The Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area Brookings Institutionbr>Redefining global cities: The seven types of global metro economies
(2016), p. 16.

European Spatial Planning Observation Network The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion, ESPON for short, is a European funded programme under the objective of "European Territorial Cooperation" of the Cohesion Policy of the European Union. It is co-funded by the ...

(ESPON
"''Metroborder: Cross-border Polycentric Metropolitan Regions''"
– Final report, 31 December 2010, (also known as Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area or Upper Silesian urban-industrial agglomeration) is a

polycentric metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually co ...

in southern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic, centered on the cities of

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

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 Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

-2 class): mainly Silesian Voivodeship and a small western part of

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

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 The Upper Silesian Coal Basin ( pl, Górnośląskie Zagłębie Węglowe, GZW, cs, Hornoslezská uhelná pánev) is a coal basin in Silesia, in Poland and the Czech Republic.Kraków metropolitan area Kraków Metropolitan Area (pl. ''Krakowski Obszar Metropolitalny'') is a peculiar functional region including a big city - Kraków and neighbouring complex of settling units, connected with the metropolis by different interactive relations. Area i ...

Koncepcja Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Kraju 2030
/ref>

(ESPON
"''ESPON project 1.1.1. Potentials for polycentric development in Europe''"
– Final report, March 2005, (1.3 million

(ESPON
"''ESPON project 1.4.3. Study on Urban Functions''"
– Final report, March 2007, , p. 94.

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 ...

Urban Audit database
, accessed on 2009-03-12. Data for 2004."''Społeczne i polityczne zróżnicowanie aglomeracji w Polsce"'' – Paweł Swianiewicz, Urszula Klimska
; University of Warsaw 2005"''Koncepcja przestrzennego zagospodarowania kraju''"
– Ministry of Regional Development, 2003 people) and

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

metropolitan area (0.4 million people), create a greater covering 7 million people.

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). 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."''Górnośląskie Zagłębie Węglowe''"
–

PWN Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. ...

Encyclopedia According to the Brookings Institution, area has a population of 5,008,000 (2015). 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 A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

. This area contains the following FUAs: * Katowice FUA: 3,029,000; within Upper Silesian Industrial Region * Ostrava-Cieszyn FUA: 1,046,000; within * Bielsko-Biała FUA: 584,000; within Bielsko Industrial Region * Rybnik FUA and Racibórz FUA: 634,000 (526,000 + 109,000); within Rybnik Coal Area

Economy

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. Contrary to most other European cross-border polycentric metropolitan regions, Katowice-Ostrava has no established cross-border cooperation project, structure, or institution of metropolitan ambition.

(ESPON
"''Metroborder: Cross-border Polycentric Metropolitan Regions''"
– Final report, 31 December 2010, , p. 14, 21, 119.

Transport

Air transport

Two international airports –

Katowice Airport Katowice Wojciech Korfanty Airport ( pl, Katowice Airport im. Wojciecha Korfantego) is an international airport, located in Pyrzowice, north of Katowice, Poland. The airport has the 4th-biggest annual passenger flow in Poland. Katowice Airport ...

and

Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava , formerly ''Ostrava-Mošnov International Airport'', is the airport of the city of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, a major economic and industrial centre. It is located to the southwest of the city and also acts ...

– serve the area.

Rail transport

High-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

link between Katowice and Ostrava is scheduled to be completed by the year 2030. It will cut down the travel time between the two cities to 30-35 minutes. Regional trains are operated by

Koleje Śląskie Koleje Śląskie (Polish for Silesian Railways; KŚ) is a regional rail operator in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland. The company was founded in 2010 and is fully owned by the local government. It started servicing in October 2011. Lines ...

, most importantly serving Katowice, Rybnik, Racibórz, Bielsko-Biała, and Cieszyn in Poland, and the railway junction station in Bohumín near Ostrava in Czechia.

Road transport

Polish A1 and Czech D1 motorways connect the urban areas of Katowice, Rybnik and Ostrava. Bielsko-Biała is linked with Cieszyn by the Expressway S52, while connection to Katowice urban area via Expressway S1 is in construction.

Notes

ESPON used in "''ESPON project 1.4.3''" two almost identical names: ''Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area''

(ESPON
"''ESPON project 1.4.3. Study on Urban Functions''"
– Final report, March 2007, , p. 241, 245, 251. and ''Silesian-Moravian polycentric metropolitan area''.

(ESPON
"''ESPON project 1.4.3. Study on Urban Functions''"
– Final report, March 2007, , p. 134

References

{{authority control

Ostrava Metropolitan areas of the European Union Geography of Silesian Voivodeship Moravian-Silesian Region Transborder agglomerations