Urban Influence and Hierarchy of Spanish Cities

The Area of Urban Influence

Cities are central places supplying goods and services to a more or less extensive area, known as their area of influence. A system of settlements was proposed by Christaller in 1933. He classified central places according to the variety and quality of the functions they play and assigned them a hexagonal area of influence. The result is an organized territory resembling a hexagonal mesh formed by the areas of influence of each of the central places. The area of influence of cities is not homogeneous and is constantly changing.

• Madrid: Principal place of influence throughout Spain.
• Periphery: Nuclei of influence.

Following at an intermediary distance are the mid-range cities, and then nuclei of minor influence.

Hierarchy of Spanish Cities

Metropolis

These are cities at the top of the urban hierarchy system, exceeding 250,000 inhabitants. They have a more specialized and diversified population and functions than other cities, including high-level tertiary and industrial sectors. Their area of influence is extensive.

National Metropolis

• Madrid and Barcelona: Population of more than 4 million inhabitants and diversified functions. Their area of influence covers the entire country, and they are linked to other global metropolises, acting as liaisons between the European urban system and the global and local Spanish systems.

Regional Metropolis

• Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, Malaga, and Zaragoza: Population between 1.5 and 500,000 inhabitants, with senior administrative and commercial services. Their area of influence is regional, with intense relationships with the national metropolis.

Subregional or Second-Order Regional Metropolis

• Valladolid, Oviedo, Alicante, Murcia: Population from 250,000 to 500,000 inhabitants, with highly specialized functions and services. Their area of influence is subregional, or they are capitals of less extensive regional spaces. They maintain intense relationships with their respective regional capitals.

Mid-Sized Cities

These are provincial capitals not included above. They have a population of 50,000 to 250,000 inhabitants and non-specialized tertiary functions, such as trade and services available at the provincial level. They are terminal points of a dense network of buses that communicate with nearby towns.

Towns

These are small cities with a population of less than 50,000 inhabitants. Their functions are less specialized. They are transport hubs for the region and their district area of influence.