GEMACA II
The Functional Urban Regions
What and why?
What are they?
Why define them
Method
What we can learn
Who likes NUTS?
• The economy organises itself on economic
regions
– International companies want access to
communications; labour; infrastructure
– Property developers  property markets
– Economic development  economic regions
– Policy makers need valid comparative measures
…………………………………..
• Multinationals in S E
England? most
important factor –
access to Heathrow
• Dot.com clusters in
Paris & London? most
important factors –
– 1) access to public
transport
– 2) high capacity
internet connections
• Returns from
property? Future
expected rents:
determined by
economic conditions
within economic
region
• Regional prosperity?
GDP per cap. But
– GDP measured at
workplace
– People counted where the
live
 Self-containment
GDP p.c. for different Londons 1998: EU15 = 100
Greater London
157.4
Inner London
250.6
Inner London -West
461.9
Inner London - East
129.1
Outer London
250.6
461.9
129.1
99.4
99.4
Outer London
Outer
London
– East
– East
& North
& N.East
East
77.8
Outer London – South
95.3
Outer London – South
Outer London – West & North West
Outer London – W. & N. West
South East
source: REGIO
157.4
South East
77.8
95.3
120.9
120.9
116
116
Some NUTS are Cities…….
• NUTS are an uneasy amalgam of national
traditions: so are our national traditions….
• NUTS 1 = Länder, ZEAT, Groups of Comunidades
Autónomas, Standard Regions……
• We have national conceptions of ‘City’: Stadt,
Municipality, Agglomération…..
But apply ‘agglomération’ to Belgium & just one city
• No consistency: no comparability
• In the USA (Standard) Metropolitan Statistical Areas
• Data since 1940
So what are Functional Urban
Regions?
• Concentrations of employment + spheres of
economic influence defined by commuting
• No uniquely right ‘rules’: GEMACA tried several:
looked for consistency & comparability
• Sets of contiguous units with 7+ jobs per ha &
20 000+ jobs = Core
• Sets of units with 10% commuting to core =
hinterland
• ‘Enclaves’ & ‘Bridging’
• Total population 1 million+
• Monocentric & Polycentric FURs
The Functional Urban Regions in N-W Europe
The London FUR & NUTS
Uk_london_fur_mu
Uk_london_fur_fur
Regio_europe_nut
The Paris FUR & NUTS
The difference boundaries make:
Some FURS which are also NUTS
1991 Population
GDP pc @ PPS
%Change 1981-91
FUR
NUTS
FUR
NUTS
FUR-NUTS
Bremen
1272
682
58.2
80.7
-22.5
Hamburg
2806
1645
64.2
84.7
-20.5
Ile de France /Paris
10624
10740
102.1
87.1
15.0
Brussel /Bruxelles
3399
960
73.4
92.9
-19.5
Greater London
8757
6871
114.0
95.2
18.8
London & Paris: constant 1971
boundaries
London
Paris
1951*
1961*
1971*
1981*
1991*
1997*
Core
% growth
6417.0
6134.7
-4.4
5593.9
-8.8
4902.6
-12.4
4639.2
-5.4
…
Hinterland
% growth
3384.1
3840.1
13.5
4186.1
9.0
4146.9
-0.9
4117.3
-0.7
…
FUR
% growth
9801.1
9974.8
1.8
9780.0
-2.0
9049.5
-7.5
8756.5
-3.2
9038.3
3.2
Core
% growth
6076.7
7358.2
21.1
8380.5
13.9
8332.3
-0.6
8574.5
2.9
…
Hinterland
% growth
728.7
843.8
15.8
1122.9
33.1
1740.7
55.0
2049.3
17.7
…
FUR
% growth
6805.5
8202.0
20.5
9503.3
15.9
10073.1
6.0
10623.8
5.5
10907.8
2.7
1971 to 1991 Paris grows & London
expands
Population in 1991 '000s
FUR71
GEMACA
FUR91
London
Built-up Area
7843.2
core
4639.2
6125.5
hinterland
4117.3
6393.8
FUR
growth 1981-91%
8756.5
-3.2
12519.3
1.9
Paris
9516.3
core
8574.5
7898.0
hinterland
2049.3
3520.0
FUR
growth 1982-90%
10623.8
5.5
11418.0
6.3
The GEMACA FURS of NW Europe
FUR
London
RheinRhur
Paris
Randstad
RheinMain
Brussel/Bruxelles
Birmingham
Manchester
Dublin
Lille
Glasgow
Antwerpen
Liverpool
Edinburgh
Year of
observation
1997
1997
1999
1998
1997
1999
Population
(million)
13.2
11.7
11.8
6.8
4.0
3.7
% of country
1997
1997
1996
1999
1997
1999
1997
1997
3.1
2.7
1.3
1.9
1.8
1.5
1.4
0.8
5
5
37
N/A
3
15
2
1
22
14
21
44
5
36
Why we need functionally defined
cities – II: urban development
• In France –contiguous but compact  so
functional approximates agglomération
• Netherlands – protecting the ‘Green Heart’
• Britain – ‘urban containment’
leapfrogging to exurbia
• Belgium – low density
Conclusion
• Economies & societies built out of FURs
• NUTS are hugely varied:
– Inner London, Bruxelles, Hamburg (but not
Frankfurt!), Ile de France…..
– But politicians represent them: & like them
• Need FURs - even to compare size or
prosperity
• Certainly need FURs if we are to compare
competitiveness: economic regions