ESPON metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom
A metropolitan area is generally defined as consisting of an urban area, conurbation or agglomeration, together with the surrounding area to which it is closely economically and socially integrated through commuting.
The European Union's ESPON project defined a harmonised series of metropolitan areas across Europe, made up of two components: Morphological Urban Areas (MUAs), which are similar to urban areas that form the densely populated urban cores of metropolitan areas, and Functional Urban Areas (FUAs), which form the labour basin surrounding Morphological Urban Areas.[1]
Morphological Urban Areas were calculated by combining contiguous local administrative units with population densities greater than 650 inhabitants per square kilometre, with Functional Urban Areas then being calculated by combining surrounding local administrative units where 10% or more of the workforce works within the core Morphological Urban Area.[2]
According to the harmonised European definition, there were eighteen metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom with populations of more than 500,000 at the time of the 2001 census.
This article lists the UK metropolitan areas defined by ESPON, which excluded combined conurbations such as the Liverpool-Manchester megalopolis, which (in 2001) had a combined population of 5.6 million.[3] It also excluded city regions such as those formed in Greater Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, which are typically areas covered by a combined authority.
Metropolitan areas in the UK
In 2001, there were 46 metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom with a populations in the range 150,000 to 25 million inhabitants, according to the ESPON project, with the following population distribution:
Summary
| Category | Populations (2011) | Count |
|---|---|---|
| A | 12.8 – 25 million | 1 |
| B | 6.4 – 12.8 million | 0 |
| C | 3.2 – 6.4 million | 1 |
| D | 1.6 – 3.2 million | 3 |
| E | 0.8 – 1.6 million | 7 |
| F | 0.4 – 0.8 million | 9 |
| Gi | 0.2 – 0.4 million | 19 |
| Gii | <0.2 million | ~6 |
| Total | 46 | |
Source
List by population (2001 data)
Source[4]
| Rank | Metropolitan area | Population (2001) | Morphological Urban Areas within metropolitan area (population) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 13,709,000 | London (8,265,000), Southend (291,000), Chatham (231,000), Luton–Dunstable (216,000), Reading (216,000), Aldershot–Farnborough (174,000), Woking (124,000), Basildon (113,000), Slough (112,000), High Wycombe (100,000), Crawley (99,000), Bracknell–Ascot (96,000), Harlow (87,000), Chelmsford (76,000), Hemel Hempstead (68,000), Maidstone (65,000), Maidenhead (59,000), St. Albans (59,000), Basingstoke (55,000), Aylesbury (49,000), Stevenage (49,000), Sittingbourne (42,000), Wokingham (42,000), Tunbridge Wells (39,000), Sandhurst–Yateley (37,000), Guildford (34,000), Windsor (33,000), Bishop's Stortford (31,000), Letchworth (28,000), Horsham (27,000), East Grinstead (26,000), Burgess Hill (24,000), Sevenoaks (24,000), Haywards Heath (22,000), Hitchin (21,000), Tonbridge (20,000) |
| 2 | Birmingham metropolitan area | 3,683,000 | Birmingham–Wolverhampton (2,363,000), Coventry (308,000), Nuneaton (87,000), Warwick–Leamington (71,000), Redditch (61,000), Bromsgrove (25,000), Tamworth (21,000) |
| 3 | Manchester metropolitan area | 2,556,000 | Greater Manchester Urban Area (2,207,000), Macclesfield (59,000) |
| 4 | Leeds–Bradford metropolitan area | 2,302,000 | Leeds (534,000), Bradford (341,000), Huddersfield (219,000), Halifax–Queensbury (155,000), Wakefield (111,000), Castleford–Pontefract (102,000), Harrogate (60,000), Dewsbury (36,000) |
| 5 | Liverpool/Birkenhead metropolitan area | 2,241,000 | Liverpool/Birkenhead (1,170,000), Wigan/Ashton (220,000), Warrington (168,000), Widnes/Runcorn (121,000), Chester (58,000), Southport (44,000), Ellesmere Port (40,000), Ormskirk (24,000), Skelmersdale (20,000) |
| 6 | Tyneside metropolitan area | 1,599,000 | Newcastle (814,000), Sunderland (270,000), Blyth–Cramlington (55,000), Peterlee (42,000), Ashington (27,000), Seaham (24,000), Chester-le-Street (23,000) |
| 7 | Sheffield metropolitan area | 1,569,000 | Sheffield (693,000), Rotherham (150,000), Doncaster (80,000), Darfield (73,000), Chesterfield (73,000), Barnsley (56,000) |
| 8 | Portsmouth-Southampton metropolitan area | 1,547,000 | Portsmouth (500,000), Southampton (376,000), Bognor Regis (66,000), Salisbury (29,000), Winchester (27,000), Andover (26,000) |
| 9 | Nottingham–Derby metropolitan area | 1,534,000 | Nottingham (532,000), Derby (217,000), Mansfield (185,000), Ilkeston (53,000), Newark (25,000), Alfreton (23,000) |
| 10 | Glasgow | 1,395,000 | Greater Glasgow (1,228,000), East Kilbride (59,000), Cumbernauld (45,000), Kilmarnock (39,000), Dumbarton (23,000) |
| 11 | Cardiff and South Wales valleys metropolitan area | 1,097,000 | Cardiff (353,000), Newport (192,000), Merthyr Tydfil (35,000), Pontypridd (28,000), Caerphilly (26,000), Bridgend (24,000), Ebbw Vale (22,000) |
| 12 | Bristol metropolitan area | 1,041,000 | Bristol (568,000), Weston-super-Mare (70,000), Bath (65,000), Clevedon (25,000) |
| 13 | Belfast | 799,000 | Belfast (501,000), Bangor (15,000) |
| 14 | Edinburgh | 782,000 | Edinburgh (478,000), Livingston (46,000) |
| 15 | Brighton–Worthing–Littlehampton | 769,000 | Brighton–Worthing (410,000), Eastbourne (74,000), Littlehampton (40,000) |
| 16 | Leicester | 745,000 | Leicester (442,000), Loughborough (53,000), Coalville (39,000), Hinckley (20,000) |
| 17 | Middlesbrough | 656,000 | Middlesbrough (389,000), Darlington (58,000), Hartlepool (53,000) |
| 18 | Bournemouth–Poole | 531,000 | Bournemouth–Poole (390,000) |
| 19 | Swansea | 462,000 | Swansea (219,000), Port Talbot–Neath (51,000) |
| 20 | Stoke | 456,000 | Stoke-on-Trent (359,000) |
| 21 | Hull | 419,000 | Hull (284,000) |
| 22 | Blackburn–Burnley | 391,000 | Blackburn (182,000), Burnley (125,000) |
| 23 | Norwich | 364,000 | Norwich (193,000) |
| 24 | Preston | 354,000 | Preston–Leyland (249,000) |
| 25 | Plymouth | 343,000 | Plymouth (228,000) |
| 26 | Aberdeen | 332,000 | Aberdeen (183,000) |
| 27 | Blackpool | 304,000 | Blackpool (239,000) |
| 28 | Northampton | 288,000 | Northampton (220,000) |
| 29 | Cambridge | 283,000 | Cambridge (142,000) |
| 30 | Milton Keynes | 271,000 | Milton Keynes (136,000) |
| 31 | Swindon | 260,000 | Swindon (144,000) |
| 32 | Exeter | 259,000 | Exeter (105,000), Exmouth (25,000) |
| 33 | Oxford | 244,000 | Oxford (122,000) |
| 34 | Ipswich | 240,000 | Ipswich (120,000) |
| 35 | York | 234,000 | York (135,000) |
| 36 | Torbay | 231,000 | Torbay (178,000) |
| 37 | Peterborough | 219,000 | Peterborough (127,000) |
| 38 | Dundee | 211,000 | Dundee (150,000) |
| 39 | Telford | 209,000 | Telford (105,000) |
| 40 | Bedford | 202,000 | Bedford (108,000) |
| 41 | Colchester | 191,000 | Colchester (95,000) |
| 42 | Lincoln | 176,000 | Lincoln (99,000) |
| 43 | Grimsby | 174,000 | Grimsby (123,000) |
| 44 | Gloucester | 166,000 | Gloucester (134,000) |
| 45 | Hastings–Bexhill | 164,000 | Hastings–Bexhill (103,000) |
| 46 | Cheltenham | 164,000 | Cheltenham (82,000) |
List by region (2001 data)
See also
- List of metropolitan economies in the United Kingdom
- City Regions in UK
- Core Cities Group
- existing & proposed combined authorities in UK
- List of towns and cities in England by population
- List of urban areas in the United Kingdom
- Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England
- Travel to work area
- List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population
- List of metropolitan areas by population for the world
- Larger Urban Zones
- Travel to Work Area
References
- "MUAs and FUAs delineation" (PDF). ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions. European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. p. 8. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
- "The methodology" (PDF). ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions. European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. p. 17. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
- Schulze Bäing, Andreas. "Shrinking cities and growing regions – emerging trends of new rural-urban relationships in the UK and Germany". 13 July. AESOP University of Manchester. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
- "British urban pattern: population data" (PDF). ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions. European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. p. 119. Retrieved 8 March 2019.