EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - 2006 Statistical Atlas of Urban Areas of Spain

2006 Statistical Atlas of Urban Areas of Spain

Introduction

The 2006 Statistical Atlas of Urban Areas of Spain published by the Ministry of Housing and available in an on-line version, offers a diagnosis of the true situation and urban processes in Spain with updated information broken down by regions with the aim of providing assistance for better understanding the urban phenomenon and its trends and contributing to a better knowledge of the Spanish social and cultural reality.

Description

The publication reflects one of the most characteristics phenomena of Spanish society during recent decades: the growth of our urban areas with respect to their number and many of their indicators, which is linked to one of the period of greatest demographic dynamism and financial growth in our history.

Consequently, between 1991 and 2006 the population residing in Spain has increased from 39,433,942 to 44,708,964 (an increase of 13%) and during the same period, the Spanish Gross National Product (GNP) has risen by 119%. In the face of these socioeconomic and territorial transformations, the need to reconsidering and reshaping our urban development model is an essential task. To carry this out, it is necessary to have full information on the ever-changing and complex urban reality in which we live; hence the publication of this ‘2006 Statistical Atlas of Urban Areas of Spain’.

The Statistical Atlas is a continuation of the previous editions of 2000 and 2004, and strengthens and enlarges on their contents. It includes new aspects among which we should mention new chapters on the subject of land occupation and property structure, providing extremely relevant information for understanding the evolution of our cities.

The Atlas also has a free digital, interactive version in the Internet at: http://atlas.vivienda.es.

Conclusions

Among the main conclusions are the following:

Spain has consolidated its urban character. 80 per cent of the population occupies 20 per cent of Spain's total surface area.
The location and distribution of urban areas shows a tendency to concentration in the interior of the peninsula around a few cities (Madrid, Zaragoza, Sevilla….) and a shift of the urban phenomenon to the coast.
With respect to occupation of land (one of the novelties in this edition of the Atlas with respect to the 2000 and 2004 editions), if we take as a reference the period 1987-2000, we can see that there are cities whose surface area has increased by more than half the area they previously occupied: for example, the urban area of Murcia has grown by more than 78 %, that of Alicante-Elche by more than 67 % and that of Madrid by almost 50 %.
More than half the Spanish population has migrated at some time in their lives, and resides in a different borough than the one where they were born.
The main destination of the foreign population are Large Urban Areas (where there are more than 3.5 million foreigners). However, Small Urban Areas have the highest levels of concentration, with several striking features, especially in coastal and tourist areas. The highest concentration of the elderly population is in non-urban areas, which shows the effects of the historic emigration towards urban areas.
With respect to homes, there is a high number of second and empty homes in Spain, more than 30% of all family homes. Similarly, there is a chronic fall in homes for rent in Spain after the decade of the 1950s.
With respect to families, there is a constant fall in their size in all Spanish regions. In 1960 the average size of a Spanish family was 4 members. In 2001 the number fell to 2.85 family members, still above the European average, which stood at around 2.4 family members for that year.
The information on the structure and concentration of ownership of undeveloped land is yet another novelty incorporated for the first time into the Atlas. Thus, it is concluded that the cities of Murcia, Las Palmas and Madrid are the ones where the ten most important individuals have the largest extension of non-developed urban land.

Publication date

29/11/2007

Project finished

29/11/2007

Researcher

Directorate General of Land and Urban Policies - Ministry of Housing

Article info
ISBN: 978-84-96387-33-1

Links

http://atlas.vivienda.es/Ministry of Housing

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment

Keywords

Urban economy