IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v47y2010i14p3035-3056.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employment Decentralisation: Polycentricity or Scatteration? The Case of Barcelona

Author

Listed:
  • Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López

    (Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López is in the Department of Applied Economics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B, Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques, Campus Bellaterra, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain, miquelangel.garcia@uab.cat)

  • Ivan Muñiz

    (Ivan Muñiz is in the Department of Applied Economics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B, Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques, Campus Bellaterra, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain, ivan.muniz@uab.es)

Abstract

At the present time, most large cities in the world are polycentric and, at the same time, they are undergoing processes of employment decentralisation and deconcentration. It has been argued that polycentricity is just an intermediate stage between monocentricity and a more unstructured, chaotic and amorphous location model, scatteration. For the case of the polycentric Barcelona, the aims of this study are to test: whether its employment is moving from polycentricity to scatteration; and, whether its employment location model is increasingly random and unstructured. The results show that, in spite of the decentralisation and deconcentration processes, employment concentrated in centres still represents a significant percentage of total employment and new sub-centres have emerged in the periphery. What is more, the results also show an increasing influence of employment sub-centres on employment location and density conditions. As a result, polycentricity has been reinforced.

Suggested Citation

  • Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Ivan Muñiz, 2010. "Employment Decentralisation: Polycentricity or Scatteration? The Case of Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(14), pages 3035-3056, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:14:p:3035-3056
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098009360229
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098009360229
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098009360229?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    2. Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn & Ajay Agarwal & Chen Li & Duan Zhuang, 2007. "Employment Concentrations in Los Angeles, 1980–2000," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(12), pages 2935-2957, December.
    3. Alex Anas & Richard Arnott & Kenneth A. Small, 1998. "Urban Spatial Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1426-1464, September.
    4. Ivan Muniz & Anna Galindo & Miguel Angel Garcia, 2003. "Cubic Spline Population Density Functions and Satellite City Delimitation: The Case of Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(7), pages 1303-1321, June.
    5. John F. McDonald & Paul J. Prather, 1994. "Suburban Employment Centres: The Case of Chicago," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(2), pages 201-218, March.
    6. Peter Mieszkowski & Edwin S. Mills, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-147, Summer.
    7. Storper, Michael & Harrison, Bennett, 1991. "Flexibility, hierarchy and regional development: The changing structure of industrial production systems and their forms of governance in the 1990s," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 407-422, October.
    8. Sullivan, Arthur M., 1986. "A general equilibrium model with agglomerative economies and decentralized employment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 55-74, July.
    9. McMillen, Daniel P. & William Lester, T., 2003. "Evolving subcenters: employment and population densities in Chicago, 1970-2020," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 60-81, March.
    10. Klaus Desmet & Marcel Fafchamps, 2005. "Changes in the spatial concentration of employment across US counties: a sectoral analysis 1972--2000," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 261-284, June.
    11. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1991. "Subcenters in the Los Angeles region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 163-182, July.
    12. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    13. Robert Lang & Jennifer LeFurgy, 2003. "Edgeless cities: Examining the Noncentered metropolis," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 427-460.
    14. Fujita, Masahisa & Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Zenou, Yves, 1997. "On the Endogeneous Formation of Secondary Employment Centers in a City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 337-357, May.
    15. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2004. "Sprawl and urban growth," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 56, pages 2481-2527, Elsevier.
    16. N.A. Phelps, 2004. "Clusters, Dispersion and the Spaces in Between: For an Economic Geography of the Banal," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 971-989, May.
    17. Henderson, Vernon & Mitra, Arindam, 1996. "The new urban landscape: Developers and edge cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 613-643, December.
    18. Muniz, Ivan & Galindo, Anna, 2005. "Urban form and the ecological footprint of commuting. The case of Barcelona," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 499-514, December.
    19. J F McDonald & D P McMillen, 1990. "Employment Subcenters and Land Values in a Polycentric Urban Area: The Case of Chicago," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 22(12), pages 1561-1574, December.
    20. N.A. Phelps & N. Parsons, 2003. "Edge Urban Geographies: Notes from the Margins of Europe's Capital Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(9), pages 1725-1749, August.
    21. Carlino, Gerald A., 1985. "Declining city productivity and the growth of rural regions: A test of alternative explanations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 11-27, July.
    22. Camagni, Roberto & Gibelli, Maria Cristina & Rigamonti, Paolo, 2002. "Urban mobility and urban form: the social and environmental costs of different patterns of urban expansion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 199-216, February.
    23. Shunfeng Song, 1994. "Modelling Worker Residence Distribution in the Los Angeles Region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(9), pages 1533-1544, November.
    24. McMillen, Daniel P. & McDonald, John F., 1998. "Suburban Subcenters and Employment Density in Metropolitan Chicago," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 157-180, March.
    25. N.A. Phelps & N. Parsons & D. Ballas & A. Dowling, 2006. "Business at the margins? Business interests in edge urban politics," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 362-383, June.
    26. Craig, Steven G. & Ng, Pin T., 2001. "Using Quantile Smoothing Splines to Identify Employment Subcenters in a Multicentric Urban Area," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 100-120, January.
    27. Wieand, Kenneth F., 1987. "An extension of the monocentric urban spatial equilibrium model to a multicenter setting: The case of the two-center city," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 259-271, May.
    28. Nathan B. Anderson & William T. Bogart, 2001. "The Structure of Sprawl: Identifying and Characterizing Employment Centers in Polycentric Metropolitan Areas," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 147-169, January.
    29. Peter Hall, 1997. "The Future of the Metropolis and its Form," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 211-220.
    30. White, Michelle J., 1999. "Urban areas with decentralized employment: Theory and empirical work," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. C. Cheshire & E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 1375-1412, Elsevier.
    31. McDonald, John F., 1987. "The identification of urban employment subcenters," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 242-258, March.
    32. Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "The environmental impact of suburbanization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 569-586.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luca Salvati & Giuseppe Venanzoni & Pere Serra & Margherita Carlucci, 2016. "Scattered or polycentric? Untangling urban growth in three southern European metropolitan regions through exploratory spatial data analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-29, July.
    2. Miquel- Àngel Garcia-López, 2012. "Urban spatial structure, suburbanization and transportation in Barcelona," Working Papers 2012/11, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    3. Lingyue Li & Xiaohu Zhang, 2020. "Spatial Evolution and Critical Factors of Urban Innovation: Evidence from Shanghai, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Gianni Guastella & Stefano Pareglio, 2017. "Spatial Analysis Of Urbanization Patterns: The Case Of Land Use And Population Density In The Milan Metropolitan Area," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 89-102, July.
    5. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel, 2012. "Urban spatial structure, suburbanization and transportation in Barcelona," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 176-190.
    6. Ivan Muñiz & Miguel-Àngel García-López, 2012. "Chaos and order in the contemporary city. The impact of urban spatial structure on population density and commuting distance in Barcelona, 1986-2001," Working Papers wpdea1207, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    7. Filippo Celata, "undated". "Suburban hotels and the atomization of tourist space in large cities: the case of Rome," Working Papers 102/12, Sapienza University of Rome, Metodi e Modelli per l'Economia, il Territorio e la Finanza MEMOTEF.
    8. Emili Tortosa-Ausina & Luisa Alamá & Ana M Fuertes-Eugenio & Marta Roig-Casanova, 2011. "Urban spatial structure and economic growth in Spanish metropolitan areas," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1703, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Zhen Liu & Shenghe Liu, 2018. "Polycentric Development and the Role of Urban Polycentric Planning in China’s Mega Cities: An Examination of Beijing’s Metropolitan Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frederic Gilli, 2009. "Sprawl or Reagglomeration? The Dynamics of Employment Deconcentration and Industrial Transformation in Greater Paris," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1385-1420, June.
    2. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel, 2010. "Population suburbanization in Barcelona, 1991-2005: Is its spatial structure changing?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 119-132, June.
    3. Josep Roca Cladera & Carlos R. Marmolejo Duarte & Montserrat Moix, 2009. "Urban Structure and Polycentrism: Towards a Redefinition of the Sub-centre Concept," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(13), pages 2841-2868, December.
    4. Miguel Angel Garcia Lopez & Ivan Muñiz Olivera, 2005. "Employment descentralisation: polycentric compaction or sprawl? The case of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1986-1996," Working Papers wpdea0511, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    5. Bumsoo Lee, 2006. "'Edge' or 'Edgeless Cities'? Urban Spatial Structure in US Metropolitan Areas, 1980 to 2000," Working Paper 8574, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    6. Miguel Ángel García & Ivan Muñiz, 2005. "Descentralización del empleo: ¿compactación policéntrica o dispersión? El caso de la región metropolitana de Barcelona 1986-1996," Working Papers wpdea0506, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    7. Ivan Muñiz & Anna Galindo & Miguel Angel García, 2005. "Descentralisation, Integration and polycentrism in Barcelona," Working Papers wpdea0512, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    8. McMillen, Daniel P. & Smith, Stefani C., 2003. "The number of subcenters in large urban areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 321-338, May.
    9. Jaume Masip Tresserra, 2012. "Identifying the Employment and Population Centers at regional and metropolitan scale: The Case of Catalonia and Barcelona," ERSA conference papers ersa12p70, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Ivan Muñiz & Anna Galindo & Miguel Ángel García, 2005. "Descentralización, integración y policentrismo en Barcelona," Working Papers wpdea0505, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    11. Ivan Muñiz & Miquel Àngel Garcia-López & Anna Galindo, 2008. "The Effect of Employment Sub-centres on Population Density in Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(3), pages 627-649, March.
    12. Jaume Masip Tresserra, 2012. "Does Employment Density death? Towards a new integrated methodology to identify and characterize Sub-Centres," ERSA conference papers ersa12p71, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Ivan Muñiz & Miguel-Àngel García-López, 2012. "Chaos and order in the contemporary city. The impact of urban spatial structure on population density and commuting distance in Barcelona, 1986-2001," Working Papers wpdea1207, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    14. Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn, 2005. "Not all sprawl - Evolution of employment centers in Los Angeles, 1980 - 2000," ERSA conference papers ersa05p686, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn & Ajay Agarwal & Chen Li & Duan Zhuang, 2005. "Not All Sprawl: Evolution of Employment Concentrations in Los Angeles, 1980-2000," Working Paper 8589, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    16. Paolo VENERI, 2010. "The Identification of Sub-centres in Two Italian Metropolitan Areas: a Functional Approach," Working Papers 343, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    17. Alegria, Tito, 2016. "Polycentric versus hierarchical tertiary centres: comparing San Diego and Tijuana," MPRA Paper 98145, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ajay Agarwal & Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn, 2012. "Strangers in our midst: the usefulness of exploring polycentricity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(2), pages 433-450, April.
    19. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel & Hémet, Camille & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2017. "Next train to the polycentric city: The effect of railroads on subcenter formation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 50-63.
    20. Grover,Arti & Lall,Somik V., 2016. "Jobs in the city : explaining urban spatial structure in Kampala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7655, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:14:p:3035-3056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.