'Urban-rural' typologies of European regions have been produced by various organisation (OECD, ESPON) in order to facilitate the monitoring of rural development and provide aggregated indicator of the trends in different type of regions. But this urban-rural typology of regions is very sensitive to territorial division and is subject to important variations according to scale (NUTS2, NUTS3 …). The problem has been analysed in by ESPON Project 3.4.3 MAUP (Modifiable Area Unit Problem).

 

• The spatial repartition of the urban-rural typology based on population density, FUA ranking and land cover is presented at NUTS 3 and at NUTS 2. In average, the same global spatial pattern of zones corresponding to the urban-rural typology is found for NUTS 2 and NUTS 3. But beyond these relative similarities observed in the global spatial structures from NUTS 3 and NUTS 2 typologies, important differences due the scale of the study can also be pointed.
• The criteria for urban influence are based on density population but also on the existence of a European level urban area. Thus important differences between the typology at NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 levels can be expected. For example, in the south-western part of France, only the Gironde and Haute Garonne NUTS 3 are characterised by a high urban influence (and a high human intervention) due to the existence of a European level urban area (respectively Bordeaux and Toulouse) whereas neighbouring units are characterised by a low urban influence. Situation is completely different at NUTS2 level where the regions of Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrenees are both characterised by high urban influence. In Ireland, the integration of the Dublin NUTS 3 unit, which is a European level urban area, in a wider zone at NUTS 2 changes the cartographic rendering and induces a division of the country into 2 opposite zones: a NUTS 2 zone with a high urban influence and another with a low urban influence.