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Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe: Towards a Unified Proposal of Delimitation

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Book cover Defining the Spatial Scale in Modern Regional Analysis

Part of the book series: Advances in Spatial Science ((ADVSPATIAL))

Abstract

Metropolitan areas concentrate the main share of population, production, and consumption in developed countries. They are likely to be the most important units for economic, social, and environmental analysis as well as for the development of policy strategies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An example of the first problem is the assimilation of the metropolitan area of Barcelona to the province. Province data averages the results of the indicators and dissolves some of the potentialities and problems of the real metropolitan area. On the other hand, Milan and Madrid constitutes an example of the second case, where the limitations of data force the use of the province, too small to capture the real extension of both areas. In this case, the areas have expanded out of the administrative boundaries, and we could erroneously conclude that there is a reduced presence of some activities or maybe even their disappearance altogether if they moved out of the administrative limits.

  2. 2.

    Freeman (2005) provides a comparison between the characteristics and results of the US metropolitana areas, GEMACA and Urban Audit.

  3. 3.

    A review of the identification of metropolitan areas in Spain from 1960 to 1980 is provided by De Esteban (1981).

  4. 4.

    A third solution is suggested by Coombes (2000), who proposes the re-definition of localities using synthetic data. Even though this relies on the availability of information, it provides an interesting solution to the homogeneity of the units and their social and economic significance.

  5. 5.

    Cheshire and Magrini (2008) use a variation of this procedure where the density of job per hectare increases to 12.35. In the case of Spain and Italy both thresholds produce the same empirical results.

  6. 6.

    After 1991, the Federal Register introduced several changes in the identification of the core and has increased the commuting threshold to 25 % in order to prevent growth of the statistical units. It is noted that its primary assignment is not to identify metropolitan areas, but rather to provide manageable statistical units. However, as our purpose is different, we prefer to base our procedure on the former 1990s methodology due to the fact that: (1) the 2001 version eradicates cities and towns in favour of counties and reduces its applicability to Spain and Italy; and (2) based on previous research, the 15 % threshold is considered to produce good results.

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Acknowledgment

The opinions expressed and arguments employed here are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament d’Estructura Econòmica, Facultat d’Economia, Universitat de València, Avda dels Tarongers, s/n, Valencia, 46022, Spain

    Rafael Boix & Vicent Almenar

  2. Regional Development Policy, OECD. 2, rue André Pascal, Paris Cedex 16, 75775, France

    Paolo Veneri

Authors
  1. Rafael Boix
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  2. Paolo Veneri
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  3. Vicent Almenar
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Correspondence to Rafael Boix .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Applied Economics (RegioLab), University of Oviedo, Campus del Cristo s/n, Oviedo, 33006, Spain

    Esteban Fernández Vázquez

  2. , Applied Economics (RegioLab), University of Oviedo, Campus del Cristo s/n, Oviedo, 33006, Spain

    Fernando Rubiera Morollón

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Boix, R., Veneri, P., Almenar, V. (2012). Polycentric Metropolitan Areas in Europe: Towards a Unified Proposal of Delimitation. In: Fernández Vázquez, E., Rubiera Morollón, F. (eds) Defining the Spatial Scale in Modern Regional Analysis. Advances in Spatial Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31994-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31994-5_3

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