Institutionalization of Metropolitan Areas as Possible Solution of Agglomeration Externalities in the Context of Urbanization Development in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The acceleration of urbanization in developed countries in the 20th century has become during last 50 years a global phenomenon bringing many challenges. Relations between city and its surroundings have been consequently evolved by many essential changes. In post-socialistic countries the development of urbanization was affected by specific factors which influence – on the basis of historical memory – creating of functional regions. The subject of this paper is to discuss that the formal or informal institutionalization of metropolitan areas in the Czech Republic (covering the delimitation of metropolitan area or a consequent anchoring of metropolitan areas in the process of spatial planning), may be advantageous even from an economic point of view for all stakeholders.

Keywords

• metropolitan areas
• urbanization
• agglomeration externalities
• institutionalization
• Czech Republic