El policentrismo se impone a la dispersión en el proceso de descentralización del empleo de las ciudades intermedias mexicanas

Changes in the spatial structure of intermediate cities–specifically those that are not integrated into a major urban system– is a subject insufficiently studied, despite the high percentage of their population. Various studies applied to large metropolises have found that employment does not grow the most in the city centers and subcenters, but rather in areas of urban expansion (sprawl). In this research, the employment subcenter of seventeen intermediate Mexican cities are identified and delimited, to subsequently measure the evolution of the weight of employment in the main center, in the subcenters and in the sprawl areas between the years 2000 and 2020. The results show that intermediate cities, increasingly decentralized, primarily tend towards polycentricity, which presents relevant advantages in terms of territorial planning.