B<sc>urger</sc> M. J., M<sc>eijers</sc> E. J. and <sc>van</sc> O<sc>ort</sc> F. G. Regional spatial structure and retail amenities in the Netherlands, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. This paper examines how the presence of retail amenities in Dutch regions is dependent on their spatial structure. Retail amenities, in particular those...

Measuring functional coherence in metropolitan regions, in particular polycentric ones, requires taking the issues of multiplexity and individual level heterogeneity more explicitly into account, as the spatial organisation of functional linkages is not necessarily identical. Based on the...

Metropolisation is understood here as the process through which a loose collection of proximally located cities starts to become more functionally, culturally and institutionally integrated. It can be assumed that in theory metropolisation enhances performance, and indeed this conviction...

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...

Polycentric urban regions, or urban networks, are often associated with the notion of synergy, the assumption being that the individual cities in these collections of distinct but proximally located cities relate to each other in a synergetic way, making the whole network of cities more than the...

<em>Reducing Regional Disparities by Means of Polycentric Development: Panacea or Placebo?</em> In many territorial development strategies, both at the European and national scale, it is suggested that polycentric development is instrumental in reducing regional disparities. However, this widespread...

Trends in regional disparities have been a major issue in regional science for many decades and knowledge of ways to overcome such disparities has great importance for regional policy-making. Strong initial differences between regions affect the capacity of each region to grow and their ability...

In many European countries, territorial development strategies identify the development potential of so-called polycentric urban regions: regions in which a multitude of more or less similar-sized, formerly independent and distinct cities are located close to each other and among which...

While the deficiencies of the central place model have often been highlighted, no other paradigm has replaced it. However, recently some researchers have hinted at the development of a new model of spatial organisation, a network model. This model would hold most in polycentric urban regions....