Larger urban zone

The larger urban zone (LUZ), or Functional Urban Area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan areas in Europe.[1] It consists of a city and its commuting zone.[2]

The definition was introduced in 2004 by Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union (EU), in agreement with the national statistics offices in the member states.[3][4] Data is provided on cities in the EU, its candidate countries and EFTA countries.

In 2006 LUZ definitions were changed significantly, improving the comparability of LUZ definitions across different countries. Several cities, such as Marseille, Lille and Nice, are excluded by definition from the list of LUZs on technical, definitional grounds, such as the coincidence of the metropolitan area with the urban zone.[5][6][7]

Eurostat's urban definitions

The list below shows the population sizes of cities in the European Union as well as candidate countries and non-EU EFTA countries. The list is limited to those cities whose Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) have populations of at least 500,000. The LUZ represents an attempt at a harmonised definition of the metropolitan area. Eurostat's objective was to have an area from which a significant share of the residents commute into the city, a concept known as the "functional urban region." To ensure a good data availability, Eurostat adjusts the LUZ boundaries to administrative boundaries that approximate the functional urban region.

Ranking methodology

The list below contains the cities in the European Union and associated countries that participated in the third round of the Urban Audit programme. The cities are ranked by the size of the population of the Larger Urban Zone. The figures in the Eurostat database are an attempt at a compromise between harmonised data for all of the European Union, and with availability of statistical data, making comparisons more accurate. The data used is from the 2006 Urban Audit III, which uses information collected for 2004.[8]

List of larger urban zones by population (2004)

For an update-to-date list of larger urban zones, see List of metropolitan areas in Europe.

This is a list of larger urban zones by population as of 2004. The Urban Audit also includes cities from EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and EU candidate countries, although the only candidate country for which there is available data is Turkey. Marseille, Lille, Nice, Cordoba, Badajoz, Toulon and Montpellier are missing on this revision of the 2004 list. Newer revisions, including the 2008 updated data from Urban Audit IV,[9] have since been published. The Urban Audit V with 2011 data was to be published from 2013;[10] but as of May 2014 "the results of the 2011 data collection are being collected".[11]

Rank City name Country LUZ population LUZ area (km²)
1 London  United Kingdom 11,917,000 8,920[12]
2 Istanbul  Turkey 11,154,928
3 Paris  France 11,089,124 12,079.87[12]
4 Madrid  Spain 5,804,829 8,022
5 Ruhr Area  Germany 5,302,179 4,435
6 Berlin  Germany 4,971,331 17,385
7 Barcelona  Spain 4,233,638 1,796.64
8 Athens  Greece 4,013,368 3,806.92
9 Ankara  Turkey 3,736,359
10 Rome  Italy 3,457,690 3,666.66
11 Hamburg  Germany 3,134,620 7,304
12 Milan  Italy 3,076,643 1,348.32
13 Upper Silesian Industrial Region  Poland 2,710,397 2,650.65
14 Stuttgart  Germany 2,663,660 3,654
15 Warsaw  Poland 2,660,406 5,198.52
16 Manchester  United Kingdom 2,539,100 1,280
17 Munich  Germany 2,531,706 5,504
18 Frankfurt  Germany 2,517,561 4,305
19 Izmir  Turkey 2,459,474
20 Lisbon  Portugal 2,435,837 1,432.49
21 Budapest  Hungary 2,393,846 2,538[12]
22 Leeds - Bradford  United Kingdom 2,393,300 5,114[12]
23 Birmingham  United Kingdom 2,357,100 1,598
24 Naples  Italy 2,253,964 564.95
25 Vienna  Austria 2,179,769 4,610.93[12]
26 Bucharest  Romania 2,140,194 662
27 Prague  Czech Republic 1,964,750 6,977[12]
28 Cologne  Germany 1,873,580 1,626
29 Stockholm  Sweden 1,860,872 6,519
30 Copenhagen  Denmark 1,806,667[12] 2,759[12]
31 Brussels  Belgium 1,800,663 1,613.91
32 Glasgow  United Kingdom 1,747,100 3,346
33 Turin  Italy 1,745,221 1,878.97
34 Lyon  France 1,717,300 5,997.68[12]
35 Valencia  Spain 1,564,145 1,440.58
36 Dublin  Republic of Ireland 1,535,446[12]
37 Düsseldorf  Germany 1,525,029 1,201
38 Bursa  Turkey 1,474,482
39 Amsterdam  Netherlands 1,443,258 859.28
40 Adana  Turkey 1,394,130
41 Liverpool  United Kingdom 1,365,900 821
42 Bielefeld  Germany 1,297,876 2,921
43 Hanover  Germany 1,294,447 2,966
44 Nuremberg  Germany 1,288,797 2,934
45 Sheffield  United Kingdom 1,277,100 1,846
46 Kraków  Poland 1,264,322 2,988.65
47 Sofia  Bulgaria 1,263,807[12] 3,424.2[12]
48 Seville  Spain 1,249,346 3,081.9
49 Bremen  Germany 1,249,291 5,885
50 Helsinki  Finland 1,224,107 2,969.94
51 Rotterdam  Netherlands 1,186,818 611.75
52 Łódź  Poland 1,163,516 2,857.51
53 Ostrava  Czech Republic 1,153,876 3,8896[12]
54 Zurich   Switzerland 1,110,478 1,086.14
55 Tricity  Poland 1,105,203 3,457.32
56 Porto  Portugal 1,099,040 562.32
57 Oslo  Norway 1,090,513 6,920
58 Newcastle upon Tyne  United Kingdom 1,055,600 3,385
59 Gaziantep  Turkey 1,052,795
60 Toulouse  France 1,052,497 4,706.93[12]
61 Wrocław  Poland 1,031,439 4,582.2
62 Poznań  Poland 1,018,511 3,719.2
63 Bristol  United Kingdom 1,006,600 1,635
64 Riga  Latvia 1,003,949 5,382.5

Urban Audit

Eurostat's Urban Audit is about much more than demographics. In order for it to be useful as a policy tool to the European Commission and other authorities it contains data for over 250 indicators across the following domains:[13][14]

See also

References

External links

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