Polycentric Puzzles: Emerging Mega-City Regions Seen through the Lens of Advanced Producer Services

Abstract

This paper introduces a special issue of Regional Studies on 'Globalization, City-Regions and Polycentricity in North West Europe'. The issue focuses on the thematic core of the EU-funded project POLYNET: the analysis of economic connections and information flows generated by advanced producer services in eight European polycentric city-regions. The paper first discusses key elements of the current debate on global city-regions and points out some unresolved gaps. A summary of the main findings of the contributions to the special issue is followed by a research agenda for future work on emerging mega-city regions.