Polycentricity of daily urban systems: A misconceived concept and buzzword in ‘metropolitan’ planning practice

Spatial planning practice is increasingly facing the challenge of managing the complexity of daily urban systems. As a normatively defined spatial imaginary, the concept of polycentricity has become widely used in planning practice in order to mitigate territorial disparities and to enhance urban competitiveness. Although polycentricity has been thoroughly studied as an analytical concept for understanding the dynamics of urban networks, the operationalization of the concept in planning practice has not yet been subjected to critical evaluation, despite recent metropolitan planning practices signalling a misunderstanding of the basic principles of polycentricity. Based on a case study of Czech metropolitan areas, this article addresses the question: Are there any shortcomings related to the operationalization of a normatively defined polycentric vision of spatial development at the level of metropolitan planning agendas? Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the study compares different spatial settings of metropolitan areas with spatial visions defined by planning and policy documents. The findings point to several limitations related to a missing link between spatial reality and planning agendas, the weak operationalization of polycentricity, and scale-related miscomprehension. In order to translate the polycentric narrative into planning practice more efficiently, we will argue for a strengthening and formalization of metropolitan planning agendas and a more intensive interconnection of theoretical knowledge with territorial management.