Urban-Rural spatial classification of Finland Finnish Environment Institute SYKE The geographical information-based area classification system has been created by the Finnish Environment Institute and the Department of Geography of the University of Oulu in cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Statistics Finland.
National level Urban-Rural classification OLD Renewal of classification from administrative area based to spatial data based NEW Statistics based on administrative boundaries are not suitable for policy purposes and spatial analyses because they do not represent the true regional differences in Finland http://www.ymparisto.fi/en- US/Living_environment_and_planning/Community_structure/Information_about_the_community_structure/Urbanrural_class ification 2
Seven regional classes Inner urban area A compact and densely built area with continuous development. Outer urban area A dense urban area extending from the boundary of the inner urban area to the outer edge of the continuous built area. Peri-urban area A part of the intermediate zone between urban and rural, which is directly linked to an urban area. Local centres in rural areas Population centres located outside urban areas, small towns and large parish villages. Rural areas close to urban areas Areas with a rural character that are functionally connected and close to urban areas. Rural heartland areas Rural areas with intensive land use, with a relatively dense population and a diverse economic structure at the local level. Sparsely populated rural areas Sparsely populated areas with dispersed small settlements that are located at a distance from each other. Most of the land areas are forested. 3
Relative structure of different level classification 4
Delineation of urban areas in urban rural typology: Existing delineations and definitions Delineation of localities (densely populated areas) Metadata: http://www.ymparisto.fi/en- US/Living_environment_and_planning/Community_structure/Information_a bout_the_community_structure/delineation_of_densely_populated_areas Definition of urban regions based on area delineation of localities and population of localities Metadata: http://metatieto.ymparisto.fi:8080/geoportal/catalog/search/resource /details.page?uuid={8cdfafde-c079-4dc5-bf3d-4e2554070227} 5
Method and materials 6
The process of the Urban-Rural delineation 7
Example variable 1: population density GIS-method: focal analysis 250x250 m grids overlay and classification Data: Population Standard industrial classification of workforce (Statistics Finland, TOL 2008) Corine land-cover Commuting, Potential accessibility, Area density of buildings Based on the data, variables describing the amount, density, efficiency, accessibility, intensity, versatility and orientation of the areas have been calculated Final classification is then created by combining multiple classified variables together according to certain criteria Population outside inner and outer urban areas in 250x250 m grids Focal analysis to calculate a continuous population density surface Classification according to statistical distribution 8 8
Example variable 2: Land use intensity First Corine 2006 Land Cover data (Finnish version of 25 m raster) is aggregated into 250 m grids and then each land use class is weighted according to how intense its land use is measured by human impact (see table extract below). Each weighted class is summed to get the total intensity into 250 m grids Corine 2006 classes (25m) Weight Continuous urban fabric 10 Discontinuous urban fabric 9 Industrial or commercial units 10 Road and rail networks and 10 associated land Port areas 10 Airports 10 Mineral extraction sites 9 Dump sites 9 Construction sites 9 Green urban areas 6 Sport and leisure facilities 6 Non-irrigated arable land 4 Pastures 3 Forests, beaches, dunes, and sand 1 plains Transitional woodland/shrub 2 Marshes, peatbogs 1 Water 1 Focal analysis to calculate a continous land use intensity surface Classification according to statistical distribution 9 9
Focal sum analysis Source data: population in each 250 x 250 meter cell Focal analysis: select grid cell (red) and form a circle of 1 km radius around it (black). Sum the cell values that are inside the circle: 5+7+1+8+9+3+5+6+2 = 46 Switch the selection of grid cell to a new cell and repeat previous analysis: 5+7+14+1+24+9+8+12+9+ 3+5+6+4 = 107 5+7+14+37+1+24+12+9+ 31+8+12+2+7+9+5+6 = 189 The focal sum analysis is repeated to all cells. As a result all cells receive a new value. 10
Urban-rural classification The relative structure of seven regional classes 1. Urban area Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural area Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 11
1. Urban areas 1. Urban area Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 12
Neighboring locality Area density The basis for urban areas are the 34 Finnish urban regions. Urban area The Urban regions consist of the core urban areas (> 15 000 residents), neighboring localities physically and functionally connected to the core urban area and surrounding urban fringe areas with sparse population. Urban areas are outlined for 34 urban regions in Finland Urban locality Accessibility to core urban area and to neighboring localities Core urban area Peri-urban area Physical and functional entity of urban regions Urban structure defined with area density of buildings in urban regions Peri-urban area defined with accessibility to urban-like structure 13
Core urban area: inner and outer urban area 1. Urban Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 14 14
Peri-urban area 1. Urban Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 15
2. Rural areas 1. Urban area Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 16
Rural areas close to urban areas Kuva 12 1. Urban Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area 17
Rural areas close to urban areas: 1. classification of potential accessibility 18
Rural areas close to urban areas: 2. classification of commutation to core urban areas 19
Local centres in rural areas localities outside urban regions 1. Urban Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area Those localities outside urban regions that meet at least three out of four of the following criteria are defined as local centres in rural areas: 1. The average population of past three years is more than 5000 2. The density of the locality is more than 400 inhabitants per square kilometer 3. There are more than 2000 workplaces 4. The surface area of an area holding at least a 0,1 area density must be at least one square kilometer. There are in total 48 localities in Finland meeting the criteria with the data of 2010. The localities are examined and localities part of urban regions are removed. After closer examination of the 48 localities, seven were discarded being secondary population centres of urban regions. The outlining is directly the same as in the outlining of the localities in question. 20
Rural heartland area & sparsely populated rural area 1. Urban Core urban area Inner urban area Outer urban area Peri-urban area 2. Rural Rural areas close to urban areas Local centres in rural area Rural heartland area Sparsely populated rural area The rural area outside the rural area close to urban areas,is divided into rural heartland area and sparsely populated rural area. This delineation is based on a sum variable produced by the following three spatial variables: 1. Population density 2. Land use intensity and the 3. Herfindahl s index (the diversity of the fields of work of the population living in the area) After creating surfaces of three variables, the variables are merged into a single sum variable. The methods used to analyse the variables are explained in the following pages. 21
Rural heartland & sparsely populated rural area: Variable 1: Population density 22
Rural heartland & sparsely populated rural area: Variable 2: Land-use intensity 23
Rural heartland and sparsely populated rural area: Variable 3: Herfindahl s index S i H i = X 2 i s=1 S i is the number of fields of employment in the area i, s is the field of employment and X i is the share of the field of employment in the area 24
Sum variable of three variables representing rural heartland and sparsely populated rural area Variable 1 + Variable 2 + Variable 3 = Sum variable 25
Ungeneralised proto-trisection of rural areas 26
Generalisation of rural areas 27
Further Information Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) E-mail: alu_tuki@ymparisto.fi Contacts: Ville Helminen, Kimmo Nurmio; firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi WWW: http://www.ymparisto.fi/en- US/Living_environment_and_planning/Community_structure/Information_about_the_com munity_structure/urbanrural_classification Statistics Finland (2008). Standard Industrial Classification (TOL2008): http://tilastokeskus.fi/meta/luokitukset/toimiala/001-2008/index_en.html 28