Abstract

Central to the ecological theory of urban systems is the notion of a territorial division of labor based on differentiation and interdependence and mediated by large urban centers performing metropolitan, i.e., control and coordination, functions. The hypothesis of a positive relationship between performance of metropolitan functions and extensiveness of involvement in the web of interdependence (the latter measured by volume and variety of trade flows and the number of exchange linkages), is here tested directly for the first time. The vertical (metropolitan) dimension of functional differentiation is found to be closely associated with the extensiveness of trade interdependence, but the relationship varies by product type and city size.

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