Spanish Urban System: Structure and Dynamics

Posted on Mar 17, 2025 in Geography

Spanish Urban System (SPNL)

The Spanish Urban System (SPNL) relates to cities and their surroundings by creating other city systems, particularly in cities that have experienced significant changes.

Characteristics

The urban system is constituted by a set of interrelated cities.

Urban System Parts:

  1. Size: A rule is established according to size range, assigning each city a tidying range based on its population. In Spain, the largest urban agglomerations (over 500,000 inhabitants) are considered. Madrid is in first place, followed by Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Bilbao. Behind them are a high number of cities between 400,000 and 150,000 inhabitants.
  2. City Growth, Middle-sized cities and Decentralization: A part of the population and economic activities are characterized by their distribution and location in the center.
  3. Urban Functions: Activities are socio-economic functions performed in cities abroad. These include:
    1. Specialized Cities:
      • Primary sector activities: agricultural cities, mining cities.
      • Secondary sector: In a few cases, industry; in other cases, in large cities, construction shows certain dynamism.
      • Tertiary sector: Specializing in services, these are the activities that best defend the range and influence of a city (business services, cultural tourism, etc.).
  4. Area of Influence: The urban functions performed are converted to central places, supplying goods and services. The area of influence will be further diversified when functions are specialized (regional, national, local).
  5. Spanish Urban Hierarchy: The following categories are distinguished:
    • Metropolis: These can be found at the top, with a population over 200,000.
      • National Metropolises: Large metropolitan areas like Madrid and Barcelona, with populations over 3 million, equipped with very specialized services.
      • Regional Metropolises: Medium-sized cities like Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, etc., with a medium regional influence.
      • Subregional Metropolises: Smaller populations, diversified functions, and specialized services.

Medium Cities

These are mainly provincial capitals, with populations between 200,000 and 500,000. Their functions are less diversified and focused on commercial, administrative, and social services at the provincial level.

Small Towns or Villages

These have a population between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. Their functions are scarce and somewhat specialized, although they may have some specialized equipment.

Urban Relations in the System of Cities

Cities interact to understand each other. These interactions are measured in relation to economic flows (people and types of flows). Flows can be:

  • Unidirectional: Between one city and another, indicating dominance-subordination relationships.
  • Bidirectional: Indicating integration-competition relationships.

These relationships have the following traits:

  • Madrid maintains intense relationships with other metropolises, especially Barcelona.
  • Influence is generally weak, but intense in the eastern sector and in the Balearic Islands.
  • The northeast quadrant is the area of greatest integration, because its five major metropolises maintain intense relationships.
  • The rest of the system and the relationships between cities are incomplete. Flows predominantly consist of consumption from cities or rural areas to nearby cities.