Clustering of economic activities in polycentric urban regions: the case of the Randstad

Summary. Local contexts are becoming more important as the impact of the process of globalisation on the spatial distribution of economic activities seems to generate not so much processes of homogenisation as of heterogenisation between regions in advanced economies. The combination of specialisation and spatial concentration of economic activity in advanced econom-ies has attracted much attention from economists and geographers. Here, we explore at what level of spatial aggregation contemporary tendencies of clustering of economic activities articulate themselves within the archetypal polycentric urban region of the Dutch Randstad. To examine this question, we look at pro les of business start-ups in the individual cities of the Randstad. Our focus is on business start-ups as they respond most directly to the changes taking place in the economic environment and especially those regarding the supply of labour. Our ndings point to the direction of cluster formation at a supraurban level. The pro les of business start-ups are clearly converging. A process of intraregional—i.e. at the level of the polycentric urban region— homogenisation with respect to new economic activities is taking place. Within the Randstad, notably a decreasing divide between a north wing and a south wing is revealed. 1