REGIOgis Urban Land Use lessons from the Urban

REGIOgis Urban Land Use: lessons from the Urban Atlas Lewis Dijkstra Deputy Head of the Analysis Unit European Commission – DG Regional Policy Lewis. Dijkstra@ec. europa. eu 1

REGIOgis Overview • New grid based definitions – Urban-rural regional typology: Urban clusters – Degree of urbanisation – Cities and hinterland: High-density clusters and commuting zones • Measuring urban land use – CORINE – Soil sealing – Urban Atlas 2

REGIOgis A new urban-rural regional typology • Classifying EU NUTS 3 regions • A variant of the OECD methodology • Aiming to provide a consistent basis for describing urban, intermediate and rural regions in various Commission reports and publications • Developed by: – – DG Agriculture and Rural Development DG Regional Policy Eurostat DG Joint Research Centre 3

REGIOgis Why a new typology? • Distortions using the OECD methodology at NUTS 3 level – Large variation in area of local administrative units (LAU 2) – Large variation in area of NUTS 3 regions – Some city centres separated from surroundings, at NUTS 3 level 4

REGIOgis The new typology: local level • Units: 1 km² grid cells • Population grid: registered population when available, otherwise disaggregation grid (JRC) • Identify population living in urban areas: – Selection of grid cells with density > 300 inh. /km² – Only groups of grid cells, representing a total population of > 5000 inhabitants – Contiguity is evaluated including diagonals 5

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REGIOgis What is degree of urbanisation? • Classification of all LAU 2 s into three categories: – Thinly populated – Intermediate density – Densely populated • It is used primarily in the Labour Force Survey (LFS), but also in other surveys such as Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) and IT • It is based on LAU 2 density and contiguity • In use for 20 years 10

REGIOgis Why a revision? • Distortions due to the large variation in area of local administrative units (LAU 2) • Revised urban-rural typology is based on a grid based definition of rural areas which is more reliable than OECD or LFS approach • Harmonising spatial concepts – Rural (OECD) and thinly populated areas (LFS) – Densely populated areas (LFS) and cities (UA) 11

REGIOgis Previously: 3 conflicting definitions Urban-Rural Typology Rural LAU 2 Degree of urbanisation ≠ Urban Audit Thinly populated Intermediate density Densely populated ≠ Cities 12

REGIOgis New Proposal: Harmonised definition based on population grid Revised Degree of urbanisaton Thinly populated Rural LAU 2 Intermediate density Densely populated Urban Audit Cities 13

REGIOgis New Proposal: 3 Criteria 3 Classes Type of Area Criteria Thinly populated > 50% population in rural grid cells Intermediate density <50% population in rural grid cells and <50% population in high-density grid cells Densely populated > 50% population in high-density grid cells 14

REGIOgis Definitions • Rural grid cells = cells outside urban clusters • Urban clusters = contiguous (including diagonals) cells with a density of at least 300 inhab/km 2 and a minimum of 5 000 inhabitants • High-density clusters = contiguous (without diagonals and with gap filling) cells with a density of at least 1500 inhab/km 2 and a minimum of 50 000 inhabitants 15

REGIOgis Population grid • Units: 1 km² grid cells (future reference for all population grids) • Registered population in NO, CH, HR, AT, FI, SE, DK and NL • Elsewhere disaggregation grid v 5 (JRC) • FR is creating a real 1 km 2 population grid 16

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REGIOgis City and hinterland definition 20

REGIOgis Why a new definition? • No harmonised European definition of a city and its functional area existed • Use the same criteria as the degree of urbanisation • Uses commuting analysis to define commuting zone • Consider poly-centricity by checking for connected centres 21

REGIOgis City definition • A city consists of one or more municipalities (local administrative unit level 2 LAU 2). • At least half of the city residents live in an urban centre (i. e. a cluster of high-density grid cells with the gaps filled) • An urban centre has at least 50 000 inhabitants. 22

REGIOgis City definition 23

REGIOgis Hinterland definition • If 15% of employed persons living in one city work in another city, these cities are combined into a single destination (polycentric) • All municipalities with at least 15% of their employed residents working in a city are identified • Municipalities surrounded by a single functional area are included and non-contiguous municipalities are dropped 24

REGIOgis Hinterland definition 25

REGIOgis Urban Land Use 26

REGIOgis Goal and obstacles • Accurately measure urban land use, especially at the urban fringe • CORINE is designed to mainly measure agricultural uses, coarse resolution and does not identify low-density developed (i. e. below 50% of soil sealing) • Soil sealing, high resolution and measures all levels of sealing, but no land use info 27

REGIOgis The Urban Atlas • Designed to measure urban land use at high resolution and at low levels of soil sealing • Providing harmonised land cover/land use maps according to a common classification • Covering 305 major European agglomerations, based on Urban Audit’s Larger Urban Zones • Imagery reference year: 2006 (+/- 1 year) • Project duration: 2009 -2011 28

REGIOgis Main features • Thematic classes based on CORINE Land Cover nomenclature • But more specific for built-up areas, and less specific outside urban areas • Geometric resolution of 1: 10, 000 • Minimum mapping unit of 0. 25 ha in urban areas, 1 ha in other areas 29

REGIOgis CORINE Land Cover 30

REGIOgis Urban Atlas 31

REGIOgis SPOT / ALOS images 32

REGIOgis Production • Mix of automatic classification and photointerpretation • Various data sources used, depending on thematic classes 33

REGIOgis Thematic classes • Residential areas: use of soil sealing layer to distinguish between density classes 34

REGIOgis Thematic classes • Non-residential urban areas • Detailed transport network layer (COTS) • Local maps as auxiliary source of information 35

REGIOgis Thematic classes • Other classes • Less thematic detail for agricultural, natural and forest areas (and MMU 1 ha) 36

REGIOgis Dissemination • Georeferenced layers are freely available • Data download: http: //www. eea. europa. eu/data-andmaps/data/urban-atlas • Map viewer: http: //dataservice. eea. europa. eu/map/Urban. Atlas beta/ 37

REGIOgis Derived indicators • Can be exploited at the level of Urban Audit units: – Larger Urban Zone (LUZ), kernel, city, sub-city districts (SCD) • Land cover/use surface breakdown • Green urban areas per inhabitant • A sprawl index (ESPON project): www. espon. eu 38

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REGIOgis The future of the Urban Atlas • Repeat Urban Atlas in order to create a detailed dynamic view on urban land cover/use • Coherence with other data collection projects is important – Census 2011 – Urban Audit • Consequences – Define imagery acquisition requirements (2011 +/- year) – Update methodology, including change detection, to be determined – Ensure compatibility with revised Urban Audit following new harmonised definition 43