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The aire urbaine is an INSEE (the national statistics office of France) statistical region comprising a couronne périurbaine commuter belt around a contiguous pôle urbain (urban core). As it is specifically defined by statistical criteria, it is similar--though not identical--to the more general term of "urban area" used in English.
The aire urbaine is a demographic unit the result of a quite literal methodology: drawn upon France's nation-wide map of interlocking commune municipalities, the aire urbaine has for its centre a pôle urbain (similar to a unité urbaine ("urban unit") - see note below) core of communes containing an interconnecting and unbroken urban growth; this centre forms a "pole of attraction" for a couronne périurbaine ("periurban ring" or commuter belt) communes having at least 40% of their resident populations commuting with the pôle urbain, or with other communes having the same relation to the pôle urbain. The result is a precise demographic map of a) a centre of urban growth and b) its socio-economic reach into the surrounding area.
Note: There is a slight difference between a unité urbaine and a pôle urbain : the basic unité urbaine is a contiguous urban growth containing at least 5,000 jobs, and the pôle urbain is the same as a centre of demographic growth; that is to say it is an urban area that it is not contained within the couronne périurbaine (commuter belt) of any other pôle urbain.
The following is a list of the fifteen largest aires urbaines of France based on population at the 1999 census:
| Aire urbaine | Population (March 1999) |
Yearly percent change (1990-1999) |
|---|---|---|
|
01- Paris |
11,174,743 | +0.32% |
|
02- Lyon |
1,648,216 | +0.68% |
|
03- Marseille |
1,516,340 | +0.46% |
| 04- Lille (figures do not include the part of Lille's metropolitan area which lies on Belgian territory) |
1,143,125 | +0.32% |
|
05- Toulouse |
964,797 | +1.54% |
|
06- Nice |
933,080 | +0.51% |
|
07- Bordeaux |
925,253 | +0.67% |
|
08- Nantes |
711,120 | +1.10% |
| 09- Strasbourg (figures do not include the part of Strasbourg's metropolitan area which lies on German territory, see Eurodistrict) |
612,104 | +0.81% |
|
10- Toulon |
564,823 | +0.69% |
| 552,682 | – 0.17% | |
|
12- Rennes |
521,188 | +1.32% |
|
13- Rouen |
518,316 | +0.29% |
|
14- Grenoble |
514,559 | +0.65% |
|
15- Montpellier |
459,916 | +1.89% |
See also
- List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants (1999 census)
- Social situation in the French suburbs
- Demographics of France
- List of the largest urban areas of the European Union by population
- Unité urbaine a related concept
External links
- (French) Audio book (mp3) of the introduction and first chapter of Éric Maurin's book : Le ghetto français, enquête sur le séparatisme social
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 31 October 2008, at 14:52.
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