Combining urban scaling and polycentricity to explain socio-economic status of urban regions
METADATA ONLY
Date
2018
Publication Type
Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
METADATA ONLY
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
The fast pace of urbanisation may benefit or be detrimental to the socio-economic status of urban areas. Understanding how the configuration of urban areas influences the socio-economic status of their inhabitants is of crucial importance for urban planning. In theory, urban scaling laws and polycentric development are two well-known concepts developed to increase our understanding of urbanisation and its socio-economic effects. In practice, however, they fall short to explain the socio-economic status of urban regions. The urban scaling concept is constructed from a theoretical perspective, but the prediction power of the scaling model fluctuates by altering the definition of urban boundaries. Furthermore, functional relationships between urban centres are not taken into account in scaling models. In contrast, the concept of polycentricity is developed from a practical perspective and incorporates the socio-economic effect of relationships between urban centres in the process of urban development. However, polycentricity lacks a theoretical foundation, which would explain the socio-economic status of urban regions. In this study, we assess whether combining both concepts improves the ability to explain personal incomes in metropolitan areas in Switzerland. We first delineated metropolitan areas by implementing a modularity maximization algorithm on the settlement network. Nodes in this network are Swiss municipalities and links are inter-municipal commuter flows. We found a strong relationship between the hierarchical organization of functional connections within metropolitan areas and the socio-economic status of these areas. Both concepts were complementary and combining them proved to enhance the ability to explain socio-economic status. The combined model is a theoretical progress which complements the traditional approaches to understanding cities and urbanisation processes.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
1389
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS); Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT, ETH Zurich
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Polycentricity; Hierarchy; Scaling theory; Settlement network; Urbanisation
Organisational unit
03521 - Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus) / Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus)
03823 - Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne / Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG