for the major Functional Urban Regions

Summary. This is the ® rst report of pattern s of population change during the 1980s in the major urban region s of the European Union (of 12), using the results of the 1990 census round (or registra tion data where no census was taken). There is evidence of a substantial breakup of the previous regular pattern of decentralisat ion, which had been spreading from northern to southern European cities and from the largest to the medium-sized cities. During the 1980s there was a signi ® cant degree of recen tralisat ion in many northern European cities, with nearly half of all core cities gaining population. The evidence presented here is consisten t with arguments advanced in an earlier paper which suggested that such a change of pattern s should be anticipated. There does not appear to be a complete reversa l of previou s pattern s, however. Some urban region s continue to decentralise and decline; others are declin ing but experiencing relative recen tralisat ion. The pattern is that there is now a greater variation in pattern s. Cities which are experiencing the most relative recen tralisat ion show that they are not a random group. They have characteri stics consistent with the causal analysis which is presen ted. The plausibility of general, rather than particularistic explanations, is made greater by the very similar change of trends recen tly reported for US cities. This is the ® rst report of a new analysis of patterns of urban population change in th