1. Espon project 143 “Study on Urban Functions»
General achievements

2. The partners Lead : IGEAT (ULB), Belgium Second partners :
IGSO, Poland
LATTS, France
TSAC, Romania
Period : march – october 2006

3. The project Build upon the work of project 1.1.1.
=> Recommendations for further research
Main parts:
Delimitation of the Functional Urban Areas (FUAs)
Polycentricity and its performances
Study of the Functional Specialization of the FUAs

4. Delimitation methodology of Functional Urban Areas
Starting point : Espon 111 FUAs’ list.
FUA = Morphological Urban Areas (MUAs) and employment cores + Labour Pool
Strong MUA -> important factor for the performances of the FUA
Added: -> Delineation of the MUAs based on Nuts5
Density (> 650 inh./km2)
Contiguity
City > inhabitants
-> Standardisation and improvement of the identification of the FUAs
LP : municipalities that send > 10% of the active population to the core (but strong statistical difficulties)
FUA > inhabitants

6. A simple FUA

7. But often much more complex structures

9. Correlation between Polycentricity and Economic growth

10. Economic weight and Functional specialization : a first approach

11. Aims for the future Better statistical tools and delimitations
More data needed at the NUTS-3 level (or even NUTS-4)
Systematisation of commuting data
Development of more indicators (tourism, national headquarters pattern, scientific production, railway accessibility, weight of retired people in the economy, etc) -> a matter of time and/or data availability
Systematisation of the frames of the Urban Audit and improvement of its statistical basis, in cooperation with Espon
Polycentricity and sustainable development
Economic efficiency
Spatial equity
Environment issue