Functional urban area

The definition was introduced under the name Larger urban zone (LUZ) in 2004 by Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union (EU), in agreement with the national statistics offices in the member states.{{cite web|publisher = Eurostat|year = 2006|url = http://www.urbanaudit.org|title = City statistics – Urban audit|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090206144738/http://urbanaudit.org/|archive-date = 6 February 2009}}{{cite news|publisher = Dr. Berthold Feldmann, Eurostat|date = March 2006|url = http://www.urbanaudit.org/MarchMeetingResources/UA%20day_Eurostat%20focus.ppt#1|title = The shift of Eurostat to Urban Statistics|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060920020445/http://www.urbanaudit.org/MarchMeetingResources/UA%20day_Eurostat%20focus.ppt#1|archive-date = 20 September 2006}} Eurostat data is provided only for zones in the EU countries, candidate countries and EFTA countries. Several cities were excluded by definition from the 2004 list of LUZs on technical, definitional grounds, such as the coincidence of the metropolitan area with the urban zone.{{cite web |title=Résumé statistique (Marseille-Aix-en-Provence) |url=http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999003.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094822/http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999003.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2011 |website=www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr |language=fr}}{{cite web|url=http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999004.pdf |access-date=19 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094843/http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999004.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999006.pdf |access-date=19 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094905/http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999006.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}

In 2006 LUZ definitions were changed significantly, improving the comparability of LUZ definitions across different countries, and allowing for almost all cities to be included.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In 2011, the European Commission has developed a new definition of LUZ in cooperation with the OECD.{{cite report |author=Lewis Dijkstra, Hugo Poelman |date=2012-03-01 |title=Cities in Europe - The new OECD-EC definition |url=https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/focus/2012_01_city.pdf |page=2 |access-date=2024-06-08 |quote=Until recently, there was no harmonised definition of ‘a city’ for European and other countries member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This undermined the comparability, and thus also the credibility, of cross-country analysis of cities. To resolve this problem, the OECD and the European Commission developed a new definition of a city and its commuting zone in 2011. […] Each city is part of its own commuting zone or a polycentric commuting zone covering multiple cities. These commuting zones are significant, especially for larger cities. The cities and commuting zones together (called Larger Urban Zones) account for 60 % of the EU population.}} The term Larger urban zone (LUZ) was later renamed as the Functional urban area (FUA).

In 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank have also adopted the Functional urban area as their definition for delimitation of metropolitan areas.{{cite book |author=European Union/FAO/UN-Habitat/OECD/The World Bank |date=2021 |doi=10.2785/706535 |isbn=978-92-76-20306-3 |language=en |location=Luxembourg |page=3 |publisher=Publications Office of the European Union |title=Applying the Degree of Urbanisation — A methodological manual to define cities, towns and rural areas for international comparisons — 2021 edition |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/15348338/KS-02-20-499-EN-N.pdf/0d412b58-046f-750b-0f48-7134f1a3a4c2?t=1669111363941}}

{{Duplication|section=yes|dupe=List of metropolitan areas in Europe}}

This is a list of functional urban areas by population as of 2017. The 2004 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. Some cities, including Marseille, Lille, Nice, Cordoba, Badajoz, Toulon and Montpellier were excluded from the 2004 list on technical, definitional grounds, such as the coincidence of the metropolitan area with the urban zone.

{{legend|#cfecec|Areas outside of the European Union|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}

This is a list of functional urban areas. The Urban Audit also includes cities from EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and EU candidate countries. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses a similar definition of Functional Urban Area to represent population sizes of cities in OECD countries.{{cite web|url=http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?Datasetcode=CITIES# |title=OECD Populations in cities| publisher=OECD| access-date=2 April 2017}} This data is also included.

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.urbanaudit.org/CityCountryPDFLongList.aspx |title=Urban Audit Database |publisher=Urbanaudit.org |access-date=2011-04-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523080414/http://www.urbanaudit.org/CityCountryPDFLongList.aspx |archive-date=23 May 2011 }}

{{legend|#cfecec|Areas outside of the European Union|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}

|{{nts|}} no data

|{{nts|1,119,593}}{{efn|2015}}

|-

|Paris metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|France}}

|{{nts|12037889}}

|{{nts|13975000}}

|{{Nts|12824000}}

|-

|Porto Metropolitan Area

|{{flagcountry|Portugal}}

|{{nts|1737829}}

|{{nts|1245000}}{{efn|Part of a wider polycentric urban region with a population of 1,778,000.}}

|{{nts|1286111}}

|- bgcolor="#cfecec"

|Portsmouth-Southampton

|{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}

|{{nts|594455}}

|{{nts|1547000}}

|{{nts|1498402}}{{efn|Excludes Southampton}}

|-

|Prague

|{{flagcountry|Czech Republic}}

|{{nts|1910396}}

|{{nts|1669000}}

|{{nts|2,224,080}}{{efn|2015}}

|-

|Rhein-Nord{{efn|name=pc|Polycentric metropolitan area}} (Düsseldorf – Neuss)

|{{flagcountry|Germany}}

|{{nts|1427823}}{{efn|Excludes Neuss.}}

|{{nts|3073000}}{{efn|name=rheinruhr}}

|{{nts|1527176}}

|-

|Rhein-Süd{{efn|name=pc}} (Cologne – Bonn)

|{{flagcountry|Germany}}

|{{nts|1926073}}{{efn|Excludes Bonn which has a population of 750,370}}

|{{nts|3070000}}{{efn|name=rheinruhr|Part of the polycentric urban region of Rhein-Ruhr, which has a total population of 12,190,000.}}

|{{nts|3023545}}{{efn|Excludes Bonn}}

|-

|Riga

|{{flagcountry|Latvia}}

|{{ntsh|0}}No data

|{{nts|1195000}}

|{{nts|1089767}}

|-

|Rome metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|Italy}}

|{{nts|4149364}}

|{{nts|4353738}}

|{{nts|3700000}}

|-

|Rotterdam

|{{flagcountry|Netherlands}}

|{{nts|1509373}}

|{{nts|1904000}}{{efn|name=randstad}}

|{{nts|1818563}}

|-

|Ruhr area

|{{flagcountry|Germany}}

|{{ntsh|0}}No data{{efn|Essen, Bochum, and Dortmund counted separately.}}

|{{nts|5376000}}{{efn|name=rheinruhr}}

|{{nts|5045784}}

|-

|Saarbrücken – Forbach

|{{flagcountry|Germany}}/
{{flagcountry|France}}

|{{nts|570479}}{{efn|Saarbrücken only}}

|{{nts|1102000}}

|{{nts|822128}}

|-

|Seville

|{{flagcountry|Spain}}

|{{nts|1500644}}

|{{nts|1180000}}{{efn|Total population is 1,262,000 if the metropolitan area of Utrera (82,000) is included.}}

|{{nts|1877060}}

|-

|Sofia

|{{flagcountry|Bulgaria}}

|{{ntsh|0}}No data

|{{nts|1260120}}

|{{nts|1543377 }}

|-

|Metropolitan Stockholm

|{{flagcountry|Sweden}}

|{{nts|2018208}}

|{{nts|2171000}}

|{{nts|2034354}}{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

|- bgcolor="#cfecec"

|South Yorkshire (Sheffield)

|{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}

|{{nts|920128}}

|{{nts|1569000}}

|{{nts|1596298}}

|-

|Stuttgart Metropolitan Region

|{{flagcountry|Germany}}

|{{nts|1965942}}

|{{nts|2289000}}

|{{nts|2678795}}

|-

|Thessaloniki metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|Greece}}

|{{nts|975439}}

|{{nts|1052000}}

|{{nts|1166914}}

|-

|Toulouse

|{{flagcountry|France}}

|{{nts|1309149}}

|{{ntsh|0}}No data

|{{nts|1388978}}

|-

|Turin metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|Italy}}

|{{nts|1774507}}

|{{nts|1601000}}{{efn|Total population is 1,716,000 if the metropolitan of Pinerolo is included.}}

|{{nts|2302353}}

|- bgcolor="#cfecec"

|Newcastle-Sunderland

|{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}

|{{nts|1082729}}{{efn|Excludes Sunderland}}

|{{nts|1599000}}

|{{nts|1141879}}

|-

|Valencia

|{{flagcountry|Spain}}

|{{nts|1668153}}

|{{nts|1398000}}{{efn|Total population is 1,499,000 if the metropolitan area of Sagunto is included.}}

|{{nts|2516818}}

|-

|Vienna

|{{flagcountry|Austria}}

|{{nts|2793631}}

|{{nts|2584000}}

|{{nts|2339807}}

|-

|Warsaw metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|Poland}}

|{{nts|3037890}}

|{{nts|2785000}}

|{{nts|3304641}}

|-

|Zagreb

|{{flagcountry|Croatia}}

|{{ntsh|0}}No data

|{{nts|1107115}}

|{{nts|1123374}}

|- bgcolor="#cfecec"

|Zürich metropolitan area

|{{flagcountry|Switzerland}}

|{{nts|1246968}}

|{{nts|1615000}}

|{{nts|1984534}}

|}

• List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits
• List of urban areas in the European Union
• List of metropolitan areas in Europe
• Largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries
• World's largest cities
• List of functional urban areas in New Zealand

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• GMES Urban Atlas: [http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/urban-atlas PDF files], [http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/urban-atlas ZIP files]
• OECD: [https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?fs%5B0%5D=Topic%2C1%7CRegions%2C%20cities%20and%20local%20areas%23GEO%23%7CCities%20and%20functional%20urban%20areas%23GEO_URB%23&pg=0&fc=Topic&bp=true&snb=17&df%5Bds%5D=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df%5Bid%5D=DSD_FUA_DEMO%40DF_AGE_SEX&df%5Bag%5D=OECD.CFE.EDS&df%5Bvs%5D=1.0 Population statistics on Cities and their FUAs]
• Eurostat: [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/view/urb_lpop1?category=urb.urb_luz Population statistics on functional urban areas]
• Eurostat: [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/European_cities European cities]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120121192735/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tgs00080&plugin=1 Eurostat: Total population in Urban Audit cities, Larger Urban Zone]

{{European Union topics}}

Category:European Union-related lists

Category:Lists of cities in Europe

Category:Urban planning by country

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Category:Metropolitan areas of the European Union