Results

Smart Metropolitan Development

POLYCE is analyzing five Central European capital cities and their functionally related surrounding areas: Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Praha, and Wien. The project emerged from the related city administrations'wish for researching the cities' future competitive and cooperative potentials among each other and towards other metropolises. A main goal was to conduct a comparative analysis of the five cities and their related surrounding areas in order to elaborate in-depth results on their specificities and commonalities. This was ought to draw an up-to-date picture of the preconditions for urban development in Central Europe.

Within this framework the two analytical concepts of metropolisation and polycentricity came into play, as both are seen as drivers of specific paths of metropolitan development. The approach of POLYCE took both concepts into consideration in the context of analyzing the five Central European capitals, also trying to identify their mutual relation - meaning to what extent both can support a sound and balanced metropolitan development.

Both concepts are inevitably connected to the politically more common concepts of competitiveness and inclusion, which are often cited not only on the level of metropolitan policy, but also in European policy documents (cf. EC, 2010). Balancing both these two paradigms is supposed to be crucial for what is called 'smart metropolitan development'.

In POLYCE a 'smart metropolis'is understood as a functionally integrated metropolitan area where processes of both, competitive and inclusive development, take place - the important aspect being, that a balance between these two aspects has to be steered by related governance approaches.

Recommendations for Smart Central European Metropolises

Bratislava

Metropolitan Bratislava should increase its competitiveness through a clear positioning based on knowledge intensive activities in research and development clusters. At the same time, it needs improved cross-border governance approaches to realize a set of strategic activities supporting an inclusive metropolitan development.

Budapest

Budapest's competitiveness should be enhanced by positioning the metropolitan area as a Danube Region metropolis. At the same time it must not forget tackling a more balanced distribution of economic functions in the metropolitan area as a means to achieve territorial cohesion.

Ljubljana

Metropolitan Ljubljana should steer its development through specific activities in the economic sphere and promote its image as an attractive center of education and research. Polycentric development has to be strengthened in order to guarantee a more territorially cohesive development.

Hierarchical and reciprocal commuting - Bratislava MR

Hierarchical and reciprocal commuting - Budapest MR

Hierarchical and reciprocal commuting - Ljubljana MR

Praha

'Knowledge' is a key term in Praha's metropolitan development, which can foster competitiveness and inclusion at the same time. Further developing metropolitan Praha's cultural image is an objective, as it can serve as both a driver of economic prosperity and social cohesion.

Wien

Metropolitan Wien is challenged to find the right mixture of strategic activities securing its European competitiveness and its attractiveness for residents at the same time. This approach also includes territorial cohesion on the regional level. Based on a participatory approach, the position and the function of the city within the Danube Region should be defined very clearly.

Hierarchical and reciprocal commuting - Praha MR

Hierarchical and reciprocal commuting - Wien MR

Central European Agenda

Common strategic activities of the five POLYCE metropolises should strengthen the position of each metropolis and improve different forms of polycentric relations of the central European Danube zone. Common strategic endeavors of the POLYCE metropolises have to focus on aspects of territorial cohesion within the Central European Danube zone explicitly. Enhancing polycentric relations might help managing processes of metropolisation and related metropolitan growth.

	Considering polycentricity, all five POLYCE metropolises stand out in a way, making each an important actor in the Central European urban network. Nevertheless, some still h ave to improve their inner polycentric structure, strengthen their ties in European economic or research networks, or improve their connectivity. Different kinds of flows, networks and co-operations between cities might stimulate and strengthen each other. Consequently, enhancing political, economic and social networks via related governance measures will definitely improve the conditions for all kinds of interaction between the POLYCE metropolises.
	The Central European metropolises analyzed have one outstanding commonality: they altogether provide exceptional living conditions. Common initiatives must take this aspect into account, particularly if processes of metropolisation imply aspects of growth that might threaten these remarkable preconditions. Furthermore, it gets clear that each of the five can play a different, maybe decisive role as generator of competitiveness of the Central European urban system in a wider spatial context.
	All five metropolises face different challenges concerning population growth when recent preconditions of the metropolitan areas are taken into account. Praha, and to a lesser degree Wien and Budapest, should elaborate strategies and specific measures for providing a sound spatial structure in the functional metropolitan area. Contrary, Bratislava, and to a lesser degree Ljubljana, show a potential in their preconditions for population growth.