Larger urban zone

The functional urban area (FUA), previously known as larger urban zone (LUZ), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone, which is a contiguous area of spatial units that have at least 15% of their employed residents working in the city.

Illustration showing the difference between the city, the functional urban area (Milan metropolitan area), and the metropolitan region of Milan.

Illustration of the delimitation process for the functional urban area (red outline) of Genoa (red fill) and its commuting zone (pink fill).

The FUA 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 FUA boundaries to administrative boundaries that approximate the functional urban area.

History

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. 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.

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]}

In 2011, the European Commission has developed a new definition of LUZ in cooperation with the OECD. 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.

List of functional urban areas by population as of 2017

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.

  Areas outside of the European Union

Rank	Functional urban area	Country	Population	Area (km^2)
1	Paris	France	13,998,000	12,079.87
2	Istanbul	Turkey	11,154,928
3	London	United Kingdom	10,345,124	8,900
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	Naples	Italy	4,475,682	564.95
8	Barcelona	Spain	4,233,638	1,796.64
9	Athens	Greece	4,013,368	3,806.92
10	Ankara	Turkey	3,736,359
11	Rome	Italy	3,457,690	3,666.66
12	Hamburg	Germany	3,134,620	7,304
12	Milan	Italy	3,076,643	1,348.32
13	Manchester	United Kingdom	2,948,633	1,280
14	Katowice metropolitan area	Poland	2,710,397	2,650.65
15	Stuttgart	Germany	2,663,660	3,654
16	Warsaw	Poland	2,631,710	5,201.72
17	Munich	Germany	2,531,706	5,504
18	Frankfurt	Germany	2,517,561	4,305
19	İzmir	Turkey	2,459,474
20	Lisbon	Portugal	2,435,837	1,432.49
21	Budapest	Hungary	2,393,846	2,538
22	Leeds	United Kingdom	2,393,300	5,114
23	Birmingham	United Kingdom	2,357,100	1,598
24	Vienna	Austria	2,179,769	4,610.93
25	Bucharest	Romania	2,140,194	662
26	Prague	Czech Republic	1,964,750	6,977
27	Cologne	Germany	1,873,580	1,626
28	Stockholm	Sweden	1,860,872	6,519
29	Copenhagen	Denmark	1,806,667	2,759
30	Brussels	Belgium	1,800,663	1,613.91
31	Glasgow	United Kingdom	1,747,100	3,346
32	Turin	Italy	1,745,221	1,878.97
33	Lyon	France	1,717,300	5,997.68
34	Belgrade	Serbia	1,683,962	514
35	Valencia	Spain	1,564,145	1,440.58
36	Dublin	Republic of Ireland	1,535,446
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	3,424.2
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	3,889.6
54	Zürich	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
61	Wrocław	Poland	1,031,439	4,582.2
62	Poznań	Poland	1,018,511	3,719.2
63	Gothenburg	Sweden	1,015,974	3,694.86
64	Bristol	United Kingdom	1,006,600	1,635
65	Riga	Latvia	1,003,949	5,382.5

List of functional urban areas

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. 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.

  Areas outside of the European Union

Functional urban area	Country	OECD Population (2014)	Eurostat Population (2006)	Eurostat Population (2016)
Amsterdam metropolitan area	Netherlands	2,452,659	2,497,000	2,771,661
Antwerp	Belgium	1,081,904	1,406,000	1,100,139
Athens	Greece	3,535,055	3,761,000	3,863,763
Barcelona metropolitan area	Spain	3,846,697	4,082,000	5,445,616
Berlin	Germany	4,399,542	4,016,000	5,005,216
Bilbao	Spain	1,013,805	947,000	1,025,109
Birmingham (West Midlands)	United Kingdom	1,957,078	3,701,107	2,332,629
Bordeaux	France	1,175,699	No data	1,244,264
Bremen	Germany	1,027,192	1,077,000	1,244,363
Bristol	United Kingdom	836,621	1,041,000	1,090,080
Brussels-Capital Region	Belgium	2,588,102	2,639,000	2,625,525
Bucharest metropolitan area	Romania	2,402,530	2,158,558	2,403,107
Budapest metropolitan area	Hungary	2,879,601	2,523,000	2,993,948
Cardiff	United Kingdom	664,861	1,097,000	1,085,526
Copenhagen	Denmark	2,025,171	1,881,000	1,893,010
Dublin Metropolitan Area	Ireland	1,836,119	1,261,332	1,263,035
Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Region	Germany	2,533,311	2,764,000	2,573,745
Gdańsk	Poland	1,105,467	No data	1,141,954
Greater Glasgow	United Kingdom	967,101	1,395,000	1,789,003
Metropolitan Gothenburg	Sweden	1,015,974	No data	1,006,548
The Hague	Netherlands	906,897	1,404,000	1,070,027
Hamburg Metropolitan Region	Germany	3,008,841	2,983,000	3,173,871
Hanover	Germany	1,217,511	No data	1,300,687
Helsinki Metropolitan Area	Finland	1,498,050	1,285,000	1,532,309
Katowice metropolitan area	Poland	2,589,349	3,029,000	2,743,929
Kraków metropolitan area	Poland	1,362,740	1,236,000	1,276,438
West Yorkshire (Leeds – Bradford)	United Kingdom	1,774,552	2,302,000	2,238,127
Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai	France/  Belgium	1,363,465	1,379,000	2,572,374
Lisbon metropolitan area	Portugal	3,039,662	2,791,000	2,839,908
Liverpool/Birkenhead	United Kingdom	954,181	2,241,000	1,352,000
Łódź	Poland	939,568	1,165,000	1,116,660
London metropolitan area	United Kingdom	11,701,236	13,109,000	12,250,000
Lyon	France	1,960,847	1,669,000	2,188,759
Madrid metropolitan area	Spain	7,079,173	5,263,000	6,378,297
Greater Manchester	United Kingdom	1,935,559	2,556,000	2,615,144
Mannheim	Germany	1,230,276	No data	1,172,821
Marseille	France	1,773,503	1,530,000	1,750,885
Milan metropolitan area	Italy	4,159,854	4,136,000	4,267,946
Munich	Germany	2,965,871	2,665,000	2,808,581
Naples metropolitan area	Italy	4,475,682	4,654,259	4,127,390
Nice	France	865,195	1,082,000	1,017,307
Nottingham-Derby	United Kingdom	863,918	1,614,000	1,927,550
Nuremberg Metropolitan Region	Germany	1,169,367	1,443,000	1,301,504
Greater Oslo	Norway	1,299,955	1,037,000	1,144,883
Ostrava	Czech Republic	no data	no data	1,119,593
Paris metropolitan area	France	12,037,889	13,975,000	12,824,000
Porto Metropolitan Area	Portugal	1,737,829	1,245,000	1,286,111
Portsmouth-Southampton	United Kingdom	594,455	1,547,000	1,498,402
Prague	Czech Republic	1,910,396	1,669,000	2,224,080
Rhein-Nord (Düsseldorf – Neuss)	Germany	1,427,823	3,073,000	1,527,176
Rhein-Süd (Cologne – Bonn)	Germany	1,926,073	3,070,000	3,023,545
Riga	Latvia	No data	1,195,000	1,089,767
Rome metropolitan area	Italy	4,149,364	4,353,738	3,700,000
Rotterdam	Netherlands	1,509,373	1,904,000	1,818,563
Ruhr area	Germany	No data	5,376,000	5,045,784
Saarbrücken – Forbach	Germany/  France	570,479	1,102,000	822,128
Seville	Spain	1,500,644	1,180,000	1,877,060
Sofia	Bulgaria	No data	1,260,120	1,543,377
Metropolitan Stockholm	Sweden	2,018,208	2,171,000	2,034,354^[citation needed]
South Yorkshire (Sheffield)	United Kingdom	920,128	1,569,000	1,596,298
Stuttgart Metropolitan Region	Germany	1,965,942	2,289,000	2,678,795
Thessaloniki metropolitan area	Greece	975,439	1,052,000	1,166,914
Toulouse	France	1,309,149	No data	1,388,978
Turin metropolitan area	Italy	1,774,507	1,601,000	2,302,353
Newcastle-Sunderland	United Kingdom	1,082,729	1,599,000	1,141,879
Valencia	Spain	1,668,153	1,398,000	2,516,818
Vienna	Austria	2,793,631	2,584,000	2,339,807
Warsaw metropolitan area	Poland	3,037,890	2,785,000	3,304,641
Zagreb	Croatia	No data	1,107,115	1,123,374
Zürich metropolitan area	Switzerland	1,246,968	1,615,000	1,984,534

See also

• 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

Notes

1. Part of the Randstad polycentric urban region consisting of the metropolitan areas of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht (982,000). The total population of the region is 7,100,000.
2. The Flemish Diamond metropolitan region, which consists of the metropolitan areas of Brussels, Antwerp, Gent, and Leuven, has a total population of 5,103,000.
3. Total population is 4,251,000 if the metropolitan area of Mataro (169,000) is included.
4. Part of the wider Öresund region, which includes the Swedish metropolitan area of Malmö (961,000). The total regional population is 2,842,000.
5. Part of the Rhein-Main metropolitan region with a total population of 4,149,000, which additionally includes the metropolitan areas of Darmstadt (501,000), Wiesbaden (453,000), and Mainz (431,000).
6. 2014 data
7. 2017 data
8. Part of the polycentric Upper Silesian urban region with a total population of 5,294,000. The region additionally includes the metropolitan areas of Ostrava (1,046,000), Bielsko-Biala (584,000) and Rybnik (526,000).
9. Leeds and Bradford counted separately.
10. Kortrijk not included.
11. Part of the wider Lille- region with a total population of 3,115,000.
12. 2014 data
13. Part of a wider polycentric urban region with a population of 6,011,000.
14. When combined with the Augsburg metropolitan area (606,000), the region has a total population of 3,271,000.
15. Part of a wider polycentric urban region with a population of 3,714,000.
16. 2015
17. Part of a wider polycentric urban region with a population of 1,778,000.
18. Excludes Southampton
19. 2015
20. Polycentric metropolitan area
21. Excludes Neuss.
22. Part of the polycentric urban region of Rhein-Ruhr, which has a total population of 12,190,000.
23. Excludes Bonn which has a population of 750,370
24. Excludes Bonn
25. Essen, Bochum, and Dortmund counted separately.
26. Saarbrücken only
27. Total population is 1,262,000 if the metropolitan area of Utrera (82,000) is included.
28. Total population is 1,716,000 if the metropolitan of Pinerolo is included.
29. Excludes Sunderland
30. Total population is 1,499,000 if the metropolitan area of Sagunto is included.

References

1. "Territorial typologies manual - cities, commuting zones and functional urban areas". Eurostat. Within the Urban Audit, (...) functional urban areas were previously referred to as 'larger urban zones'.
2. Position Statement on Cohesion Policy 2014–2020 Archived 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, EuroMETREX. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
3. "European cities – the EU-OECD functional urban area definition". Eurostat.
4. European Union/FAO/UN-Habitat/OECD/The World Bank (2021). Applying the Degree of Urbanisation — A methodological manual to define cities, towns and rural areas for international comparisons — 2021 edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. p. 52. doi:10.2785/706535. ISBN 978-92-76-20306-3.
5. "What is the Urban Audit?". Urban Audit. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009.
6. "Territorial typologies manual - cities, commuting zones and functional urban areas". Eurostat. The main building blocks are data for 1 km² population grid cells. […] The typology for functional urban areas is established at the level of local administrative units (LAUs). Once all grid cells have been classified and urban centres identified, the next step concerns overlaying these results onto LAUs […]
7. "City statistics – Urban audit". Eurostat. 2006. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009.
8. "The shift of Eurostat to Urban Statistics". Dr. Berthold Feldmann, Eurostat. March 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2006.
9. "Résumé statistique (Marseille-Aix-en-Provence)" (PDF). www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011.
10. https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094843/http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999004.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2016. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094905/http://www.statistiques-locales.insee.fr/Fiches/RS/AU1999/RS_AU1999006.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2016. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
12. Lewis Dijkstra, Hugo Poelman (1 March 2012). Cities in Europe - The new OECD-EC definition (PDF) (Report). p. 2. Retrieved 8 June 2024. 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.
13. European Union/FAO/UN-Habitat/OECD/The World Bank (2021). Applying the Degree of Urbanisation — A methodological manual to define cities, towns and rural areas for international comparisons — 2021 edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. p. 3. doi:10.2785/706535. ISBN 978-92-76-20306-3.
14. Data for 2001 (2004 data not yet available)
15. "OECD Populations in cities". OECD. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
16. "Urban Audit Database". Urbanaudit.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
17. European Spatial Planning Observation Network, Study on Urban Functions (Project 1.4.3) Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Final Report, Chapter 3, (ESPON, 2007)
18. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en ^{[bare URL]}

External links

• GMES Urban Atlas: PDF files, ZIP files
• OECD: Population statistics on Cities and their FUAs
• Eurostat: Population statistics on functional urban areas
• Eurostat: European cities
• Eurostat: Total population in Urban Audit cities, Larger Urban Zone