Doc E4/REG/2003/05

/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROSTAT
Directorate E: Agriculture, fisheries, Structural Funds and environment statistics
Unit E-4: Regional accounts /

Working Party on “Regional and Urban Statistics”
Meeting of 3-5 December 2003 in Luxembourg,
BECH building, room quetelet

Document E4/REG/2003/05

Urban tables in the SIRE database

European Commission, L-2920 Luxembourg. BECH building

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Doc E4/REG/2003/05

Urban tables in the SIRE database

Introduction

This document gives an overview of the collection of urban data for the SIRE project. The need for separate data for urban areas arises from the fact that the LAU (Local Administrative Units) are not defined in such a way as to separate urban and rural areas. In some countries, such as in the UK, Ireland and Portugal, all major cities are subdivided into a large number of LAU level 2 units (wards, freguesias etc.). In France, the communes are in many cases too small to cover a whole urban area. On the other hand, countries like Belgium, Denmark and Sweden have rather large municipalities which generally cover an urban core as well as surrounding rural areas and small villages. To use the LAU as a proxy for urban areas is thus very problematical.

Provision for urban tables

In addition to the general Community programme of Population and Housing Censuses in 2001, there is a questionnaire of two tables on urban areas. Although the Census Table Programme contains much regional data, there is no table providing data on urban areas and urban agglomerations.

On the basis of a country inquiry, a proposal was made to the Working Party on Demography and Population and Housing Censuses on 22 - 23 February 2001 to add to the Census Table Programme two tables on urban areas. It was agreed that tables 38 and 39 of the Table Programme would also be produced according to urban areas. These tables become, in effect, tables 41 and 42 of the Community Census Table Programme.

The concept of urban area to be used, and instructions on how to fill in the attached table outlines, are in the two annexes.

Collection of urban tables

The deadline for the transmission to Eurostat of census data, including the 2 additional tables for urban areas, was 30 June 2003. As of November, we have received the urban tables from the following countries:

Cyprus

Hungary

Portugal

Sweden

All other countries are missing! Delegates are asked to remind their colleagues in the census units to send the tables 41 and 42 for urban areas to Eurostat. The email address for population census transmissions is:

(NOTE: STADIUM may also be used)

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Doc E4/REG/2003/05

ANNEX 1:Census tables for urban areas

Data collection

In the table outlines, table 41 is divided into 5 sheets (41a, 41b, 41c, 41d, 41e) including 7 sub-tables. Look carefully at the contents of the sheets. Table outlines are filled by devoting one row to each urban area (as defined below). After the data columns (i.e.to the right of the last data column), NUTS5 codes and population shares (in whole percentages) of each NUTS5 region associated with the urban area, are added as follows:

CODE (1),SHARE(1);CODE(2),SHARE(2);….etc.

If, for a very large agglomeration, the space on the row is not sufficient, please write a reference to a separate worksheet. In the separate worksheet (in this case, use one worksheet for each large agglomeration) you can list the (partially) constituent NUTS 5 units vertically.

Concept of urban area

The concept of urban area is based on the concept of locality, which has been defined in the UNECE/Eurostat recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region (see appendix). According to this definition, a locality is a continuous built-up area where the distance between buildings is not more than 200 meters (with the exception of some public and infrastructural areas closely connected to the built-up area, such as parks, roads, industrial zones, etc.). For practical delineation of an urban area, the size of locality is determined to be at least 2000 inhabitants (which is the limit between urban and rural areas as recommended in the UN census recommendation).

Use of localities in forming urban areas

There are three possible situations with regard to the relationship between localities and NUTS 5 level regional units:

a)One NUTS 5 level unit can contain one or several localities;

b)One locality can contain one or more NUTS 5 level units, and/or parts of them, but has only one population centre.

c)One locality can contain one or more NUTS 5 level units, and/or parts of them, but has two or more population centres.

We now need to define population centre . In case a), the population centre is the largest locality within the NUTS 5 area (if there are two or more equally large localities, the population center is the one which contains the administrative centre of the region). In the case b), the population centre is the NUTS 5 level area with the largest population within the locality. In cases a) and b), locality = urban area.

The situation is illustrated in figure 1.

Figure 1: Three types of locality/NUTS 5 relations

(squares of grid represent NUTS 5 regions and areas bounded by an irregular line represent localities)

a) One NUTS 5 region contains one or more localities

urban area = locality

1 2

centre

b) One locality can contain one ore more NUTS 5 regions and/or parts of them

urban area = locality

centre

c) Locality can contain several NUTS 5 regions and/or their parts and have several population centres

urban area 1 urban area 2

Centre 1centre 2

The case c) requires further clarification of population centre and urban area. In the European Union, there are vast urban agglomerations, which in pure technical terms are single localities and which have not one clear population centre but several. Basically, in fact, the population centre is a functional centre of a region (eg; in terms of economic activities etc.). So, in case c), a population centre is identified as a NUTS 5 area attracting travel-to-work flows from the surrounding NUTS 5 regions. It is reasonable to divide such a multi-centered locality into several urban areas, each with one population centre, and delineated as a “travel to work area”. In effect, in the case c), urban areas are clusters of NUTS 5 regions and/or their parts within one locality.

If the data cannot be provided according the concept described above, please, use some approximation described in the appendix.

ANNEX 2 Recommendations for the concept of Locality

The concept of urban area is based on the concept of locality, which has been defined in the UNECE/Eurostat recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region:

« 44. For census purposes, a locality is defined as a distinct population cluster, that is, the population living in neighbouring buildings which either:

(a) form a continuous built-up area with a clearly recognizable street formation; or
(b) though not part of such a built-up area, form a group to which a locally recognized place name is uniquely attached; or
(c) though not coming within either of the above two requirements constitute a group, none of which is separated from its nearest neighbour by more than 200 metres.

45. In applying this definition, certain land-use categories should not be regarded as breaking the continuity of a built-up area (and accordingly should not be counted in applying the 200-metre criterion above). These categories are: industrial and commercial buildings and facilities, public parks, playgrounds and gardens, football fields and other sports facilities, bridged rivers, railway lines, canals, parking lots and other transport infrastructure, churchyards and cemeteries, etc.

46. This definition is intended to provide general guidance to countries in identifying localities and in determining their boundaries, and it may need to be adapted in accordance with national conditions and practices. The population not living in clusters as defined above may be described as living in scattered buildings. The definition of a locality adopted for the census should be given in detail in the census report.

47. Localities as defined above should not be confused with the smallest civil divisions of a country. In some cases, the two may coincide. In others, however, even the smallest civil division may contain two or more localities. On the other hand, some large cities or towns may contain two or more civil divisions, which should be considered only segments of a single locality rather than separate localities.

48. Countries are recommended to develop their census statistics for localities in accordance with national needs and possibilities. In doing so, they should try to approach as closely as possible the concept of the population cluster as defined above. Countries which tabulate statistics only for civil divisions should, as a minimum, endeavour to compile data on the total population of each part of a civil division containing a population cluster, or part of a population cluster, of at least 2,000 inhabitants and so provide a basis for making a more clear-cut distinction between urban and rural areas and populations « .

« For national purposes as well as for international comparability, the most appropriate unit of classification for distinguishing urban and rural areas is the locality as defined in paragraph 39 However, it is left to countries to decide whether to use the locality or the smallest civil division as the unit of classification.

51. Countries which use the smallest civil division as the unit are encouraged to endeavour to obtain results which correspond as closely as possible with those obtained by countries which use the locality as the unit. The approach to be adopted to achieve this aim depends mainly on the nature of the smallest civil divisions in the countries concerned. In some countries the smallest civil divisions are relatively small in area and in average number of inhabitants and generally do not contain more than one population cluster (or part of a larger population cluster). If it is not feasible for some of these countries to use the locality as the unit, they are encouraged to make use of the concept of the multi-communal agglomeration (i.e. to treat as single units groups of two or more contiguous minor civil divisions which form part of the same population cluster). It is also suggested that minor civil divisions at the periphery of such an agglomeration be included in the agglomeration if the major part of their resident populations live in areas belonging to the continuous built-up area of the agglomeration, .. »

“52. The situation is different, however, in the case of countries in which the smallest civil divisions are relatively large in area and in average number of inhabitants and often contain two or more population clusters of varying sizes. If it is not feasible for some of these countries to use the locality as the unit, they should endeavour to use units smaller than minor civil divisions for this purpose, e.g. parishes, enumeration districts, grid squares, etc. They should endeavour to use these smaller units as building blocks and to aggregate them so as to correspond as closely as possible with the boundaries of localities in the same way as described above in the case of multi-communal agglomerations. “

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