Cities’ typology Cities’ typology How to elaborate a typology? DG Environment April 29th 2014 Marie Cugny-Seguin European Environment Agency (EEA)

The main questions  How to identify groups of cities that share similar properties?  Is it possible to establish a typology of cities connecting some city characteristics to come up with a fundamental characterisation of European cities for environmental reporting and statistics?

What is the city typology?  The city typology is understood as  a quantitative and qualitative characterisation of cities  a hierarchical systems providing a broad view on cities Situation and basic functions, individual performance and main activities, threats and most important changes (i.e. potential pressures and development paths), etc.  The objective is to give sense at all the dispersed information and to give an easy-to-understand message  Do we need only one single typology or multiple typologies with a clustered system ?

The definition of the city  Different possibilities: UMZ UMZ as approximation of the physical urban lay-out Urban Audit core city and/or Urban Audit Larger Urban Zone Urban Audit core city and/or Urban Audit Larger Urban Zone as approximation of the ‘real’ city and with a direct relation to the statistical data collected and provided on European level by Eurostat A composite reference unit A composite reference unit, such as using the core city with an additional buffer of a fixed width  This issue is an important decision closely related to data availability  Decision at the end of May

Difficulties and opportunities The main limitation  The main limitation is the availability of comparable data (time period, definition, repartition, etc. ) The main opportunities  The main opportunities: The system of information on urban system can optimise the existing information on other topics (air, water, waste management, biodiversity, land, soil, etc.) and develop models and new indicators  The main concern is to give a balanced vision of urban system and not be driven only by the availability of data

Linking typology to policy objectives  7th Environmental Action Programme (COM(2012) 710 final)  Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment (SEC(2006) 16)  Roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe (COM(2011) 571 final)  Soil Thematic Strategy COM(2006)231 final,  DG ENV Soil sealing guidelines,  Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of natural resources  EU2020 Biodiversity Strategy (COM(2011) 244 final)  Green Infrastructure (GI) — Enhancing Europe’s Natural Capital (COM(2013) 249)  Upcoming EC Communication on Land as a Resource in 2015  UNCCD “Zero net land degradation”  Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want” ‘a land degradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development’

Data sets  Data sets have been identified for each domain  44 data sets with a relatively unequal distribution across domains  The majority of the data come from the land use and socio- economic domain. Other domains are represented by only a small number of available data  The proportions of tabular, raster and vector data are almost identical

Spatial planning SUME – BRIDGE ( innovative planning strategies for urban planning) - Moland Biodiversity – Ecosystems services GREEN SURGE – OpenNESS - URBES Urban economic growth CHANCE2SUSTAIN ( City growth and the sustainability challenge; Comparing fast growing cities in growing economies) Risks - Resilience CORFU (Flood resilience) - TURAS Air pollution URGENCHE Health Phenotype Foresight - Strategy FOCI ( Future Orientation for Cities) - SGPTD Security policies Besecure (enhancement of security policies in urban zones) Governance PRIMUS - Urban Nexus Webtool CityBench ( urban sustainable decisions) - VITRUV (urban resilience Methodology TOWN Research projects identified

Quantitative characterisation => Quantitative characterisation => Focus on specific topics and containing a certain number of sub-indicators Static indicators  Characterisation of the state  Aligned to a date, a year or as an average value of a defined period – within an adequate time range for comparing cities Dynamic indicators  Characterisation of dynamic of changes  Give information on pressures and trends  Aligned to a year or a short period

Set of statics indicators S1 Urban dimension and land use  Administrative area  Cover area with buildings and infrastructure (Urban Atlas)  Green urban spaces (Urban Atlas)  Urban sprawl, Land use mix, Degree of soil sealing S2 Urban form and distribution  Compactness  Share of high density area (based on Urban Atlas)  Share of low density area (based on Urban Atlas) S3 Climate  Average air temperature, wind speed and total annual precipitation S4 Soil  Degree of soil sealing, Soil sealing/capita, Soil functions, Soil degradation, Agricultural use S5 Socio-economics  Population (Inhabitants, Density, Age structure, Migration and segregation), Housing  Economy, Employment, Tourism (number of visitors, number of people working in touristic sector) S6 Water  Supply networks, Consumption, Fresh water S7 Energy  Consumption, Supply networks, Conservative/fossil vs. renewables S8 Waste  Production, Collection, Deposition, Recycling S9 Air quality  Pollution by source, Fresh air S10 Transport and mobility  Transport networks (length of roads, railways), Modal split,  Modal split of public transport performance/ways, Modal split of biking transport performance/ways  Pollution, Cars per citizen, Public parking Area for cars per citizen S11 Noise  Pollution, Traffic, Airport S12 Governance

Set of dynamic indicators (1) D1 Urban dimension and land use  Changes of Cover area with buildings and infrastructure (based on Urban Atlas, 2012 not available yet)  Green urban spaces (based on Urban Atlas, 2012 not available yet)  Urban sprawl (based on Urban sprawl typology)  Changes in degree of soil sealing (based on Imperviousness layer, available for 2006, 2009 and soon for 2012; cf. urban vulnerability factsheet on soil sealing) D2 Urban form and distribution  Compactness  Share of high density area (based on Urban Atlas, 2012 not available yet)  Share of low density area (based on Urban Atlas, 2012 not available yet) D3 Climate  Changes in average air temperature, wind speed and total annual precipitation D4 Soil  Changes in degree of soil sealing (based on Imperviousness layer, available for 2006, 2009 and soon for 2012; cf. urban vulnerability factsheet on soil sealing) D4 Soil  Changes in degree of soil sealing (based on Imperviousness layer, available for 2006, 2009 and soon for 2012; cf. urban vulnerability factsheet on soil sealing) D5 Socio-economics  Population : Inhabitants: growth and shrinkage of number of inhabitants, change in density, change in age structure (are cities getting older?), Migration and spatial segregation  Housing  Economy: Regional gross value per inhabitant  Employment: growth or shrinkage of number of unemployed, In-commuter per employee within the city, Out-commuter per citizen  Tourism: Changes in number of visitors, Changes in number of people working in touristic sector D6 Water  Change in consumption D7 Energy  Change in consumption, Conservative/fossil vs. renewables: change in split D8 Waste  Changes in production, Collection, Deposition, Recycling

Set of dynamic indicators (2) D9 Air quality  Changes in pollution by source D10 Transport and mobility  Transport networks (length of roads, railways)  Modal split  Pollution  Cars per citizen  Public parking Area for cars per citizen D11 Noise  Change in noise levels D12 Governance

Qualitative characterisation  Characterisation of cities according to their function or main activities Private Services, Banking and assurance, Industry, Public services and administration, Higher education, Culture and art, Health and recreation, Tourism and conferences, Families (high share of young citizens), Retiree (high share of elder citizens), Immigration, Emigration, etc.  This categorisation per main function/activity will be combined with basic information about the geographic location of a city, such as coastal, mountainous, in a fluvial corridor, etc.  A general perspective on quality of life and local bussiness condition

WORK PLAN  First draft of the cities typology on July 15th 2014  Final typology at the end of october