Urban unit

In France, an urban unit (fr: "unité urbaine") is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a commune alone or a grouping of communes which: a) form a single unbroken spread of urban development, with no distance between habitations greater than 200 m and b) have altogether a population greater than 2,000 inhabitants. Communes not belonging to an unité urbaine are considered rural.

25 largest French urban areas in 2010

The French unité urbaine is a statistical area in accordance with United Nations recommendations for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. Other comparable units in other countries are the United States "Urbanized Area" and the "urban area" definition shared by the United Kingdom and Canada.

French unité urbaines with over 200,000 inhabitants
Unité urbaineInhabitants (2015)[1] Area in km²
(2010)[2]		 Communes (2010)[3]
1Paris10,706,0722,844.8409
2Lyon1,639,5581,180.4127
3Marseille-Aix-en-Provence1,585,4981,731.949
4Lille (excluding Belgian part)1,039,397442.559
5Toulouse948,433811.673
6Nice943,354743.651
7Bordeaux904,3591,172.664
8Nantes633,690537.724
9Toulon569,793763.727
10Grenoble512,591523.153
11Douai-Lens504,537485.267
12Rouen467,133461.150
13Strasbourg (excluding German part)461,101240.223
14Avignon456,0421,368.959
15Montpellier428,909310.022
16Saint-Étienne373,130418.733
17Béthune355,543752.493
18Tours353,042663.736
19Valenciennes (excluding Belgian part)335,992440.056
20Rennes330,871284.410
21Nancy285,659245.928
22Metz285,268306.941
23Orléans278,131289.519
24Clermont-Ferrand265,892180.817
25Pointe-à-Pitre-Les Abymes256,263729.711
26Mulhouse246,511239.120
27Dijon243,244166.015
28Le Havre237,578194.918
29Bayonne (excluding Spanish part)236,730459.227
30Angers225,978201.410
31Reims212,94994.307
32Le Mans210,018294.318
33Perpignan200,971217.515
34Brest200,530199.47

See also

References
  1. "Comparateur de territoire" [Urban units]. Insee (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. "Comparateur de territoire" [Urban units]. Insee (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  3. "Base des unités urbaines" [Urban units]. Insee (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  1. ^ INSEE. Definitions and Methods. "Definition: Urban unit". Retrieved October 17, 2014.


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