Globalization is constituted not only through interurban networks of global city regions, but also by intraurban linkages within city regions. In this article, we use the Madrid city region as a case study to analyze the emergence of new “globalization arenas”—dense agglomeration nodes of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBSs)—on the outskirts of large metropolises (METs). We focus on two distinct types of centers. New employment centers (NECs) are produced by intrametropolitan suburbanization and realignment of preexisting small agglomerations. Historic administrative cities (HACs) are created by suprametropolitan scale processes remaking historically autonomous centers beyond the MET, which are only now being articulated in metropolitan transformation. We use statistical, cartographic, and econometric techniques to analyze proximity and economic base characteristics of NECs and HACs. As KIBSs continue to evolve in patterns of decentralized concentration, HACs are becoming more important KIBS nodes amidst complex landscapes of functional specialization and repositioning.

The case of Madrid is used as empirical focus to propose a new classification of the metropolitan region urban medium-sized or secondary city system. Based on a methodology that integrates the morphological (size, location and socioeconomic history) and the functional dimensions (centrality index, advanced producer services (APS) concentration and commuting), the article compares new employment centres—cities with metropolitan origin—and historical cities—previously free standing cities, progressively integrated in metropolitan processes. The results show a distinction between (1) metropolitan cities, with a traditional intermediation role, and (2) metropolitan intermediary cities, that include an additional quality to their traditional intermediation role, that of concentrating APS. The article confirms that some medium-sized cities—metropolitan intermediary cities—linked to different origins and up to 100 km away from the metropolis are more visible in the global scene and are establishing an emerging global multicore-network at a metropolitan-regional scale.

Changing commuting patterns in rural metro-adjacent regions: the case of Castilla-La Mancha in the context of Madrid, Spain. Regional Studies. This paper describes changing commuting patterns within rural regions gradually integrated into metropolitan dynamics and recently reconfigured by state rescaling processes. It focuses on Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), a rural region under Madrilenian influence, between 1981 and 2011. The empirical results show that these regions are (1) becoming hybrid territories, changing from predominantly rural territories into areas that exhibit mixed rural–metropolitan behaviours; (2) increasingly influenced by metropolitan overflows, which are predominantly integrating non-centrality municipalities; (3) transforming their urban spatial structures from leaderless models to incipient polycentric ones; and (4) experiencing a commuting reconfiguration towards multidirectional patterns.