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% |
|
11- Douai-Lens
|
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
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
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