dr. E.J. (Evert) Meijers

	Function:	Senior researcher
	Section:	Urban Studies
	Research theme::
	Phone:	+31 (0) 15 278 78 92
	E-mail:	E.J.Meijers@tudelft.nl E.J.Meijers@remove-this.tudelft.nl
	Room:	2.060E.Meijers@remove-this.otb.tudelft.nl

I am a senior researcher in the Department of Urban and Regional Development within the OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment, part of Delft University of Technology.

Research

I study urban and regional development from a multidisciplinary perspective, combining insights from spatial planning, economic and urban geography, environmental studies and policy sciences.

My research pays particular attention to the expanding spatial scope of urban agglomerations. Urban functions are becoming increasingly spread out in space, way beyond traditional city boundaries. Globalisation articulates itself spatially in the development of large metropolitan regions, leading to the emergence of concepts such as 'global city regions', 'polycentric mega-city regions', 'polycentric urban regions', 'megalopitan regions' or simply 'mega-regions'. Polycentricity, involving a strong level of interaction and other types of functional relationships between cities, is a key feature of such regions. I am particularly fascinated by questions concerning new spatial arrangements in metropolitan areas and the effects on economic and environmental performance, as well as the well-being of citizens. Much of my research aims to provide empirical findings related to these questions and to translate these findings into empirically underpinned development strategies with a focus on promoting more competitive and attractive urban regions.

I have more than 10 years of research experience across a broad range of issues, including the following:

· City networks/urban networks;
· Urban systems;
· Polycentricity;
· European, national, regional and metropolitan territorial development policies;
· Infrastructure development and regional development;
· International comparative research on European metropolitan areas and their performance;
· Travel behaviour;
· Regional policies and regional governance;
· Regionalism;
· Integrated policy-making;
· Cities and health;
· Small and medium-sized cities;
· Cultural geography and regional identity;
· International benchmarking, lesson-drawing and policy transfer.

I would very much welcome co-operation with other scholars interested in these fields, particularly on the themes of city networks and polycentricity. I am also open to enquiries from new PhD students in these fields. Enquiries related to consultancy in the abovementioned areas would also be welcome.

I am currently leading a research project on the existence and development of agglomeration economies and agglomeration diseconomies in polycentric urban regions in Europe and the United States. This 3-year project is funded by a prestigious personal research grant (VENI grant) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Another large research project that I am currently leading involves the analysis of the spatial and economic impact of the Westerscheldetunnel, one of the largest new infrastructure projects completed in the Netherlands in the past decade. Other major research projects that I have been involved in over the past decade include ESPON projects (such as ESPON 1.1.1 on European urban areas as nodes in a polycentric development; ESPON 2.3.1 on the impact of the European Spatial Development Perspective). I have also been involved in several INTERREG IICprojects, such as the EURBANET project, which focused on polynuclear urban regions in Europe’s North West Metropolitan Area (NWMA), and the GEMACA II project, which focused on the comparative analysis of economic development in large metropolises of north-west Europe.. In 2007 I participated in a benchmark exercise comparing the performance of European medium-sized cities in the European smart cities project.

Educational and work background

I hold a doctorate (PhD) in Urban and Regional Studies from Delft University of Technology (awarded in 2007), a Masters degree (MA) in Town and Country Planning from the Radboud University Nijmegen (awarded in 1999) and a Bachelor degree (BA) in Policy Sciences, also from the Radboud University Nijmegen (awarded in 1996). In 2002 I completed a postgraduate research training in housing, urban and transportation studies at Delft University of Technology.

I started my academic career as a junior researcher at the Spatial Planning department of the Radboud University Nijmegen in 1999. In 2000, I moved to Delft University of Technology to work for OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment. I have been a visiting researcher (2008) at ORKESTRA (the Basque Institute of Competitiveness) in San Sebastian, Spain, which is linked to Deusto University. From May-August 2010, I was a visiting scholar at the department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell Universityin Ithaca, NY (USA).

Publications

My work has appeared in major international journals including Built Environment, Environment and Planning A, European Journal of Spatial Development, European Planning Studies, European Urban and Regional Studies, International Planning Studies, Journal of Economic and Social Geography – TESG, Planning Theory & Practice, Regional Studies, Scienze Regionali – Italian Journal of Regional Science, Town Planning Review and Urban Studies. Links are provided below.

Meijers E.J. and M.J. Burger (2010) Spatial Structure and Productivity in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Environment and Planning A, 42(6), pp. 1383-1402. [doi:10.1068/a42151]
Stead, D. and E.J. Meijers (2009) Spatial Planning and Policy Integration: Concepts, Facilitators and Inhibitors, Planning Theory & Practice , 10(3), pp. 317–332. [doi: 10.1080/14649350903229752]
Meijers, E.J. (2008) Summing small cities does not make a Large City: Polycentric urban regions and the provision of cultural, leisure and sports amenities, Urban Studies , 45(11), pp. 2323-2342. [doi:10.1177/0042098008095870]
Meijers, E.J. (2008) Stein’s ‘Regional City’-concept revisited: Critical mass and complementarity in contemporary urban networks, Town Planning Review, 79 (5), pp. 485-506. [doi:10.3828/tpr.79.5.3] Meijers, E.J., Hoekstra, J. and R. Aguado (2008) Strategic planning for city networks; the emergence of a Basque ‘Global City’? International Planning Studies , 13 (3), pp. 239-259. [doi: 10.1080/13563470802521440]
Meijers, E.J. (2008) Measuring polycentricity and its promises, European Planning Studies , 16 (9), pp. 1313-1323. [doi:10.1080/09654310802401805]
Meijers, E.J. and K. Sandberg (2008) Reducing regional disparities by means of polycentric development: panacea or placebo? Scienze Regionali; Italian journal of regional science, 7(2), pp. 71-96. [Online version: www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/sommario.asp]
Meijers, E. (2007) Clones or Complements? The division of labour between the main cities of the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the RheinRuhr Area, Regional Studies , 41(7), 889-900. [doi: 10.1080/00343400601120239]
Meijers, E.J. (2007) From central place to network model: Theory and evidence of a paradigm change,Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie /Journal of Economic and Social Geography , 98 (2), pp. 245-259. [doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9663.2007.00394.x]
Meijers, E.J., Waterhout, B. and W. Zonneveld (2007) Closing the gap: territorial cohesion through polycentric development, European Journal of Spatial Development, Refereed articles, October 2007, No. 24. [Online version: www.nordregio.se/EJSD/refereed24.pdf ].
Meijers, E.J., Waterhout, B., and W.A.M. Zonneveld (2005) Polycentric development policies in European countries, Built Environment, 31 (2), pp. 97-102. [doi: 10.2148/benv.31.2.97.66255]
Waterhout, B., Zonneveld, W.A.M. and E.J. Meijers (2005) Polycentric development policies in Europe: Overview and debate, Built Environment , 31 (2), pp. 163-173. [doi: 10.2148/benv.31.2.163.66250]
Meijers, E.J. (2005) Polycentric urban regions and the quest for Synergy: is a network of cities more than the sum of the parts? Urban Studies, 42 (4), pp. 765-781. [doi:10.1080/00420980500060384]
Meijers, E.J. (2003) Realizing potential: building regional organizing capacity in polycentric urban regions, European Urban and Regional Studies , 10 (2), pp. 173-186. [doi: 10.1177/0969776403010002005]