Spatial changes in the Community of Madrid: polycentrism and dispersion

The changes in the organization of production, linked to agglomeration economies and diseconomies and transport costs generate a visible impact on the reconfiguration of large metropoli, specifically on the existing interrelations between different urban and peripheral areas. The region of Madrid has been affected by this dynamic through the reduction of the relative importance of the central city in demographic and productive terms, as well as in the transformation of some areas in metropolitan sub-centers. The aim of the paper is to analyze the forms of restructuring that have affected the region of Madrid in recent years, considering that patterns of diffusion and polycentrism can be simultaneous within the same territory. The paper concludes by noting the existence of a mixed model which presents signs of polycentrism, where urban sub-centers are articulated through nodes of high accessibility, which have their own dynamism and can influence the city's functional structure.