Polycentric urban regions: conceptualization, identification and implications

This special issue offers a cross-section of state-of-the-art research into ‘polycentric urban regions’: regions characterized by the presence multiple, more-or-less proximate, centres where there is balanced development among these centres. With literature increasingly transcending focus on paradigmatic examples, papers in this concentrate three fundamental and complementary questions: How can polycentric be conceptualized? we identify them formally? What impact regional form people places? We discuss how contributions collectively push boundaries studies promising avenues for further research.