| Summary: |
In the ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective) policy document, polycentrism is based on a concept of spatial relations stemming from traditional land use planning (areas of places), without considering more recent theories (functionally related multicentre regions). The POLYNET study (Hall, P. and Pain, K., 2005) seeks to fill this gap, examining the Mega-City Regions as urban processes which are morphologically located yet functionally linked in flow areas.
1. How do we go from a top-down approach to Polycentrism to a bottom-up approach?
Urban polycentrism can have two distinct perspectives. The first results from policies with a top-down approach, which establish the territory as the main reference point for the understanding of urban relations. Cooperation is established between neighbouring
cities, following common interests and mainly directed as creating critical mass and an institutional force in promoting the region. The second derives from a bottom-up approach, where the different urban agents comprise the basis for the relations established.
Cooperation takes place with the more competent agents in light of their strategic relevance and not geographical proximity (tentacular network), directed at strategies of excellence and concrete actions. This relational dimension has yet to be studied in depth.
In the last three years, this team has been dedicated to research on territorial governance and the definition of polycentric urban systems guided by top-down approaches. They are studies focusing on territorial cohesion, in the scope of preparing Regional Spatial Planning Plans (for the North, Centre, Western and Tagus Valley and Alentejo regions) and studies on regional governance.
The transformation of relational models between the State and the city suggest the need to adopt the second perspective - the bottom-up one. In contrast to what took place in the past, when cities were essentially mediating spaces for national programmes,  |
Summary
In the ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective) policy document, polycentrism is based on a concept of spatial relations stemming from traditional land use planning (areas of places), without considering more recent theories (functionally related multicentre regions). The POLYNET study (Hall, P. and Pain, K., 2005) seeks to fill this gap, examining the Mega-City Regions as urban processes which are morphologically located yet functionally linked in flow areas.
1. How do we go from a top-down approach to Polycentrism to a bottom-up approach?
Urban polycentrism can have two distinct perspectives. The first results from policies with a top-down approach, which establish the territory as the main reference point for the understanding of urban relations. Cooperation is established between neighbouring
cities, following common interests and mainly directed as creating critical mass and an institutional force in promoting the region. The second derives from a bottom-up approach, where the different urban agents comprise the basis for the relations established.
Cooperation takes place with the more competent agents in light of their strategic relevance and not geographical proximity (tentacular network), directed at strategies of excellence and concrete actions. This relational dimension has yet to be studied in depth.
In the last three years, this team has been dedicated to research on territorial governance and the definition of polycentric urban systems guided by top-down approaches. They are studies focusing on territorial cohesion, in the scope of preparing Regional Spatial Planning Plans (for the North, Centre, Western and Tagus Valley and Alentejo regions) and studies on regional governance.
The transformation of relational models between the State and the city suggest the need to adopt the second perspective - the bottom-up one. In contrast to what took place in the past, when cities were essentially mediating spaces for national programmes, cities today play a role as promoters of urban development and regeneration. More important than adapting development strategies to the existing local and regional partnerships, there is a need to select partners (local or remote) which adapt to the strategies defined. It is from this perspective that we intend to develop our research.
2. To what extent can knowledge-based flows spread beyond the network of global cities in favour of global city-regions?
From the 1970s to the 1990s, many studies were accomplished on cities as units in broader urban systems, according to diferente functional criteria, in most cases, based on stock parameters. More recently, cities have been studied from a relational approach, at different geographical scales. The importance of the networks' externalities was acknowledged and the supra-local flows were analyzed. The concept of Mega-City Region assumes that one or more cities are interlinked by processes of agglomeration and functional specialization in a global knowledge-based economy - a space for global-local interaction. To what extent can knowledgebased flows spread beyond the network of global cities in favour of global city-regions?
The POLYNET transnational study explored the importance of interurban flows associated with advanced services to companies in the creation of the Mega-City Regions (MCR). The MCRs are global urban spaces which are regionally related. The Polycentric Metropolis (Hall, P, and Pain, K., 2006) shows how businesses are interrelated and communicate in the geographic space. It is in the context of the Porto Mega-City Region that w |