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The role, specific situation and potentials of urban areas as nodes in a polycentric development. ESPON Project 1.1.1 Lead partner Nordregio Third interim report ECP-meeting Oct. 2003, Italy. Polycentrism. A Spatial Organisation of Cities characterised by:
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The role, specific situation and potentials of urban areas as nodes in a polycentric development ESPON Project 1.1.1 Lead partner Nordregio Third interim report ECP-meeting Oct. 2003, Italy
Polycentrism A Spatial Organisation of Cities characterised by: • Functional Division of Labour, • Economic and Institutional Integration, and • Political Co-operation.
Levels and issues Concepts Policies & Plans Governance International Flows REGIONAL Opportunity: Synergy of urban complementarities Focus: Networking - co-operation - integration NATIONAL Problem: Unbalanced national urban system Focus: Peripheral cities and regions EUROPEAN Problem: Unbalanced European territory Focus (1): MEGAs and regions outside the 5tagon Focus (2): International flows outside the 5tagon TIR focus: European territory
GDP per capita in PPS, EU 27+2, 2000 • Yellow regions are below 44% of EU15 average • Pronounced East-West divide
Change in share of EU 27+2 GDP/capita 1995-2000 • Gain:Green • Loss:Red • A mosaic with East-West catch-up trends
Cities in Europe • No universal definition of a city • Functional Urban Areas (FUAs): Commuting catchment areas or relevant counterparts • FUAs are building blocks in our analysis for potential polycentric urban regions
FUA population • 1,595 FUAs in EU 27+2 • Two bananas: From England • to Italy • to Hungary • Next step: • Trends
Multi-modal accessibility of FUAs (EU 27+2) • Best potential accessibility in Pentagon • No correlation between size and accessibility (i.e. “function matters”)
Functional specialisation • Six additional indicators for functional specialisation • Transport • Tourism • Manufacturing industries • Knowledge • Decision centres of private companies • Public administration
TransportAirports & harbours • Concentrated within countries • Concentrated to the Pentagon • No “European” nodes in accession countries
TourismNumber of Beds • The Alps and the Mediterranean coast … • … and cities like London, Paris and Rome
ManufacturingGross Value Added • NUTS 3-level data not available for UK and France • Strongest FUAs in the Pentagon and in Spain • Low GVA in acc. countries • Small FUAs may be global!
KnowledgeNumber of students • A balanced picture: universities are found all over Europe • Capitals are strongest
Business head-quartersTop 500 (turnover)companies • Extremely concentrated • Stockholm is the only “European” centre outside Pentagon
Public admini-strationNational service centres Hierarchical
Typology of FUAs Three types, based on the seven indicators • 64 MEGAs • Clusters of MEGAs: • England, Be-Ne-Lux, Germany • Italy, France, Switzerland • Czech Rep, Poland, Hungary • Solitary MEGAs • Tissues of FUAs
Polycentricity of 149 grouped FUAs on the basis of proximity • Polycentric: Midlands, Randstadt, Rhine-Ruhr, Po Valley, Ostrava/Krakow • Monocentric: Paris, Madrid, Athens, Berlin, Stockholm
Potentials outside 5tagon Top-Down: • Solitary MEGAs • Potential polycentric FUA-regions Bottom-Up: • SWOTs • Programmes
Policy options Regional potentials • Infrastructure investments: NB: hard and soft measures • Strategic planning and co-operation • EU: Turn funding from nodes to links / new obj 2 measures for PcR / SWOT based programs / Guidelines on PcR More balanced national urban systems • Division of labour between national nodes • Second tier of cities in mono-centric and acceding countries! • EU: funding the 2nd tier / encourage national planning in EU-context EU competitiveness and territorial cohesion • Identify and strengthen potential new global integration zones - NB: dense urban systems in acceding countries! • EU: TENs, EU institutions, funding for PcR: e.g. obj.2 measures for PcR beyond decay and reconstruction / Interreg on joint urban strategies.
Key choices made in the work • To deal explicitly with two concepts of polycentrism: • MEGAS • Functional polycentrism • Deliver the list of FUAs • Include transnational links
Challenges the next period • Feedback check on operationalisation of FUAs and MEGAs • To integrate the top down identification ofpotential polycentric regions and the bottom up verification of practical experience on planning and governance • To further develop the analysis of potential polycentric regions (e.g. the FUA-group analysis) • The contradictions between policy recommendations at different levels (e.g. the EU and the national levels) • The policy context after 3rd cohesion report