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Summing Small Cities Does Not Make a Large City: Polycentric Urban Regions and the Provision of Cultural, Leisure and Sports Amenities

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  • Evert Meijers

    (OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 9, Delft, 2628 BX, The Netherlands, e.j.meijers@tudelft.nl)

Abstract

The paper explores whether a polycentric urban region can reap the advantages of its combined urban size to a similar extent as a similar-sized monocentric city-region. This question is elaborated for the provision of cultural, leisure and sports amenities. Their presence in 42 Dutch regions is expressed in an index, which serves as the dependent variable in a multiple regression model. An explaining variable is the extent of polycentricity of a region. Correcting for differences between regions in terms of population size, the number of visitors and average income, it turns out that the more polycentric a region is, the fewer cultural, leisure and sports amenities are present. Conversely, the more monocentric a region, the more such amenities.

Suggested Citation

  • Evert Meijers, 2008. "Summing Small Cities Does Not Make a Large City: Polycentric Urban Regions and the Provision of Cultural, Leisure and Sports Amenities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(11), pages 2323-2342, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:11:p:2323-2342
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098008095870
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Evert Meijers, 2007. "From Central Place To Network Model: Theory And Evidence Of A Paradigm Change," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(2), pages 245-259, April.
    2. Roberta Capello, 2000. "The City Network Paradigm: Measuring Urban Network Externalities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(11), pages 1925-1945, October.
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    6. Nick Bailey & Ivan Turok, 2001. "Central Scotland as a Polycentric Urban Region: Useful Planning Concept or Chimera?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(4), pages 697-715, April.
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    9. J. Vernon Henderson, 2000. "The Effects of Urban Concentration on Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 7503, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Evert Meijers & Krister Sandberg, 2008. "Reducing Regional Disparities by Means of Polycentric Development: Panacea or Placebo?," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2008(Suppl. 2), pages 71-96.
    11. Simin Davoudi, 2003. "EUROPEAN BRIEFING: Polycentricity in European spatial planning: from an analytical tool to a normative agenda," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(8), pages 979-999, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Burgalassi & Chiara Agnoletti & Leonardo Piccini, 2019. "Polycentricity and regional development: an analytical framework and some evidence from Italy," Discussion Papers 2019/249, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Evert J Meijers & Martijn J Burger, 2017. "Stretching the concept of ‘borrowed size’," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(1), pages 269-291, January.
    3. Martijn J. Burger & Evert J. Meijers & Frank G. van Oort, 2014. "Editorial: The Development and Functioning of Regional Urban Systems," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1921-1925, December.
    4. Wen Chen & Komali Yenneti & Yehua Dennis Wei & Feng Yuan & Jiawei Wu & Jinlong Gao, 2019. "Polycentricity in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA): More Cohesion or More Disparities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Martijn J. Burger & Evert J. Meijers & Marloes M. Hoogerbrugge & Jaume Masip Tresserra, 2015. "Borrowed Size, Agglomeration Shadows and Cultural Amenities in North-West Europe," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 1090-1109, June.
    6. Franz, Peter & Hornych, Christoph, 2009. "Political Institutionalisation and Economic Specialisation in Polycentric Metropolitan Regions – The Case of the East-German ‘Saxony Triangle’," IWH Discussion Papers 6/2009, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    7. Korzeniak Grażyna, 2014. "Diversification of the dynamics of population size and the number of the employed in small and medium-sized Polish towns from 1995 to 2010," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 24(24), pages 1-11, June.

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