Regional Patterns in the Achievement of the Lisbon Strategy: a Comparison Between Polycentric Regions and Monocentric Ones

Polycentrism is a common feature of European urban systems. Lately, the concept has assumed amore normative relevance and it has been often considered as a pre‐requisite for a more sustainableand balanced development across Europe. However, the effects of polycentrism on other mainEuropean Strategies (such as the Lisbon Strategy, aimed at increasing European competitivenessand social cohesion) are not so clear. Therefore, the paper tries to highlight the relationshipsbetween a regional polycentric development and the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy’s targets.Referring to a sample of 75 regions belonging to France, Germany, Italy and Spain, we have firstmeasured the extent of polycentrism, by estimating through OLS the slope of the rank-sizedistribution of cities within each region. Then, we have performed a principal component analysis(PCA) in order to highlight the main features characterising the performance of each regionaccording to Lisbon Strategy’s targets. Looking at the correlations between the extent ofpolycentrism and the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy’s targets, we have found that the former issignificantly correlated both with the spread of manufacture and with low investments in humancapital and innovation.