Re-framing urban polycentricity: conceptualising, comparing, and tool-building

The overall objective of this project is to significantly innovate the scientific literature on ‘urban polycentricity’. The general idea underlying urban polycentricity is fairly straightforward: the term is used to refer to territories that have multiple, proximately located (sub)centers and are characterized by balanced development. This general idea is, however, also vague and arguably at the root of much confusion. The urban polycentricity literature can therefore be envisioned as a series of attempts to develop more precise specifications, and is characterised by the following three notable features: (1) theoretical frameworks are often developed in a preconceived scalar context; (2) it is conceptually and empirically skewed to the North American, European, and increasingly Chinese context; and (3) analytical frameworks tend to be built from scratch, often using slightly different datasets and measurement frames. The project will address some of the ensuing challenges by (1) developing a more decentered and flexible theoretical framework that (2) speaks to ongoing debates about comparative urbanism and (3) responds to growing calls for broadly accessible research tools that speak to urban and regional scientific planning praxis. Crosscutting and complementing this tripartite objective, there is also a transversal objective: the project aims to provide a concrete and operational contribution to epistemologically pluralist approaches to urban and regional research.