Intercity networks and urban performance: a geographical text mining approach

Compared to the burgeoning literature discussing the importance of agglomeration externalities for development, limited attention has been given to network externalities. This is largely due to limited data availability. We propose a general measure to proxy city network externalities based on toponym co-occurrences that indicate the...

Friends with benefits: the emergence of the Amsterdam–Rotterdam–Antwerp (ARA) polycentric port region

This paper enacts a dialogue between planning literature on polycentric urban regions (PUR) and port geography literature on multi-port gateways. The main proposition is that polycentric systems are the emergent outcome of the interactions between three dimensions of polycentricity: morphological, functional and institutional. The focus is on...

The multiplex relations between cities: a lexicon-based approach to detect urban systems

Cities relate to other cities in many ways, and much scholarly effort goes into uncovering those relationships. Building on the principle that strongly related cities will co-occur frequently in texts, we propose a novel method to classify those toponym co-occurrences using a lexicon-based text-mining method. Millions of webpages are analysed...

The cities we need: Towards an urbanism guided by human needs satisfaction

This article proposes moving beyond the tyranny of economic imperatives towards a human needs-based framework to assess cities and envision their development. Existing calls for such a transition lack a foundation able to capture the various dimensions of human life in cities, which can be provided by the concept of human needs. We ask whether...

Metropolisation: the winding road toward the citification of the region

We aim to consolidate the concept of metropolisation as a lens to examine urban region integration in territories characterized by extensive urbanization. Metropolisation is defined as the process through which institutionally, functionally, and spatially fragmented urbanized regions become integrated as coherent metropolitan systems. This novel...

Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises

Despite the many uncertainties of life in cities, promises of economic prosperity, social mobility and happiness have fuelled the imagination of generations of urban migrants in search of a better life. Access to jobs, housing and amenities, and fewer restrictions of personal choices are some of the perceived advantages of cities,...

The Evolution of the Systems of Cities Literature Since 1995: Schools of Thought and their Interaction

The study of relations between cities has long been a major focus in urban research. For decades, this field has grown integrating contributions from many disciplines. But today, the field appears rather fragmented. This study analyses the body of literature that has developed over the last 23 years to identify schools of thought on...

Using toponym co-occurrences to measure relationships between places: review, application and evaluation

While there is consensus that network embeddedness of cities is of great importance for their development, the precise effect is difficult to assess because of a lack of consistent information on relations between cities. This paper presents, applies and evaluates a rather novel method to establish the strength of relationships between places...

The City as a Self-Help Book: The Psychology of Urban Promises

Despite the many negative aspects of life in cities, urban promises of economic prosperity, freedom and happiness have fuelled the imagination of generations of migrants, who have flocked to cities in search of a better life, invariably exaggerating the opportunities and neglected the potential disadvantages of their choice. This paper uses...

Stretching the concept of 'borrowed size'

‘Borrowed size’ is an emerging policy concept in several European countries, presenting theoretical potential to explain contemporary urban dynamics unaddressed through conventional urban growth theories that emphasise the role of agglomeration economies. In its original conceptualisation by Alonso, the concept describes and explains the...

Secondary Yet Metropolitan? The Challenges of Metropolitan Integration for Second-Tier Cities

This paper discusses whether the areas where metropolitan integration can be beneficial for cities in general corresponds to the typical areas of disadvantage of many second-tier cities in Europe, and explores the implications of that convergence. Metropolitan integration entails functional, institutional and symbolic dimensions, whose...

Beyond Polycentricity: Does Stronger Integration Between Cities in Polycentric Urban Regions Improve Performance?

A quarter of the European population lives in 'polycentric urban regions' (PURs): clusters of historically and administratively distinct but proximate and well-connected cities of relatively similar size. This paper explores whether tighter integration can increase agglomeration benefits at the PUR-level. We provide the first comprehensive...

Contrasts between first-tier and second-tier cities in Europe: a functional perspective

Second-tier cities have been experiencing renewed interest within policy and research contexts, which is reversing a tradition of relative neglect due to the long-standing focus on large cities and capitals. This paper compares European second-tier and first-tier cities with regard to the presence of urban functions and how these are spread over...

Synergy in polycentric urban regions: Complementarity, organising capacity and critical mass

This thesis focuses on relationships between cities in Polycentric Urban Regions (PURs), which are regions containing proximate but distinct cities that are rather similar in size. A classic example is the Randstad. The extent to which there are synergies between cities in PURs is explored. The author develops theories on synergy in PURs and...

Planning polycentric urban regions in North West Europe: Value, feasibility and design: Eurbanet report 2