Regional polycentric urban spatial patterns and air quality: Evidence from German metropolitan regions
Date:
Does a polycentric spatial structure help clean up a region’s air? Using satellite-derived PM2.5 across 50 German urban regions and a multi-scale research design, this paper finds no significant effect on regional air pollution overall, but measurably higher pollution in the urban cores of more polycentric regions.
Published in Cities (2026). See the paper.