The Upper Silesian metropolitan area[2] (also known as Silesian metropolitan area[2]) is a polycentric metropolitan area in southern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic, centered on the cities of Katowice and Ostrava, and has around 5 million inhabitants. Geographically, it is located mainly in Upper Silesia, with small parts of the area also in the historical regions of Moravia and Lesser Poland. Administratively, it is located in the three administrative units (NUTS-2 class): mainly Silesian Voivodeship and a small western part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship in Poland, and also a small eastern part of Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic. The metropolitan area lies within the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and is sometimes called by different names, e.g. Upper Silesian urban-industrial agglomeration.[3] The Upper Silesian metropolitan area (5.3 million people), together with nearby Kraków metropolitan area[4][5] (1.3 million[2][6][7][8][9] people) and Częstochowa metropolitan area[4] (0.4 million[2][6][7] people), create a greater Kraków-Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan region covering 7 million people.
Upper Silesian metropolitan area
Slezská Metropolitní oblast | |
---|---|
Upper Silesian metropolitan area Location in Europe | |
Coordinates: 50°05′N 18°45′E / 50.083°N 18.750°E | |
Country | Poland, Czech Republic |
Region | Silesian Voivodeship (Poland), Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech Republic) |
Largest cities | Katowice Ostrava Sosnowiec Gliwice Zabrze Bielsko-Biała Bytom |
Area | |
• Metro | 5,400 km2 (2,100 sq mi) |
Population (2015)[1] | |
• Metro | 5,008,000 |
• Metro density | 930/km2 (2,400/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
Upper Silesian metropolitan area has a population of 5,294,000 (2002), with 4,311,000 (81.43%) in Poland (the Upper Silesian polycentric metropolitan area) and 982,000 (18.57%) in the Czech Republic (Ostrava Functional Urban Area).[2] According to Polish Scientific Publishers (PWN) area is 5,400 km², with 4,500 km² (83.33%) in Poland and 900 km² (16.67%) in the Czech Republic.[10] According to the Brookings Institution, area has a population of 5,008,000 (2015).[1]
The area consists of several Functional Urban Areas (FUA), each of which is defined as a core Morphological Urban Area (MUA) based on population density plus the surrounding labour pool, i.e. a metropolitan area. This area contains the following FUAs:[2]
Data may vary depending on the source, example for same the Katowice city exist sources for 3.5 million people;[11][12] for the Rybnik – 507,000,[7] while for the Ostrava – 1,153,876.[6]
Historically, most of the area was characterized by heavy industry since the age of industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th century. In addition to coal, Upper Silesia also contains a number of other minable resources (methane, cadmium, lead, silver and zinc). About 70 billion tons of coal resources are available up to a depth of 1000 meters and the conditions for extraction are good.[10]