Conceptions of the city-region: a critical review

Abstract

Since the 1990s, there has been a remarkable resurgence of the concept of the city-region in both academic and policy communities. In broad terms, the concept articulates the relationships between the city and its environs. While the city-region's rising popularity is recent, its origin is not. Despite its long history, however, the concept of the city-region does not enjoy a common definition, neither in its use as an analytical term nor in its upsurge as a political one. While there are clear linkages between the two, the main focus of this review is on the city-region as an analytical construct. Hence, the paper provides a critical review of the different methodologies that have been employed over the last 50 years for defining and mapping the city-region. This work shows that, despite their variations, they share two common features—an urban-centric view of the city-region and an economically driven approach to its definition. These are further elaborated by focusing on the prevailing conception of the city-region as a functional economic space and the dominant top-down approach to delineate the boundaries of what is known as the functional urban region.

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