Functional Polycentrism and Urban Network Development in the Greater South East, United Kingdom: Evidence from Commuting Patterns, 1981-2001

De Goei B., Burger M. J., Van Oort F. G. and Kitson M. Functional polycentrism and urban network development in the Greater South East, United Kingdom: evidence from commuting patterns, 1981-2001, Regional Studies. In contemporary literature on changing urban systems, it is often argued that the traditional central place conceptualization is outdated and should be replaced by a network view that emphasizes the increasing criss-crossing pattern of interdependencies between spatial units. This paper tests how urban networks develop by looking at commuting patterns in the Greater South East, United Kingdom, for the period 1981-2001. Although the empirical results indicate that the Greater South East cannot be currently characterized as a polycentric urban region or an integrated urban network, there is some evidence for urban network development at the local, intra-urban, level, and a decentralization of the system at the regional, inter-urban, level.