A primary urban area (PUA) is an area defined by the
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
as a statistical tool for analysing the major
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, originating as part of their ''
State of the English Cities'' report and database. The concept of a primary urban area has also been redefined by the
Centre for Cities
The Centre for Cities is an independent, non-partisan urban policy research unit and a charity registered in England. The Centre's main goal is to understand how and why economic growth and change takes place in the United Kingdom's cities.
His ...
with the
University of Newcastle.
Original purpose and definition
The concept of a primary urban area was created in an attempt to enable economic and social comparisons between cities using definitions less arbitrary than the administrative boundaries of
local authorities
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
, but avoiding one problem of using the
urban areas
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
defined by the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
- that sprawling
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
s such as the
West Yorkshire Urban Area
The West Yorkshire Built-up Area, previously known as the West Yorkshire Urban Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to refer to a conurbation in West Yorkshire, England, based on the cities of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefie ...
, containing multiple distinct settlements with large degrees of physical and social independence, but that happen to touch, end up being treated as if they were a single city.
[Frequently asked questions about the state of the English cities](_blank)
Department for Communities and Local Government (see "''What is a Primary Urban Area (PUA)?''")
To enable this, primary urban areas are defined as being based on areas of continuous built-up land containing urban structures that are within 50 metres of each other, while urban areas only require that urban land uses should be less than 200 metres apart.
In addition, to qualify as a primary urban area a built-up area must have a population in excess of 125,000. On this basis England had 56 primary urban areas in 2007.
As primary urban areas were created to allow statistical comparisons, and the majority of statistics are produced based on
administrative
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
or
electoral
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...
geographies, primary urban areas are approximated to
local authority
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
and
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
level, or to an additional measure called a ''tract'' – similar in size to a ward but designed to be subject to fewer revisions over time. It is for these approximate areas that statistics are available. Wards and tracts, being smaller, allow a greater degree of precision in comparing PUAs, but using local authority-based definitions allow PUA comparisons to be made using the wider range of statistics available at this level.
Primary urban areas are designed purely as a tool of statistical analysis and aren't intended to form definitive measures of cities for policy purposes.
They are named after the largest settlement within them.
Issues with primary urban areas
Primary urban areas still suffer to a certain extent from containing multiple distinct settlements with large degrees of independence, but that happen to touch being treated as if they were a single city. A good example of this is within the Birmingham PUA, where
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
is largely independent of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and by some measures has a city-region of its own.
[Department of Communities and Local Government](_blank)
English City-Regions based on labour and housing markets Whilst Birmingham dominates the south and east of the area, and Wolverhampton dominates the north and west, the area of conurbation between the two cities (the
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...
) displays a complex pattern of interdependence both within the area and to the two cities, making statistical separation of the area extremely difficult.
This inclusion of Wolverhampton demonstrates differences between PUAs and the
Eurostat
Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statis ...
equivalent, where Wolverhampton has its own
larger urban zone
The larger urban zone (LUZ), or functional urban area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone outside it.
Th ...
.
When primary urban areas are approximated to local authority areas rather than wards they can also contain rural areas or have parts of the urban area excluded from the relevant PUA. The Leeds PUA is an example of the former, where the
City of Leeds
The City of Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, W ...
local authority area that is contained within the PUA includes a wide rural area in addition to the urban cores; whilst the Manchester PUA does not contain
Wilmslow
Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...
which is a part of the
Greater Manchester Urban Area
The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that forms ...
but outside the local authorities that make up the approximated PUA.
Another issue with the PUA data is what constitutes a continuous urban area. The Greater Manchester PUA for example does not include the largely urban boroughs of Wigan, Bolton and Rochdale, all of which are linked strongly with the core city region – for example by transport (via
Transport for Greater Manchester
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities. ...
), shopping/leisure e.g.
Trafford Centre
The Trafford Centre is a large indoor shopping centre and entertainment complex in Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1998 and is third largest in the United Kingdom by retail space.
Originally developed by the Peel Group, the Trafford C ...
, various sporting events, administrative history (
Greater Manchester County Council
The Greater Manchester County Council (GMCC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986. A strategic authority, with responsibilities for roads, public transport, planning, emergency services ...
and nightlife. In Bolton for example 33 percent of the working population who live there travel ''outside'' the borough to work – 26,190 of them within Greater Manchester.
[http://www.bolton.gov.uk/pls/portal92/docs/66585.PDF ] Similar issues exist around many of the core cities. PUA's should therefore be regarded as only ''one'' indicator of what constitutes an urban area.
Liverpool's PUA is far smaller than the City Region and Metropolitan Area, because of the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
cutting through the middle of the city. This is controversial as Birkenhead (also a part of
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
) is categorised as a separate primary urban area from Liverpool despite its proximity and connections to Liverpool on the opposite side of the river. This differs from the Liverpool Metropolitan Area, which includes Wirral and extends into Cheshire.
List of original primary urban areas
These were the PUAs identified by the study:
List of updated primary urban areas
In 2016, the Centre for Cities with the University of Newcastle updated the list of PUAs. They added Basildon, Exeter and Slough and removed Grimsby and Hastings, while Bolton and Rochdale were absorbed into Manchester. The following PUAs were identified by the study:
See also
*
Travel to work area
A travel to work area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by UK Government agencies and local authorities, especially by the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentres, to indicate an area where the population would generally commute to a ...
References
External links
* {{cite web , url=https://www.centreforcities.org/city-by-city/ , title= City by city {{! city definition {{! How we define a city , publisher =
Centre for Cities
The Centre for Cities is an independent, non-partisan urban policy research unit and a charity registered in England. The Centre's main goal is to understand how and why economic growth and change takes place in the United Kingdom's cities.
His ...
, access-date=3 May 2022
Geography of the United Kingdom