Seeking polycentric post-suburbanization: a view from the urban region of Milan

The traditional conception of metropolis has been challenged by the emergence of city-regions and large agglomerations. Most of the different conceptualizations share the key feature of polycentricity. Besides, several theories today enrich the study of urban transformations. Introduced by a brief overview of polycentrism, the paper advances a reflection on Milan urban region to discuss features and functions of polycentrism, by questioning whether the shift from monocentric to polycentric patterns is capable of observing the contemporary complexities of urbanization. On such basis, the paper stresses how processes of densification, complexification and diversification of the urban in-between, resulting from multi-scale and multi-topological rationales, can be construed in a perspective of “polycentric post-suburbanization”. The ultimate aim of the paper is to bridge the knowledge gap between polycentrism and contemporary urbanization.