|
The Urban Audit works with three different spatial levels: the city, the larger
urban zone (LUZ) and the sub-city district (SCD).
The City Level
The most important is the city level. To ensure that this level is directly
relevant to policy makers and politicians, political boundaries were used to
define the city level.
In many countries these boundaries are clearly established and well-known. As a
result, for most cities the boundary used in the Urban Audit corresponds to the
general perception of that city.
Due to the highly diverse nature of political boundaries in the European Union,
for some cities the political boundary does not correspond to the general
perception of that city. In a few cities, Dublin for example, the political
boundary of the city is narrower than the general perception of that city.
|
The Larger Urban Zone
The larger urban zone (LUZ) allows a comparison between the city and its
surroundings. The goal was to have an area from a significant share of the
resident commute into the city, a concept known as the “functional urban
region”. To ensure a good data availability, the Urban Audit works with
administrative boundaries that approximate the functional urban region.
For some of the smaller cities, a larger urban zone was not created: Frankfurt
an der Oder, Mönchengladbach, Wuppertal, Cayenne, Fort-de-France,
Pointe-á-Pitre, Saint-Denis, Galway, Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Funchal, Ponta
Delgada, Setubal and Derry. For three large French cities no larger urban zone
could be constructed as the city boundaries already included the surroundings:
Marseille, Nice and Saint-Etienne.
The Sub-City District
To analyse the disparities within cities, the Urban Audit cities have been
divided in sub-city districts. To ensure that these districts can be compared,
they had to comply with strict population thresholds: minimum 5 000 inhabitants
and maximum 40 000 inhabitants. Almost all sub-city districts comply with these
thresholds. Nine cities were too small to be divided into sub-city districts:
Galway, Ancona, Campobasso, Caserta, Catanzaro, l’Aquila, Perugia, Pescara and
Linz.
London and Paris
For London and Paris, the territorial level for which there is a mayor, i.e.
Greater London and la Ville de Paris, does not yield comparable spatial units.
Greater London has a population of 7.2 million in-habitants, whereas la Ville
de Paris only has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants.
To facilitate better comparison between the two largest cities in Europe and
with other large cities, an additional city level was created for both cities.
For London, a smaller city level, called “Inner London,” was created which is
roughly comparable to la Ville de Paris in terms of size. “Inner London”
consists of the City of London and the twelve most central boroughs: Camden,
Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Kensington &
Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster.
Greater London and Inner London have the same larger urban zone.
For Paris, a larger city level, called “Paris et petite couronne,” was
constructed which is roughly comparable to Greater London. “Paris et petite
couronne” includes the city of Paris and the three surrounding départements:
Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. La Ville de Paris and Paris
et petite couronne have the same larger urban zone.
|
Small City Level |
Large City Level |
London |
Inner London 2.8 million inhabitants |
Greater London 7.2 million inhabitants |
Paris |
La Ville de Paris 2.1 million inhabitants
|
Paris et petite couronne 6.2 million inhabitants |
|