The spatial markets of cities organized in a hierarchical system

Mounting evidence indicates that large, world-class cities have expanded their spatial markets well beyond the regional urban systems in which they are located. This has led many observers to conclude that in the contemporary economy, interdependence, interaction, and connectivity are no longer Fundamental characteristics of hierarchical urban systems. Virtually all research, however, deals exclusively with the changing role of large cities, while the spatial markets of medium- and smaller-sized cities comprising an urban system have been ignored. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate whether the spatial markets of medium- and smaller-sized cities in an urban hierarchical system continue to display a systematic relationship with city size, or whether they also reveal the absence of connection, or integration, with the regional system. The analysis uses survey data collected from 480 producer service firms located in an urban hierarchy comprising 15 midwestern cities of the United States. The results indicate that the spatial market of the largest city (Chicago) extends well beyond the Midwest urban hierarchy, while the spatial markers of smaller-sized cities are more integrated within the hierarchical system.