In France, an urban unit () is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a commune alone or a grouping of communes which: a) form a single unbroken spread of urban development, with no distance between habitations greater than 200 m and b) have all together a population greater than 2,000 inhabitants. Communes not belonging to an ''unité urbaine'' are considered rural. The French ''unité urbaine'' is a statistical area in accordance with

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

recommendations for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. Other comparable units in other countries are the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

" Urbanized Area" and the "urban area" definition shared by

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and the

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. The French '' aire d'attraction d'une ville'' is equivalent to the functional urban area as defined by

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, and represents a population and employment centre (urban cluster) and its commuting zone. The zoning into ''unités urbaines'' and ''aires d'attraction des villes'' was last revised in 2020.

French urban units with over 200,000 inhabitants

This list shows the unités urbaines as of the 2020 revision.

References

Urban planning in France Human habitats Urban areas INSEE concepts {{geo-term-stub

French urban units with over 200,000 inhabitants

See also

References