Presenting a research framework for polycentric metropolitan area to empirical and theoretical development of this concept in Iran

In recent decades, several concepts have emerged after spatial reflections of different economic, political and technological processes that had considered cities in the regional scale. All of these notions emphasize on polycentric feature in metropolitan areas and the strong relationships between theirs elements and main centers. However, these important spatial characteristics bring many ambiguities for scholars as well as policymakers. In spite of two decades of efforts that concentrated on poly-centricity in different scales, in particular metropolitan level, few studies have held in the regional planning major’s literature in Iran that focus on this issue. So, it is essential to provide a theoretical framework that can address the key challenges of poly-centricity sequentially at a wider perspective for filling these theoretical and empirical gaps and deeper understanding of the issue. This framework must outline the visions, the common conflicts and their effects on each other and open the ways for future studies. In this study, the main body seeks three main challenges of poly-centric metropolitan areas; conceptual and measurement, and evaluation and efficacy, planning and governance with concern to the link of them. Finally it proposes a framework for further researches as a result.