User:Conorobradaigh/FUAs

A metropolitan area is generally defined as consisting of an urban area, conurbation or agglomeration, together with the surrounding area to which it is closely economically and socially integrated through commuting.

The European Union's ESPON project has defined a harmonised series of metropolitan areas across Europe, made up of two components: Morphological Urban Areas (MUAs), which are similar to urban areas and form the densely populated urban cores of metropolitan areas; and Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) which form the labour basin surrounding Morphological Urban Areas.

Morphological Urban Areas have been calculated by combining contiguous NUTS-5 areas with population densities greater than 650 inhabitants per square kilometre, with Functional Urban Areas then being calculated by combining surrounding NUTS-5 areas where 10% or more of the workforce works within the core Morphological Urban Area.

According to the harmonised European definition, there were seven FUAs in the Republic of Ireland.

Functional Urban Areas in the Republic of Ireland
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