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Polynet
Polynet focuses attention on the polycentric global ‘mega-city region’. For the first time this
research project shows how businesses interrelate and communicate in geographical space,
with profound consequences for spatial planning and regional development in Europe – and by
implication other similar urban regions of the world.

The project brings together in-depth quantitative and qualitative studies in each of the eight partner
regions investigated to provide urgently needed information on changing functional and spatial relations
in key North-West European mega-city regions. The final results of this major international research
project were published in a book – “The Polycentric Metropolis: learning from mega-city regions in
Europe” – in May 2006.

Regions of study

South East England

The Randstand (The Netherlands)
Central Belgium
Rhine Ruhr
Rhine-Main
The European Metropolitan Region (EMR) Northern Switzerland
The Paris Region
Greater Dublin

Aims of Polynet

1. Investigate how contemporary processes of business decentralisation and spatial concentration

affect geographies of urban service network connectivities
2. Assess interdependencies between evolving patterns of service network flow between urban
centres in these regions and informational flows/knowledge transfer within North-West European
national states, Europe and globally
3. Enhance understanding of the implications of these changes for other city regions in the same
nation states and the EU more generally
4. Achieve these aims within a geographically-focused research framework with clear relevance
and tangible benefits for regional, national and transnational European sustainable development
and spatial planning policy.

Quantitative and qualitative objectives

Plot movements of people and information within the eight regions

Establish patterns of flow between urban centres within these regions and also between those
centres and their hub or ‘First’ city
Measure the service network connectivities of each urban centre at four non-local (intra-regional
and inter-regional) geographical scopes, through the functional connections between business
(advanced producer) service firms located there
Examine how business is conducted at different spatial scales and ascertain trends in service
markets in relation to geographical scope
Explore the reasons behind the provision of non-local business service and changes in it
Evaluate the policy context of these changes, and formulate specific policy recommendations

What is Polycentricity?

The polycentric global ‘mega-city region’ is characterised by intense connectivities at both spatial
scales in an ‘information’ or ‘network’ society. Developed around one or more cities of global status, it

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Polynet | The Young Foundation http://www.youngfoundation.org/our-work/research/polynet/polynet

is characterized by a cluster of cities and towns, physically separate but intensively networked in a
complex spatial division of labour. In Eastern Asia, especially China, regions like the Yangtze and Pearl
River deltas are the new workshops of the world. But in Europe similar regions are the cores of the
new advanced producer service economy.

Within a European context, polycentricity can refer to functional connectivities (aided by developments
in information and communications technology (ICT) and transportation), between global ‘gateway’
cities such as London, Paris and Frankfurt with knowledge and financial flows to other EU cities and
regions. At a finer geographical scale, it can refer to outward diffusion from major cities to smaller ones
over a wide area and the local functional connectivities that arise from this process.

The study examines functional relations and information flows (material/transportation and virtual/ICT)
associated with key knowledge-based business activities in the global service economy – banking,
insurance, law, accounting, advertising, logistics, management and design consulting – both within and
between North-West European mega-city regions.

The concept of polycentric spatial development, a central principle of the European Spatial
Development Perspective (ESDP) developed in the North-West Europe ‘Spatial Vision’ is closely allied
to that of sustainable urban development – both concepts are integral to the study.

Our partners

Polynet is a EUR 2.4 million INTERREG IIIB Study Project co-funded by the European Regional
Development Fund and project stakeholders in seven North-West European countries. The Young
Foundation is Lead Partner of the nine partner transnational project consortium. Polynet addresses a
major gap in current understanding of patterns of functional connectivity associated with polycentricity
and is of vital important to the operationalisation of ESDP objectives for sustainable development and
EU regional competitiveness in a global context.

INTERREG Programme Priority 1.2: An Attractive and Coherent System of Cities, Towns and Regions
– Focuses on ways of enhancing complementarities between North-West European polycentric
city-regions within a global and European context, and cross-border sustainable development.

Priority 2.2: External and Internal Accessibility – contributing to understanding of priorities for improved
transnational information flows, skills, knowledge and sustainable mobility.

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