On Conceptual Confusion in Empirical Analyses of a Transnational Urban Network
- 1 October 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Urban Studies
- Vol. 43 (11), 2027-2046
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980600897842
Abstract
A number of researchers have recently tried to map the contours of a transnational urban network. Although these empirical studies have great merits in making a closer connection to theoretical ideas on a genuine urban network, they sometimes fail to recognise that the whole idea of cities as 'nodes' in a transnational urban network is a heuristic at best. To assess this underdeveloped analytical connection, a taxonomy of dominant empirical and theoretical approaches is constructed. Contrasting both taxonomies reveals a mismatch between theory and measurement. This mismatch is addressed in more detail through four separate but entwined examples of conceptual conflation: a lack of rigour in the employed terminologies; inappropriate discussions of results against the background of other concepts; the inadequate delineation of the urban area; and, the limited analytical value of infrastructure-based analyses.Keywords
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