Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Defining metropolitan, urban and rural areas

Hugo Poelman

DG Regional Policy

March 2012

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

A system of classifications

• Towards an integrated system of classifications, at various levels

• Urban/rural typology of regions

• Degree of urbanisation

• Definitions of cities, agglomerations, metropolitan areas

• Avoid discrepancies between methodologies and classifications

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Revised methodologies (1)

• Urban/rural typology of NUTS3 regions: done

• Based on urban/rural classification of grid cells of 1 km²

• Degree of urbanisation of LAU2 units: done

• Based on typology of grid cells of 1 km²

• Definition of cities (and kernels) for the Urban Audit: done

• Compatible with the degree of urbanisation

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Revised methodologies (2)

• Definition of metropolitan areas: ongoing

• Based on commuting to cities

• Definition of Larger Urban Zones for the Urban Audit: ongoing

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Methodological development and/or data from

• DG Regional Policy

• DG Agriculture and Rural Development

• Eurostat

• DG Joint Research Centre

• OECD

• NSIs

• European Forum for GeoStatistics EFGS

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Degree of urbanisation: what?

• Classification of all LAU2s into three categories:

• Thinly populated

• Intermediate density

• Densely populated

• It is used primarily in the Labour Force Survey (LFS), but also in other surveys such as Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) and IT

• It is based on LAU2 density and contiguity

• It has been in use for 20 years

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Degree of urbanisation: why a revision?

• Distortions due to the large variation in area of local administrative units (LAU2)

• Revised urban-rural typology is based on a grid based definition of rural areas which is more reliable than OECD or LFS approach

• Harmonising spatial concepts

• Rural (OECD) and thinly populated areas (LFS)

• Densely populated areas (LFS) and cities (Urban Audit)

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Previously: 3 conflicting definitions

Urban-rural typology

Degree of urbanisation

Urban Audit

Rural LAU2 ≠ Thinly populated

Intermediate density

Densely populated ≠ Cities

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Harmonised definition based on a population grid

• Classification at raster level (1 km² cells):

• Rural grid cells: cells outside urban clusters

• Urban clusters: contiguous cells (incl. diagonals) with a density of at least 300 inh./km² and a minimum of 5,000 inhabitants

• Urban centres: contiguous cells (without diagonals and with gap filling) with a density of at least 1,500 inh./km² and a minimum of 50,000 inhabitants

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Classification at LAU2 level

Type of LAU2 Criteria

Thinly populated > 50% population in rural grid cells

Intermediate density

<50% population in rural grid cells and <50% population in high-density grid cells

Densely populated

> 50% population in high-density grid cells

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Definition of cities

• City definition for Urban Audit data collection

• UA cities also used for data compilation/reporting by e.g. EEA, ESPON, Urban Atlas,…

• Compatible with densely populated LAU2s

• Linked to the urban political level

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

1) High-density clusters

Raster cells with

density of at least

1,500 inh./km²

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

2) Urban centre

High-density cluster

with at least

50,000 inhabitants

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

3) Densely populated LAU2s

LAU2 with at least

50% of their

population

in urban centre

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

4) City

Adjustment of

densely populated

LAU2 to fit

political definition

Appropriate for

Urban Audit

data production

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Kernels

Some (administrative) cities are underbound in comparison to the city centre

Solution: the creation of a “kernel”: a wider urban area, composed of LAU2 units, ensuring a better correspondence with the extent of the city centre

A kernel can contain one of more cities

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Kernel in a complex environment

• The same “city centre”

• covers various

• administrative cities

• The kernel helps

• to improve the

• representation

• of the city centre

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

885 cities; 32 kernels, of which 15

contain more than one city

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Definition of metropolitan areas

Delineation of hinterland of Urban Audit cities

Based on commuting flows at LAU2 level:

Selection of LAU2 where at least 15% of employed commute to the city

Creation of a contiguous hinterland:

Including LAU2s enclaved by the commuting area

Excluding non-contiguous LAU2s

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

1) Commuting area

All LAU2s with at least

15% of commuting

to the city

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

2) Metropolitan area

City +

Contiguous hinterland

based on

Commuting area

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Larger Urban Zones

Urban Audit Larger Urban Zones are being (re)defined, using the extent of the metropolitan areas

Some adjustments needed to fit administrative / political / statistical entities

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Metropolitan regions

To be (re)defined once the Larger Urban Zones will be determined

Approximations – at NUTS3 level – of the Larger Urban Zones

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Small and medium-sized towns

Towns not currently covered by the city definition (city centre of less than 50000 inhabitants)

Forthcoming ESPON project will deal with the definition and typology of small and medium-sized towns

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Future developments

Apply the revised methodology to new population grids

Favouring bottom-up (register based) and “hybrid” population distribution grids

Determine the typologies using the NUTS 2010 breakdown

Regional urban/rural typology

Assess remoteness of regions, using new city definition

Collect, report and analyse data according to this system of typologies

Regional Policy

REGIOgis

Some references

• A revised urban-rural typology http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code=KS-HA-10-001-15 and http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Urban-rural_typology

• A revised degree of urbanisation classification http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/miscellaneous/index.cfm?TargetUrl=DSP_DEGURBA

• Remote rural regions http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/focus/2008_01_rural.pdf

• Urban Audit cities 2012 (poster map): https://circabc.europa.eu/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/1ec59c9e-d8da-487c-9de1-a3dd8de3efbf/URAU2012_pop_urb_city_centres_full_A0_Fev_2012.pdf