Upper Silesian metropolitan area

The Upper Silesian metropolitan area[2] (also known as Silesian metropolitan area[2]) is a polycentric metropolitan area in southern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic, centered on the cities of Katowice and Ostrava, and has around 5 million inhabitants. Geographically, it is located mainly in Upper Silesia, with small parts of the area also in the historical regions of Moravia and Lesser Poland. Administratively, it is located in the three administrative units (NUTS-2 class): mainly Silesian Voivodeship and a small western part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship in Poland, and also a small eastern part of Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic. The metropolitan area lies within the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and is sometimes called by different names, e.g. Upper Silesian urban-industrial agglomeration.[3] The Upper Silesian metropolitan area (5.3 million people), together with nearby Kraków metropolitan area[4][5] (1.3 million[2][6][7][8][9] people) and Częstochowa metropolitan area[4] (0.4 million[2][6][7] people), create a greater Kraków-Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan region  covering 7 million people.

This article is about the geographic urban area. For the industrial region, see Upper Silesian Industrial Region. For the political and economic association of local municipalities, see Metropolis GZM.
For the more narrow urban area, see Katowice urban area.
Upper Silesian metropolitan area
Slezská Metropolitní oblast
Upper Silesian metropolitan area is located in Europe
Upper Silesian metropolitan area
Upper Silesian metropolitan area
Location in Europe
Coordinates: 50°05′N 18°45′E
CountryPoland, Czech Republic
RegionSilesian Voivodeship (Poland), Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech Republic)
Largest citiesKatowice
Ostrava
Sosnowiec
Gliwice
Zabrze
Bielsko-Biała
Bytom
Area
 • Metro
5,400 km2 (2,100 sq mi)
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Metro
5,008,000
 • Metro density930/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
Katowice in Silesian Voivodeship (Poland), the biggest city of the largest urban area in the Upper Silesian metropolitan area.

Demographics

Upper Silesian metropolitan area has a population of 5,294,000 (2002), with 4,311,000 (81.43%) in Poland (the Upper Silesian polycentric metropolitan area) and 982,000 (18.57%) in the Czech Republic (Ostrava Functional Urban Area).[2] According to Polish Scientific Publishers (PWN) area is 5,400 km², with 4,500 km² (83.33%) in Poland and 900 km² (16.67%) in the Czech Republic.[10] According to the Brookings Institution, area has a population of 5,008,000 (2015).[1]

The area consists of several Functional Urban Areas (FUA), each of which is defined as a core Morphological Urban Area (MUA) based on population density plus the surrounding labour pool, i.e. a metropolitan area. This area contains the following FUAs:[2]

Data may vary depending on the source, example for same the Katowice city exist sources for 3.5 million people;[11][12] for the Rybnik – 507,000,[7] while for the Ostrava – 1,153,876.[6]

Economy
Lower Vítkovice in Ostrava (Czech Republic), a former mining complex, today a national site of industrial heritage including Bolt Tower

Historically, most of the area was characterized by heavy industry since the age of industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th century. In addition to coal, Upper Silesia also contains a number of other minable resources (methane, cadmium, lead, silver and zinc). About 70 billion tons of coal resources are available up to a depth of 1000 meters and the conditions for extraction are good.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Redefining Global Cities". Brookings Institution.
  2. European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) "ESPON project 1.4.3. Study on Urban Functions" – Final report, March 2007, ISBN 2-9600467-2-2
  3. "Silesian". ScienceDirect.
  4. Koncepcja Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Kraju 2030
  5. European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) "ESPON project 1.1.1. Potentials for polycentric development in Europe" – Final report, March 2005, ISBN 91-89332-38-5
  6. Eurostat, Urban Audit database Archived 2011-04-06 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 2009-03-12. Data for 2004.
  7. (in Polish) "Społeczne i polityczne zróżnicowanie aglomeracji w Polsce" – Paweł Swianiewicz, Urszula Klimska Archived 2009-01-24 at the Wayback Machine; University of Warsaw 2005
  8. (in Polish) Funkcje Metropolitalne Pięciu Stolic Województw Wschodnich Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine – Tadeusz Markowski
  9. (in Polish) "Koncepcja przestrzennego zagospodarowania kraju" Archived 2010-03-31 at the Wayback Machine – Ministry of Regional Development, 2003
  10. (in Polish) "Górnośląskie Zagłębie Węglowe" – PWN Encyclopedia
  11. www.worldatlas.com
  12. (in Polish) "Górnośląski Okręg Przemysłowy" – PWN Encyclopedia
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