This chapter has two objectives. The first and more general is to discuss the conceptual and technical problems of defining urban areas. (The term ‘urban areas’ is used in preference to particular words like ‘towns’ or ‘cities’, because it is the most general expression, without specific conventional connotations.) This is done in the first section. The second and more particular is to consider the applicability to Britain of one well-known definition of urban area: the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. This is done in the second section. The third section presents some results of the exercise; and a discussion of some policy conclusions rounds off the chapter.

The general problem

Definitions

That there is a problem and that it seems important, is evident from the literature. Statements are frequently made there about the percentage of the population of different nations that is urban, or about the growth of urban population in different nations as a percentage of their total population growth; but on inspection, such comparisons prove to depend on quite different national definitions of what is urban. In Denmark a place with 250 people is urban, in Korea a place with less than 40,000 is not (Hall, 1966, 19). So there is need for international standardisation. And even within any one nation, there is need for a closer definition of what is meant by an urban area.