This is a list of all the urban areas of the European Union which have more than 750,000 inhabitants in 2005.
This list is an attempt to present a consistent list of population figures for urban areas in the European Union. Many of the figures here have been compiled by a research group at the University of Avignon, France, using a uniform definition but a considerable part of the figures have different sources, therefore one has to be careful when using this list to make comparisons between urban areas. The list was designed in 2000, and some of the figures for 2005 presented here have been calculated by grossing up the 2000 figures using the respective 1990-2000 population growth rates and some figures for 2005 come from different sources. It is possible that a few urban areas may have experienced a different growth pattern since 2000, and more importantly that because of urban sprawl some urban areas have become connected since, therefore the "2005 update" of this list should be interpreted with the necessary care.
Contents
1Important notes
2Urban areas of the European Union above 750,000 inhabitants
2.1Notes
3EFTA countries
4Five fastest growing urban areas of the European Union
5Five fastest declining urban areas of the European Union
6Sources
7References
8See also
Important notes
This is a list of urban areas, not a list of metropolitan areas. Urban areas are contiguous built-up areas where houses are not more than 200 metres apart (discounting rivers, parks, roads, industrial fields, etc.). A metropolitan area is an urban area plus the satellite cities around the urban area and the agricultural land in between. Yet, sometimes the metropolitan area of a city may also be smaller than the urban area. The list below contains for instance the urban area of Lille-Kortrijk. Geographically it may be a continuously built-up area, however both cities speak a different language, belong to different countries and have a different culture and hence there is only limited interaction between both cities. Therefore the metropolitan area of Lille will be smaller than the Lille - Kortrijk urban area. For a ranking of the European metropolitan areas, see Largest European metropolitan areas.
This is a list of urban areas, not a list of cities. The list below contains for instance the urban area of Lille-Kortrijk. Lille and Kortrijk remain two very distinct cities, each belonging to a different country, culture and language area. For a list of the largest cities of the European Union by population, please see Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits.
This is not a harmonized list, as the University of Avignon, France, has not calculated each of the urban areas on the list. Unfortunately Eurostat does not calculate the urban areas of the European Union. Yet Eurostat and the European Commission - for the purposes of their urban audits [1] - use the definition of Larger Urban Zone, which defines the area that constitutes the functional city. In addition, Eurostat and the European Commission have defined two further spatial levels, being the City Level and Sub-City District. All National Statistics Offices in the European Union have agreed on these new definitions since 2003. See "Largest cities and metropolitan areas in the European Union (Eurostat)" for a harmonized ranking of cities and metropolitan areas in the European Union using the definitions of Eurostat and the European Commission.
The study of urban areas is useful to analyze how cities develop, which in turn can be used to define transportation, planning and environmental policies, to adjust administrative boundaries etc. At the same time its limitations have to be acknowledged. It is a purely geographic study and disregards all other factors that contribute to the analyzis of the functional city. For instance, several cities in the European Union such as Brussels and London have introduced green belts which impacts the urban area but not the "perceived city" as these green belts have now become integrated in what people consider to be the functional city. Furthermore the list does not make a difference between cities that have multiple satellites and cities that do not. Therefore two cities with the same demographics for their urban area will have an equal ranking on this list, even if one of the two cities may be much larger as it is the core of a number of satellites.
Please do not be surprised if you are used to higher figures for the cities listed below. London is sometimes listed with 14 million inhabitants, Stuttgart is frequently listed with 2.2 million inhabitants, Munich with 2 million or more, etc. This is because figures here are only for urban areas, which can be smaller than metropolitan areas. Also do not be surprised if you are used to lower figures for some of the cities listed below as the metropolitan area can be smaller than the urban area. Urban areas can be computed by private people or institutions using maps and looking where the built-up area stops. Metropolitan areas, which imply much more complicated definitions (such as the proportion of people in satellite cities working in the core of the metropolitan area), can be accurately computed only by statistical offices, after they have chosen a definition for metropolitan areas.
Urban areas of the European Union above 750,000 inhabitants
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