A polycentric network consists of urban functional areas with significant growth potential in the settlement network and a transport infrastructure that effectively interconnects them. Polycentric development is a key instrument for promoting economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental sustainability, and its assessment has a particular importance for the European strategies. The paper aims to assess the level of polycentricity of Romania based on a methodology developed by changing the one used in ESPON 1.1.1 by replacing the GDP with the turnover, multimodal accessibility with accessibility, and using a threshold of 30,000 inhabitants instead of 50,000 for the centres of functional urban areas. The results, consisting of country rankings based on size, location, connectivity, and polycentricity, were compared to those of ESPON 1.1.1. Romania ranked fifth in the top from the Polycentricity Index of ESPON countries, with a medium high level of polycentricity.

The territorial dimension of the European convergence policy is represented by polycentricity. The main challenge in promoting a polycentric and balanced territorial development is represented by an accurate delineation of the functional urban areas. Effective development strategies require the extension of functional areas to be scientifically defined as a critical mass. According to several studies, Functional Urban / Metropolitan Areas can be determined based on the number of commuters going to the core city, in different shares of the total economically active population. The evaluation of the polycentric development of the network of settlements in Romania is hampered by the lack of reliable data on the number of commuters at the settlement level. The indicator is not statistically monitored and consequently misses from the list of indicators quantified by the National Institute of Statistics. Therefore, the present study has as main purpose to identify the Functional Urban Areas in Romania for cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants. The methodology is based on the statistical support of ArcGIS 10.3 and on analyses based on indicators such as population and number of employees (absolute values and dynamics) at the level of settlements (LAU 2). The results of the study consist of mapping the functional urban areas of the large Romanian cities, which allows an assessment of the legally constituted metropolitan areas of Romania.Limitations of the study. It has to be stressed out that the aim of the study was merely to create a methodology for assessing the Functional Urban Areas in Romania using GIS and LAU 2 territorial indicators rather than offering a current synopsis of the Romanian Functional Urban Areas. The study is the result of a funded research; the selection of data and indicators was financially constrained by the financial reasons and thus the results might not offer an accurate and detailed picture, although they are (at large) in line with the previous findings. Moreover, the analysis was oriented towards the dynamic, and particular years were chosen to reflect key historical settings described in the methodology.