The Network Megalopolis : A Creative and Sustainable Path for Urban Futures?

This short paper summarizes findings from some recent studies undertaken by the author and his colleagues concerning metropolitan development in the industrialized world. Three particular aspects are stressed : (1) The need to extend the way in which we analyze city systems - from the traditional perspective of centres within subnational hierarchies of settlments to the cosmopolitan perspective of urban nodes，corridors and hubs forming a complex system of interdependent cities feeding on various transnational networks. (2) The need to modify our lifecycle theories of urban development in order to cater for the dynamic synergies inherent in these networks，and the fact that collective stocks of knowledge reside in constellations of net-work cities rather than in any single centre alone. (3) The need to recognize the different speeds of urban adjustment processes，and the fact that because infrastructure is one of the slowest facets of development，it actually plays a fundamental role in controlling the nature and pace of other faster processes of adjustment