is not clear to smaller municipalities formal cooperation. tional legitimacy of the Metropoolregio is • Close proximity of all cities and population within the Metropoolregio, which could lead to tied to the content of the metropolitan agen- density is beneficial for creating one critical mass dwindling support • Metropoolregio could benefit from increased • Identities of citizens are more likely to remain da. It is the content of this agenda that de- cooperation or even merging of the two attached to Rotterdam, The Hague or Westland, Relation province and metropolitan region termines the action points, the way of coop- investment agencies that are currently active which could be reflected in local politics, hence The relationship between the metropolitan eration and the use of budgets. At this mo- • Cooperation/coordination between the knowledge could hamper local support region and the Province of South-Holland is ment, the pillars are still in its infancy and it institutions and the economic clusters (triple • Lack of relatedness of economic sectors a precarious one. Although the province is uncertain how they will work in practice. helix) can increase links between businesses could hamper functional integration of the and knowledge institutions and increase Metropoolregio supports a further institutional integration First, the metropolitan plan for the region competitiveness • The Metropoolregio has taken off in a fast pace, within the region, they are not enthusiastic needs to be adopted by the individual city • High attention for improving accessibility and with ambitions on many policy areas (seven pillars about assigning the transport authority to councils. The coming years will learn us the relationship with urbanisation (RandstadRail, with sometimes subdivisions). Too many initiatives the Metropoolregio. Most likely the province whether the metropolitan strategies of the South Wing, transport authority) in too many areas could stall the process is afraid to lose its competencies and its Metropoolregio were effective. • Strong dependence on the political leadership of the two mayors of The Hague and Rotterdam coordination role in this field. The may turn into a threat when new mayors have a Metropoolregio covers a major part of the different agenda. province in terms of population and in terms • Continued discussions about governance aspects of economic sectors. Nevertheless, the prov- could draw attention away from concrete ince remains the main driver for coordinated projects and policy initiatives together with other institutions (triple helix). spatial development. Together with the re- sources of the province, the actors could

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 134 135 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 11.5 Conclusions instrument to deal with the multi-scalarity of portant that the involved share-and stake- al, cultural and institutional integration the region, but it is unknown how it will holders stayed focused on the content of stalled in lengthy political discussions and In recent years, the metropolitan initiative in work in practice. cooperation. Otherwise there will be the conflicts of interests. the South Wing of the Randstad has taken danger that the process of further function- off in a fast pace. The involved cities and Cultural – In terms of cultural integration, city-regions defined strategies, policies, in- several initiatives and decisions have pro- ter-municipality working groups and a pro- moted the metropolitan region (inter)nation- posed institution structure in just a few ally, such as the renaming of the airport and years. Although the metropolitan initiative is two investments agencies. It is not the am- still in its infancy, it created much energy bition of the Metropoolregio to create one amongst the share- and stakeholders. This regional identity, but they want the region to can be explained by the fact that the basis be part of the mental map of its inhabitants for further region integration was already and firms. They would benefit from taking there since the region is building on the al- into account all the opportunities the region ready existing functional, cultural and insti- has to offer them. tutional relations. The strong political com- mitment can be explained by the catalyst Institutional – Further institutional integra- role of the mayors of The Hague and tion towards a metropolitan authority is cur- Rotterdam. Smaller municipalities have a rently point of political discussion. The relatively reluctant attitude towards the Metropoolregio published an ambitious pro- Metropoolregio. To create more support gram with seven different pillars. This en- amongst these municipalities it would be thusiasm brings along the danger that the important to discuss with them how they focus shifts from specific issues or projects could benefit of a further functional, cultural to cooperation in itself. It is questionable and institutional integration of the region. whether it is necessary to cooperate with all By involving them in the debate they can cities in all pillars. To prevent the process influence the metropolitan agenda and they from becoming a bureaucratic and inefficient feel more represent by the metropolitan decision-making process, it would be wise to authority. focus on the aspects that are of high impor- tance for the metropolitan region. Functional – The metropolitan region is functionally integrated in terms of the labour The coming years will tell us to what extent market, housing market, business relations the ambitions and strategies of the and amenities. It is the strategy of the met- Metropoolregio will be achieved and how the ropolitan region to make better use of the cities operationalised the various objectives. opportunities offered by the daily urban sys- The decision of the national government tems within the region, by including a vari- whether or not to abolish the WGR+ regions ety of stakeholders. Since these daily urban and whether or not a transport authority will systems are often crossing the borders, the be assigned towards the metropolitan level Metropoolregio also has to cooperate with are important decisions that are likely to other cities, regions and provinces. On pa- have a significant impact on its further met- per the three-ring-model seems to a good ropolitan development. Therefore, it is im- Source: Shutterstock 95392414

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 136 137 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 12 Synthesis case studies

This section discusses the main findings ropolitan strategy of Linköping – Norrköping of the six case studies. In line with the is well developed, and striking is the urgen- case studies it is divided in the (spatial)- cy felt among stakeholders to exploit the functional, cultural and institutional benefits of the shared critical mass of both dimension of integration, but first the cities. metropolitan strategies and policies will be discussed. The metropolitan development strategies of Porto and Milan are strongly focused on the external branding or marketing of the re- 12.1 Metropolitan development gion. For the Tri-City Region and strategies Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland the main trigger is the national attention for metro- Metropolitan initiatives can be find all across politan areas. By setting up a metropolitan Europe. Part of the explanation is also the authority the region is more likely to receive increasing attention of the European Union additional funding. towards metropolitan areas. Although vari- There appears to be a difference in perspec- ous reasons were given why the cities are tive between these cases and the Dutch and developing a metropolitan development Swedish case. The latter are much more strategy or policy, they all identify ‘to im- focused on exploiting internal potentialities prove international competitiveness’ as a that are present, while the other four are main motivation, which goes hand-in-hand seeking to exploit external opportunities with the increasing awareness that metro- that may arise. Obviously, there is a mixture politan areas are the right scale to compete of both in all six cases, but there are striking internationally. The metropolitan develop- differences in focus. ment strategies are focusing on fostering cooperation and coordination at the regional scale in order to become economically more 12.2 Spatial-functional integration competitive. Citizens and firms increasingly make use of The metropolitan strategy of the the opportunities offered at a regional scale, Metropoolregio Rotterdam-The Hague is by even without supporting policies from the far the most detailed one. They defined various cities that make up the region. With three strategies linked to seven pillars that exception of the case of Mitteldeutschland, are of importance for the region. In contrast most metropolitan areas are functionally with the other case studies cities, they ar- integrated in terms of labour market, gue that the metropolitan region is already (higher) education, and the use of high- there, and functioning as a daily urban sys- end services and metropolitan functions. tem, but that the potentialities of this are The extent of integration is influenced by not sufficiently exploited. One of the strate- the size of the cities and distance between gies it to facilitate the daily urban systems them; the smaller the size of a city and the in the region better and improve the region’s more the distance between the cities, the connectivity and accessibility. Also the met- less integration within the region, very much

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 138 139 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe as predicted by Newton’s law of gravity. integration given dependence on one an- such co-operation in the way. Yet, it appears 12.4 Institutional dimension Consequently, polycentric metropolitan other, while also easing this co-operation. that the spatial behaviour of people and regions like Linköping-Norrköping and Rotterdam-The Hague and Linköping- firms is often already on a higher scale, For coherent metropolitan policies and Mitteldeutschland are less integrated in Norrköping are cases in point. Culture, la- and as long as ‘regional identity’ (cognitive) coordination, it was found that some comparison with metropolitan areas like bour market, higher education, services and and ‘local attachment’ (affective) are not basic institutional characteristics are Rotterdam-The Hague and Milan, which on health care are all fields in which integration confused, it should not stand such co- important. First of all, the relationship with their turn appear less strongly integrated can be stimulated, and most metropolitan operation in the way. the overarching regional government is than the Polish Tri-City Region and Porto. areas have common policies in at least one highly important. A regional government of these fields. Examples are the shared This leads to the conclusion that it is easier with many competences and a strong Based on the case studies one can conclude cultural agenda of the Tri-City Region, and for an incorporation-type metropolitan area metropolitan focus can be very beneficial that the main drivers behind (further) func- the way hospitals are made more comple- to develop a coherent external/internal for the formation of coherent policies on tional integration are physical connections mentary in Sweden, hence fostering integra- branding/marketing strategy for the entire the metropolitan level. On the other hand, (infrastructure; transit systems) and com- tion. region that is supported by the surrounding if metropolitan areas are part of several plementarity. One cannot emphasise enough The latter is an important issue to empha- cities as well. The Porto metropolitan area is regions, or if the region doesn’t have a how important good connections between sise: it is the combination of complementa- a good example in this respect since the city metropolitan focus nor much competences, the cities are in order to exploit the benefits rity and integration that yields enormous combines the urban amenities of the central the municipalities of the metropolitan area of critical mass. potential for polycentric metropolitan areas. city with the rural amenities of the Douro are left to coordinate matters themselves. region. Indeed, most metropolitan areas Second, the differences in importance of Infrastructure and transportation are the with a balanced pattern of settlements (fu- municipalities within metropolitan areas condition sine qua non to enter the process 12.3 Cultural dimension sion-type) do not have such integrated are important. There is a tension between of metropolisation, and hence reap the ben- branding strategies, but a strong and his- larger and smaller municipalities in that the efits of agglomeration in a network of cities. Perhaps due to rather strong levels of torically institutionalised regional govern- dominating larger ones often tend to follow New or improved infrastructure connections spatial-functional integration in many of our ment (like Östergötland for Linköping- their own agendas, which is party caused foster both functional integration, cultural cases, many inhabitants cognitively consider Norrköping) can overcome this. by the act that the agendas of smaller integration and institutional integration. The themselves part of the wider (polycentric) municipalities are sometimes strikingly cases of the Tri-City Region, Rotterdam-The metropolitan area, while at the same time Strategies promoting a regional identity are different. Particularly in Milan and to a lesser Hague and Porto illustrate the importance of they feel much more attached to their own also more externally (business) oriented extent Porto, it was evident that the central a light-rail for further functional integration, city. In metropolitan areas where a large than internally towards the citizens and ex- city often operates independent from other and the same holds for the train shuttle in central city dominates the metropolitan isting firms within the region. The implicit municipalities. This may be harmful when Linköping-Norrköping. area the cognitive effect was quite strong. hope of politicians and policy makers is that issues that require a regional response are Often this effect is fostered through symbols the effects of an externally oriented brand- at stake. The second driver, complementarity, can be that unite a metropolitan area, such as for ing policy will gradually ‘trickle down’ to the interpreted as the avoidance of duplication instance a famous sports team in the central inhabitants and firms within the metropoli- Second, it appears that institutional coop- between cities in terms of urban amenities city. Local identities (often tied to individual tan area. It is not the idea that the inhabit- eration is highly dependent on political lead- and services, as well as in terms of the pres- cities) are omnipresent, but generally do ants should take on a regional identity, but ership and a culture of cooperation. For the ence of related economic clusters. not appear to stand in the way of awareness rather that they develop a regional ‘mental Metropoolregio Rotterdam-The Hague the Complementarity limits internal competition that the scale of the larger metropolitan map’ which enables them to make better mayors of both cities played a catalyst role. and stimulates inhabitants and firms to areas provides many opportunities for use of possibilities offered in the whole met- Also, in metropolitan areas where a culture make use of what other cities than their citizens and firms. Our impression was that ropolitan region. of cooperation is more developed, interme- home-town have to offer. Functional integra- politicians often feel reluctant to engage diary bodies that cut across policy sectors tion follows naturally from complementarity, in regional co-operation because of their and municipalities are more capable of or- and it enhances the need for institutional perception of strong local identities standing ganising policy coordination. However, this

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 140 141 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe can sometimes lead to the danger of ‘over- (new housing, shopping malls, and airports) commitment is not the most important sation of urban functions prevail, and often institutionalisation’, in which metropolitan are eagerly seized by individual municipali- factor that stimulates functional integration: cause tensions between the municipalities coordination efforts becomes a goal in itself ties, which have led to severe oversupply of it is the scaling-up of activities undertaken involved. The central city will often rely on for politicians and policy makers. such new urban amenities. Porto is a very by people and firms themselves that often the logics of the market to draw functions clear example, but it basically also holds for drives integration. Policies for regional into their territory, while the smaller sur- Of course there are other matters that influ- the other metropolitan areas where high integration should focus on certain aspects rounding municipalities want a piece of the ence institutional integration. Problems re- vacancy rates in the offices sector and on that really need a certain boost. Policies pie as well. It seems that they are increas- lated to unbalanced regional developments, business sites are at least partly due to a regarding transport and complementarity/ ingly well positioned to meet the market’s the economic crisis and international com- lack of coordination. The economic crisis has related economic clusters are ways to demand: jobs follow people. And often, not petitiveness increasingly make politicians made the consequences particularly clear. identify common goals for the whole all urban functions can be accommodated in and policy makers aware of the fact that Finally, there is also a tension between the metropolitan area. the central city. Finding a balance between regional coordination and cooperation is scale of co-operation (which local actors are centralisation and decentralisation of urban necessary. Nevertheless, politicians are still involved?) and the scale at which spatial The interviewees employed by local and re- functions is a major challenge. Positively, appointed by the local population which, issues arise. While the first tends to be more gional government authority indicate that branding strategies that make use of the together with a perception of historically fixed, such policy issues arise at a wide vari- they are often uncertain about the role other strong international identity of the central grown inter-city rivalry, leads to an empha- ety flexible scales. This is a complicating cities play in the metropolitan area and the city are widely accepted within the wider sis on short-term, locally coloured political factor for any platform for regional coopera- effects these other cities have on the perfor- region. agendas. Without hard evidence on how tion. mance of their own city. They often have decisions taken for ‘the regional good’ trickle difficulties in assessing which inter-city rela- In contrast, the challenge for fusion-type down locally, and how regional performance tionships are most beneficial for further de- metropolitan is more focused on the need to affects local performance, also on the long 12.5 Challenges and questions velopment. There is a huge demand for in- increase integration in order to start a pro- run, it is hard to overcome this gap between addressed by urban sight into (spatial and financial) instruments cess of metropolisation or ‘borrowing size’ to regional issues and local administration. practitioners that allow trade-offs to be made for the exploit agglomeration benefits in a network greater regional good, while, at the same of cities. The historical development trajec- We saw that in case cities were complemen- The case studies demonstrate a widespread time, accounting for the fact that benefits tory of the involved cities have been much tary, it was easier to develop regional coor- conviction that regional coordination and and costs of such coordinated decisions are more individual (often leading to rivalry) and dination and cooperation. However, this does cooperation is needed in the fields of not balanced over the various actors in- only in the last decade or so has evidence not mean that co-operation between com- transport, economy, spatial development, volved and are often also not balanced in become widespread that larger metropolitan plementary cities is necessarily more fruit- labour market etc. in order to improve time. areas may be more competitive in an era of ful. Perhaps on the contrary, potential gains the international competitive position of globalisation, and are a more relevant scale seem also large in the case of co-operation the metropolitan areas as a whole and to Besides these overall challenges, it is inter- to consider the activities of people and between more homogeneous cities, since make it a more attractive city-region to esting to assess the difference between ‘fu- firms. This requires clear data to convince the issues of duplication and competition live and work. But despite this awareness, sion-type’ and ‘incorporation-type’ regions. the involved stakeholders that increased arise more prominently. European metropolitan areas are still For incorporation-type regions, the strong regional integration does benefit the region facing considerable challenges such as the relationships between the central city and and their individual city. But even then an- One policy sector that made case for region- prevailing focus on local interests over the surrounding cities are a given fact and most other challenge will remain: namely the co- al cooperation and coordination point-blank common regional good. stakeholders acknowledge and accept the ordination of specific urban functions. While is the development of new urban areas. leading role of the central city. Stimulating incorporation-type metropolitan areas have Without regional coordination, local building It seems that functional integration between integration is therefore not so much on the a clear focal point where urban functions and housing policies may create regional the cities in the various cases is taking place agenda, but the issue is more how to ac- concentrate, in fusion-type metropolitan imbalances and oversupply. Opportunities to even without dedicated supporting policies. commodate the strong relationships. Issues areas several cities fulfil this role. Creating build or maintain regionally important assets Therefore it can be concluded that political related to suburbanisation and (de)centrali- clusters of functions that allow cities to ‘bor-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 142 143 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 13 Knowledge & Research Agenda

row size’ from each is essential, but politi- – Making clear the (dynamics in) 13.1 ‘Metropolisation’ increased networking between the cities cians will not be eager to give up possibili- interdependencies and interactions making up the polycentric metropolitan ties to build or maintain important assets among cities and their roles and functions In essence, the research needs of cities area. Networking may relate to a variety of like airports, shopping malls. (complementarities) themselves overlap largely with the research dimensions: functional, institutional and – Developing effective, flexible platforms for agendas described in the scientific literature. cultural. These dimensions are not separate, A (short) list of challenges and questions co-operation and regional coordination, In most parts of Europe, polycentric metro- on the contrary, they are strongly linked and addressed by urban practitioners across that take into account the multi-scalarity politan areas present the new scale at which influence each other positively: the more Europe: of spatial development issues and that people and firms tend to concentrate many one undertakes activities all across the – Making visible the benefits and costs get support from the public of their activities. Polycentric metropolitan polycentric metropolitan area (functional), of regional integration and the role of – Developing instruments to allow for the areas are there to stay and will become in- the more one starts to identify with this regional coordination and cooperation in trade-offs between the regional good and creasingly important as processes of scaling- polycentric metropolitan area (cultural), the achieving processes of ‘borrowing size’ local interests up continue. They might not always be daily larger the need and support for regional – How to enter into a process of urban systems already, but have the poten- governance (institutional), which may lead metropolisation to reap these benefits tial of becoming (more) functionally inte- to investments that allow for easier travel grated. Polycentric metropolitan areas are, within the metropolitan area and fosters and will be, the new scale at which agglom- more regional activity patterns of people eration effects manifest themselves. and firms (functional), etc. This process can be labelled ‘metropolisation’, a euro-English Urban professionals are generally well aware term that refers to the process in which a of this important spatial transformation from perhaps rather loose collection of nearby city to polycentric metropolitan area. cities gains in terms of performance through However, they clearly present that they are increased functional, cultural and institu- in need of more knowledge: they are often tional integration, see Figure 39. willing to look beyond their jurisdictional The challenge for cities in polycentric metro- borders and co-operate with nearby cities, politan areas is to enter the upward spiral of but with which city, for what issue, and what metropolisation, move up in this spiral is the potential gain? through fostering functional, cultural and institutional integration allowing to reap the As regards the potential gain, research has benefits of agglomeration by jointly borrow- suggested that a polycentric urban form ing size from each other. implies the presence of less agglomeration benefits. At the same time, agglomeration Potential gains quantified costs are also less, the more polycentric a Now, how can we quantify this potential gain metropolitan area is. Therefore, the major in metropolitan performance that polycentric quest for polycentric metropolitan areas is metropolitan areas can achieve when they to organize a higher level of agglomeration become fully integrated? We can provide the benefits, commensurable with the scale of beginning of an answer by examining how the whole metropolitan area, while keeping agglomeration benefits increase with size. the extent to which agglomeration costs Melo et al. (2009) found in a meta-analysis appear limited to the scale of single cities. of the estimates of urban agglomeration The literature suggests the way to do so: effects, that in the Western world, the aver-

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 144 145 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe age elasticity of size is 5.8%. This means potential in larger metropolitan areas. it would mean that labour productivity would economic trends impact upon this process that on average, a city that is twice as large, Moreover, the often diverse industry mix in go up 5.8% (they double their size). of metropolisation (13.2.2), and narrow has a productivity that is 5.8% higher. So in an economically dense area increases the Average labour productivity in 2009 in this the scope – how individual elements of a city (or daily urban system) of 1.000.000 odds of interaction, generation, replication, part of the Netherlands was about 39.000 this process of metropolisation are linked people, labour productivity tends to be 5.8% modification and recombination of ideas and euro per capita. 5.8%*39.000*2 million (13.2.3), or by examining research issues more high than in a city of 500.000. If a city applications across different sectors (Van inhabitants = more than 4.5 billion euro. So, that address single elements of this process in a polycentric metropolitan area is not re- Oort, 2004) and protects a region from vola- the potential gain of a metropolisation strat- (13.2.4-13.2.6). Research topics are listed lated to the other cities in this area, they tile demand (Frenken et al., 2007). Finally, egy in the Metropoolregio Rotterdam – The bullet wise. will not ‘borrow size’ from each other. They the presence of a large internal market of- Hague is 4.5 billion euro. Per year, that is! If will be separate daily urban systems. If they fers a larger degree of stability and lower they would extend it to include the city-re- 13.2.1 The process of metropolisation join forces, however, they can increase their transport costs (Siegel et al., 1995). gions of Leiden and Dordrecht as well, it – Gain more insight into the potential labour productivity substantially. would mean a potential gain of 6-7 billion benefits of the process of metropolisation Labour productivity is generally considered a Let us give a simple example of the potential euro. Of course, Rotterdam and The Hague in polycentric metropolitan areas – how measure that shows the balance between gain of a metropolisation strategy in a is not a loose collection of nearby cities, but can cities exploit their joint critical mass? agglomeration benefits and costs. Therefore, polycentric metropolitan area, based on one have integrated already to quite some ex- – Analyse how cities can enter the upward it certainly is not just an indicator of eco- of our cases, the Rotterdam – The Hague tent, which means that the potential gains spiral of metropolisation nomic performance. If a city has high crime Metropolitan Area. The general conviction is are less, but nevertheless amount to billions – Analyse the extent to which polycentric rates, or a not attractive natural environ- that this area is still made up of two daily of Euros each year. These numbers make metropolitan areas have progressed in ment, it will not be able to maintain or at- urban systems centred on The Hague and clear that metropolisation in polycentric the upward spiral of metropolisation and tract the higher skilled workers that are in- Rotterdam respectively. Both have about 1 metropolitan areas is a highly beneficial de- how it has benefited their metropolitan creasingly demanding in terms of quality of million inhabitants. If they would manage to velopment strategy. performance life. enter the process of metropolisation and However, important knowledge questions – Analyse in great detail how networks/ Those familiar with agglomeration theories reach the scale at which both daily urban need to be addressed in order to develop integration can provide a substitute for know that the reasons for this are well- systems would have merged into one daily empirically based regional development agglomeration known. When the labour market is larger, urban system, then they could reap the ben- strategies for polycentric metropolitan ar- – Analyse in great detail how functional, firms will be able to hire the right person for efits of agglomeration normally only found in eas. institutional and cultural integration are the job more easily. Likewise, in a larger a 2-million inhabitants metropolis. In theory, linked to each other labour market, employees will be able to – Analyse which factors foster or find a job that matches their skills and inter- 13.2 A research agenda on hamper entering the upward spiral ests better. Obviously, such good matches polycentric metropolitan areas of metropolisation and the process of make workers more productive. Meijers and Figure 39 The upward spiral of metropolisation moving up in this spiral Burger (2010), among many others, men- The process of metropolisation sketched – Analyse how functional, cultural and tion the main benefits of agglomeration. It is in the previous section provides the basis institutional factors influence the the availability of a large and multi-function- for our research agenda on polycentric regionalisation of agglomeration al labour pool and the presence of a good metropolitan areas. This agenda can be benefits and how they can avoid the infrastructure and public facilities in dense subdivided by the different elements of the regionalisation of agglomeration costs – if economic areas that are the sources of ag- process as sketched in Figure 39. The main at all glomeration benefits. Relatively more urban- set of research topics concern the entire – Does the process of metropolisation ized areas are also more likely to accommo- process of metropolisation and how it is develop differently in ‘incorporation- date universities, R&D laboratories, trade linked to metropolitan performance (see type’ versus ‘fusion-type’ polycentric associations, and other knowledge-generat- 13.2.1). Yet, we can both broaden the scope metropolitan areas? ing institutions, leading to larger innovation – by looking at how general societal and

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 146 147 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 13.2.2 Urgency of metropolisation in tric metropolitan areas as they integrate 13.2.6 The institutional challenge of transformation and turn it to their advan- polycentric metropolitan areas further, and how different cities perform polycentric metropolitan areas tage. Cities in polycentric metropolitan areas – Explore how general economic and different functions – Analyse different governmental will need to engage in a process of metropo- societal trends drive the development of, – Analyse the extent to which cities are related arrangements and assess their lisation – an upward spiral of continuously and impact upon polycentric metropolitan and the role of transportation systems and effectiveness and efficiency in terms increasing functional, cultural and institu- areas (past, present, future) infrastructure investments in this of addressing issues for regional tional integration. This will enable them to – Explore whether globalisation affects – Develop new methods to identify valuable coordination in polycentric metropolitan reap the benefits of the enormous critical the division of labour within polycentric (potential) relationships between pairs areas mass that is organized in polycentric metro- metropolitan areas, and whether this of cities from the viewpoint of labour – Analyse decision-making systems within politan areas. If you were to put a value on enhances performance mobility, innovation and productivity cooperative platforms and their capability this process of metropolisation, it easily – Explore whether polycentric metropolitan – Analyse how a top-level of urban/ to move beyond decision-making on ‘win- reaches the level of billions per polycentric areas with a strong division of labour, metropolitan functions (in terms of win’ situations metropolitan area per year, as metropolisa- a shared identity, a regional branding amenities and services, infrastructure – Analyse how local actors can be well tion will lead to productivity increases. This strategy and/or integrated governance provision, specialised residential and informed about how decisions in the makes the further development of polycen- arrangements between its constituent business environments) can be arranged interest of the metropolitan area may tric metropolitan areas a key issue for re- parts perform better than other in polycentric metropolitan areas benefit local actors indirectly gional development, especially in times of polycentric metropolitan areas. – Develop new ways to delineate – Explore which instruments allow to make crises. However, important knowledge ques- – Explore the importance of agglomeration polycentric urban regions, using trade-offs between local actors that are in tions need to be addressed in order to de- in regional development, also vis-à-vis innovative data to monitor flows and the interest of the region, but whose ben- velop empirically based regional develop- the importance of international networks interactions between cities efits and costs are not spread evenly. ment strategies for polycentric metropolitan – Explore the idea that metropolisation is a areas that will allow to reap these huge good strategy to combat the economic/ 13.2.5 The cultural embeddedness of gains. The European Metropolitan network financial crisis in Europe polycentric metropolitan areas 13.3 Conclusion Institute calls upon all European cities to – Analyse the extent to which polycentric help address these important research chal- 13.2.3 Links between functional, cultural, metropolitan areas have institutionalized Polycentric metropolitan areas rather than lenges for the benefit of our firms and citi- and institutional integration and hence become a frame of reference individual cities will become the most appro- zens. – Analyse for which type of persons/ and orientation for its inhabitants and priate unit for social and economic organisa- households and for which type of firms firms tion soon, and in some cases present al- the polycentric metropolitan area is a – Analyse how the rise of the new scale of ready the spatial scale at which society is functional entity polycentric metropolitan areas impacts organized. Polycentric metropolitan areas – Explore whether strong local identities upon local pride and identity and regional are, or will soon be, the new scale at which hamper institutional and functional attachment and identification agglomeration effects manifest themselves. integration, perhaps limiting one’s – Explore whether polycentric metropolitan The city has regionalized. This spatial trans- opportunities areas are becoming more culturally ho- formation poses tremendous challenges for – Explore whether functional integration mogeneous or whether the process of urban policy-makers and researchers alike. and a regional identity enhances support integration leads to a strengthening of The past decade, much research effort has for institutional integration local identities and hence more cultural been put in identifying this spatial transfor- heterogeneity mation, and capturing it in concepts and 13.2.4 The functional geography of – How does external marketing of polycen- theories. Now, we need to move beyond this polycentric metropolitan areas tric metropolitan areas relate to internal agenda-setting and conceptual phase: new Analyse whether a division of labour (func- processes of identification with such met- research should deliver the knowledge that tional/sectoral) is developing within polycen- ropolitan areas European cities need to face this spatial

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 148 149 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 14 References

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Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 154 155 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Annex 1: List of interviewees case studies

Diversification, Growth and Change, 26, Cities, 25 (2008) pp.107-119 Linköping – Norrköping Vladimiro Feliz, Councillor, Municipality of 261-284 Tsai, Y. (2005), Quantifying urban form: Ulf Arumskog, Strategic development of- Porto Stead, D. & G. Cotella (2011) Compactness versus ‘sprawl’, Urban Studies, ficer, Norrköping municipality Lino Ferreira, CEO, Área Metropolitana do Differential Europe: Domestic Actors and 42(1), 141–161 Jan Axelsson, Chief Strategy Officer, Porto Their Role in Shaping Spatial Planning Turok, I. & N. Bailey (2004), The Theory Innovationskontor ETT, Linköping University Emídio Gomes, Dean of the Faculty of Systems, DisP, 186-3/2011 of Polynuclear Urban Regions and its Karin Elfström, Head of Comprehensive Biotechnology, Catholic University of Storper, M. (1997), The Regional World: Application to Central Scotland, European Planning, Linköping municipality Portugal; former Head of Executive Territorial Development in a Global Planning Studies, 12, 371-389 Roger Ekström, vice-President, Lundbergs Commission of the Área Metropolitana do Economy. London and New York: Guilford Veneri, P. (2010), Urban polycentricity Fastigheter Porto) Press and the costs of commuting: Evidence from Göran Felldin, director of marketing, Alcibíades Guedes, Vice President, INEGI Sýkora, L., Muliček, O. & K. Maier Italian metropolitan areas, Growth and Linköping university António José Lacerda, Director strategic (2009), City regions and polycentric territo- Change, 41(3), 403–429 Anna Jansson, Project manager, planning and research, Municipality of Porto rial development: concepts and practice, Veneri, P. & D. Burgalassi (2012), Innovationskontor ETT, Linköping University Joao Marrana, Executive Board, Autoridade Urban Research & Practice, 2(3), 233–239 Questioning Polycentric Development and its Paul Håkansson, CEO, Östgötatrafiken Metropolitana de Transportes do Porto Taylor, P., D. Evans & K. Pain (2008), Effects. Issues of Definition and Mats Helander, Regional development poli- Isabel Martins, Department of strategic Application of the interlocking network mod- Measurement for the Italian NUTS-2 cy officer, Östsam Regional Development planning and research, Municipality of Porto el to Mega-City-Regions: Measuring polycen- Regions, European Planning Studies, 20(6), Council Rui Moreira, President, Porto Chamber of tricity within and beyond city-regions, 1017-1037 Peter Karlsson, Director culture and crea- Commerce Regional Studies, 42, 1079-1093 Waterhout, B., Zonneveld, W., & E. tivity, Östsam Regional Development Council Carlos Oliviera, Researcher at CITTA, Thierstein, A., Lüthi, S., Kruse, C. Meijers (2005), Polycentric development Joakim Kärnborg, Director Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto Gabi, S. & L. Glanzmann (2008), Changing policies in Europe: Overview and debate, Entrepreneurship & Employability, Östsam Diana Silva, junior researcher at CITTA, value chain of the Swiss knowledge econo- Built Environment, 31(2), 163-173 Regional Development Council Lena Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto my: Spatial impact of intra-firm and inter- Wirtschaftsinitiative für Mitteldeutschland Miranda, CEO, Skill firm networks within the emerging Mega- (2010), Mittelpunkt – the industrial initiative Mats Philipsson, CEO, ALMI Tri-City Region City Region of Northern Switzerland, for Central Germany magazine. Date of go- Företagspartner AB Tomasz Drozdowski - President in charge Regional Studies, 42, 1113-1131 ing to press: 31 August 2010. Peter Whass, CEO, Lundbergs Fastigheter of City Development Strategy from the Tölle, A. (2008), City profile Gdansk. In:  Richard Widén, Regional planner, Department for Economic and Business Landstinget I Östergötland Policy, City of Gdańsk Porto Metropolitan Area Anna Golędzinowska - Senior specialist of Ana Paula Abreu, Director of Department, the Department of Regional and Spatial Área Metropolitana do Porto Development, Office of the Marshal of Luis Braga da Cruz, Chairman Board of Pomorskie Voivodeship Directors, Serralves Foundation; former na- Anna Górska – Gdańsk Convention Bureau tional Minister of Economy; former president Paulina Górtowska - Regional Pomeranian of the CCDRN Chamber of Commerce Isabel Breda-Vazquez, Professor urban Marek Karzyñski – Director City Planning planning and researcher at CITTA, Faculty of Office, City of Gdynia Engineering, University of Porto Maria Magdalena Koprowska – Chief of Paulo Conceicao, Auxiliar Professor urban the Urban Design team, Gdańsk planning and researcher at CITTA , Faculty Development Agency of Engineering, University of Porto Zaneta Kucharska - Economic Policy

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 156 157 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Department, Bureau of Metropolitan Milan Metropolitan Area Jörn-Heinrich Tobaben, Managing Andrea Svedlin, Policy Advisor at the Cooperation, City of Gdańsk Professor Gabriele Pasqui - Research Director Wirtschaftsinitiative für Department of Culture, City of Rotterdam Piotr Lorens – Professor and Head of the group Planning & Urbanism, Dipartimento Mitteldeutschland Inge van de Water, Strategic Policy Department of Urban Design and Regional Architettura & Pianificazione, Politecnico Reinhard Wölpert, Head of the Office, Advisor, City of Delft Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk Milaan Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland and Marcel Wijermans, Senior Urban Planner, University of Technology Paolo Riganti – Coordinamento Sviluppo Deputy Head of City Planning Office, City of City of The Hague Iwona Markešić – Department Manager del Territorio, Agenzia Mobilità Ambiente Leipzig City Planning Office, City of Gdynia Territorio Katarzyna Matuszak - Manager of the Professor Giorgio Goggi – Politecnico Metropoolregio Rotterdam-The Hague Entrepreneurship Development Department Milaan Harold van Antwerpen, Policy Advisor Aleksandra Niemyska - Regional Andrea Piccin - Assistente di Direzione Horticulture and Greenports, City of Pomeranian Chamber of Commerce della, DG Territorio e Urbanistica, Regione Lansingerland Marcin Piatkowski - Manager of „Invest in Lombardia Frank van den Beuken, Policy Advisor Pomerania‟, Pomerania Development Marina Zambianchi - Servizio sviluppo Spatial Planning at the Department of Urban Agency territoriale e Politiche della casa Development, City of Rotterdam Justyna Przeworska - Gdańsk Chiara Penassi - Director BIC La Fucina Harry Blanke, Senior Policy Advisor, City of Development Agency (ZPU), City of Gdańsk Fulvio Adobati – Referente Settore The Hague Józef Reszke - Starosta Wejherowski and Pianificazione Territoriale Centro Studi sul Linda Frinking, Strategic Policy Advisor, vice-chairman of the Gdańsk Metropolitan Territorio ‘Lelio Pagani’ City of Westland Area Association Alberto Celani – Graduate student at Arjan Harbers, Researcher urban planning, Thomas Richert - Regional Pomeranian Regione Lombardia Netherlands Environmental Assessment Chamber of Commerce Gianluca Sala – Milano Metropoli Agency Maciej Rogocz – Chief of the Urban Marina Zambianchi - Servizio sviluppo Wilbert Hoondert, Manager Economic Programming Team, Gdańsk Development territoriale e Politiche della casa, Bergamo Development at the Department City Agency, City of Gdańsk Laura Brioschi - Settore Pianificazione ter- Marketing and International Affairs, City of Przemysław Rot - Manager Business ritoriale e Parchi, Provincia di Monza e della Delft Promotion Division, City of Gdańsk 23 Brianza Frank van der Knaap, Project Leader Iwona Sagan – Professor at the University Transport Authority and Head of the of Gdańsk, Department of Economic Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland Administration Office, Stadsgewest Geography and chair of the Metropolitan Wolfgang Besch-Frotscher, Urban Haaglanden Expert Council Planning Department, City of Halle Jan Willem Kooijmans, (former) City Marcin Skwierawski – Head of the Markus Egermann, Dipl.-Geograph, Planner, City of The Hague Strategic Development Department, City of Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Lodewijk Lacroix, Senior Process Manager, Sopot Raumentwicklung Stadsgewest Haaglanden Dariusz Wieczorek - Regional Pomeranian Dr. Peter Franz, Halle Institute for Hans Slagboom, Head of Department Chamber of Commerce Economic Research Living, Green and Environment, Stadsregio Kazimierz Wiśniewski - Deputy Director Dr. Albrecht Kauffmann, Halle Institute Rotterdam of County Labour Office, City of Gdańsk for Economic Research Cees Stoppelenburg, Policy Advisor, Rüdiger Kubsch, Economic Department, Stadsregio Rotterdam City of Dresden Theo Strijers, Program Manager Metropool, City of The Hague

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 158 159 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Annex 2: Respondents questionnaire

Urban stakeholders from the following European metropolitan areas responded to our ques- tionnaire:

Alicante Madrid Amsterdam Malaga Barcelona Malmö Berlin Manchester Bilbao Birmingham Palermo Bonn Porto Portsmouth Brighton & Hove Prague Brussels Preston Cologne/Koln Riga Den Haag/The Hague Rotterdam Dresden Seville Düsseldorf Stockholm Eindhoven region Strasbourg Frankfurt am Main Stuttgart Gdan´sk Szczecin Gijon Thessaloniki Graz Torino Hamburg Utrecht Helsinki Vienna Leicester Vilnius Lille métropole Warsaw Lisbon

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 160 161 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 162 163 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 164 165 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe Source: Shutterstock 2274012

Polyentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe 166 167 Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe