Refined degree of urbanisation in Europe (DEGURBA level 2) - version 1, Jul. 2018
This dataset presents the refined version of the degree of urbanisation of European countries. The degree of urbanisation relies on a population grid to classify local units. Originally the classification system was developed for the European Statistical System to classify local units into three classes (level 1): cities, towns & suburbs, and rural areas. In this version the classification was further refined (level 2) to also identify smaller individual settlements; distinguishing towns from suburbs and identifying villages, dispersed areas and mostly uninhabited areas in former rural areas class. The final classes of the refined degree of urbanisation dataset are six, namely 1) cities, 2) towns, 3) suburbs, 4) villages, 5) dispersed rural areas and 6) mostly uninhabited areas. The temporal reference is set between 2011 and 2012 because of the main inputs, the GEOSTAT population grid 2011 and the European Settlement Map 2012 from Copernicus.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This metadata has been created using draft documentation provided by the European Commission, DG REGIO. This dataset has been created by the European Commission, DG Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO) in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Re-distribution or re-use of this dataset is allowed provided that the source is acknowledged.
Simple
- Date (Creation)
- 2018-07-08
- Date (Publication)
- 2018-07-08
- Edition
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01.00
- Citation identifier
- regio_r_3035_1km_refined-degurba-l2_p_2011-2012_v1_r00
Point of contact
Point of contact
Point of contact
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- Keywords
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- Keywords
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GEMET
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urbanisation
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settlement concentration
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urban policy
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Continents, countries, sea regions of the world.
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Kosovo (UNSCR 1244/99)
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Albania
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Serbia
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EFTA4
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Montenegro
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North Macedonia
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Bosnia and Herzegovina
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EU28 (2013-2020)
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EEA topics
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Land use
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Buildings and construction
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Urban sustainability
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- Access constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- no limitations to public access
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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This dataset has been created by the European Commission, DG Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO) in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Re-distribution or re-use of this dataset is allowed provided that the source is acknowledged.
- Spatial representation type
- Grid
- Distance
- 1 km
- Language of dataset
- English
- Topic category
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- Society
- Structure
))
- Begin date
- 2011-01-01
- End date
- 2012-12-31
- Coordinate reference system identifier
- EPSG:3035
- Distribution format
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- GeoTIFF ( )
- OnLine resource
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Conformance result
- Title
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Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
- Date (Publication)
- 2010-12-08
- Explanation
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See the referenced specification
- Statement
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The degree of urbanisation is applied in a two-step process: First the grid cells are defined based on density, contiguity and population size. Subsequently small spatial units are defined based on the type of grid cells most of their population resides in.
The dataset is based on 2011 population grid of GEOSTAT and the European Settlement Map 2012 from Copernicus, identifies six classes: 1) cities, 2) towns, 3) suburbs, 4) villages, 5) dispersed rural areas and 6) mostly uninhabited areas.
The original degree of urbanisation has three classes (level 1). It identifies individual cities, but does not provide any distinctions in the other two degrees. he global commitment should define not just cities but other settlements as well. So, the degree of urbanisation was refined (level 2) to also identify smaller individual settlements. The approach was based on population and population density into a grid concept.
(1) City has an urban centre with a population over 50,000.
(2) To define the towns and the suburbs, three types of grid cells were defined.
(2.1) A dense urban cluster consists of contiguous cells with a density of at least 1,500 residents per sq km and a population between 5,000 and 50,000 in the cluster
(2.2) A semi-dense urban cluster is an urban cluster (see above) located more than 2 km from a dense urban cluster or an urban centre (distance is measured between the edges of the clusters)
(2.3) Suburban cells are the remaining cells in an urban cluster, i.e. not part of a dense or semi-dense urban cluster
(3) Rural areas were broken down into:
(3.1) A rural cluster consists of contiguous cells with a density of at least 300 residents per sq km and a population between 500 and 5,000 in the cluster.
(3.2) Low density rural grid cells are cells with a density between 50 and 300 inhabitants per sq km
(3.3) Very low density rural grid cells are the remaining rural grid cells, i.e. those with a density of less than 50 inhabitants per sq km
The final legend of the dataset is:
• Urban centre with a population over 50,000 (raster value = 30).
• Towns have the majority of their population living in a dense or semi-dense urban cluster (raster value = 22).
• Suburbs have the majority of their population living in suburban cells (raster value = 21).
• Villages have the majority of their population living in a rural cluster (raster value = 13).
• Dispersed rural areas have the majority of their population living in low density rural grid cells (raster value = 12).
• Mostly uninhabited areas have the majority of their population living in very low density rural grid cells (raster value = 11).
Metadata
- File identifier
- 5de63803-6414-47a8-8230-f3d952cd7919 XML
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Date stamp
- 2021-05-19T09:40:54.748Z
- Metadata standard name
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ISO 19115/19139
- Metadata standard version
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1.0
- Metadata author
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Website Role European Environment Agency
Point of contact