Relational matrix of Central European cities based on the networking of advanced producer services

The paper focuses on the position of the urban network and regional relations of sixteen countries of Central Europe based on the advanced producer services. The paper studies how the cities of Central Europe can be integrated into the global networks of advanced producer services, what kind of spatial structural impacts they have, and how it affects the position of the cities in the region. The paper examines the inner city relationships of the Central European region based on the cooperation networks developed by the advanced producer services (Daniels and Moulaert, 1991, Sassen, 1991, Taylor, 2001), and studies its impacts on the inner fractures of the space, whether the gravity center has modified in the last 25 years, whether new division lines occurred, and whether new inner peripheries developed. The paper also offers answer if the region stayed homogenous, if certain cities could close the gap with Western European cities, and if certain cities form new peripheries as a consequence of being unable to get integrated to the global processes. Hundred advanced producer services working in the field of management consultancy and accountancy identify seventy-nine cities in sixteen countries of Central-Europe as an empirical base for the study. The empirical study focuses on the network links among the cities with a presence of an advanced producer service, and offers discussion on the relationship matrix of the cities. According to Castell (1996) global spaces of flows develop as a result of the new type of spatial relations of advanced producer services. The development and spread of the information and communication technologies resulted in a multi-edged network, where cities functioning as significant business centers form the points of centralities in the tertiary world economy (Sassen, 2001). Examinations show, a strong centrality describe the urban structure of Central Europe.