Urban Functions, Zoning & Hierarchy in Spanish Cities

Urban Functions, Land Use, and Zoning

Urban functions are determined by the socio-economic activities of inhabitants. Secondary and tertiary sector activities dominate in cities. Cities are generally multifunctional, and larger cities tend to develop more functions.

Urban Functions

1. Industrial Function: Cities have grown alongside industrial development. A prominent industrial function requires proximity to raw materials and energy sources, or good transportation networks. In modern cities, industries are often located in industrial estates on the outskirts due to economic and environmental factors.
2. Commercial Function: All cities are centers of trade and product distribution. The importance of trade influences a city’s specialization.
3. Residential Function: Present in all cities.
4. Administrative Function: Related to the management of tertiary sector companies and higher centers of political decision-making.
5. Tourism and Leisure Function: Prominent in cities with tourist attractions or a rich historical heritage, supported by good tourism-related services.
6. Cultural and Religious Function: Important in cities with universities or historical significance. The religious function was more prominent in the past.

Urban Zoning

Urban zoning refers to the internal specialization within a city. Each sector specializes in certain activities or uses. Sometimes, specialization is absolute, while in other cases, multiple uses coexist, even if one is dominant.

Urban Land Use

• CBD (Central Business District): The shopping and business area for the economic elite, tied to advanced tertiary activities. Often located in the city center or prestigious areas, characterized by singular buildings. In large cities, CBDs house major banks and financial institutions like stock exchanges. In smaller cities, they contain important shops, department stores, and luxury boutiques. CBDs are characterized by high daytime activity but low nighttime activity.
• Historic Centers: Characterized by irregular layouts and remnants of past historical periods, including monuments, cultural heritage sites, and administrative buildings. They are often leisure and cultural districts with intense commercial activity. Some historic districts may house marginalized populations, while others are home to middle or upper classes. There’s a growing trend to restore these areas.
• Residential Areas: Occupy most of the urban space. They exhibit diversity based on building types, construction dates, quality, amenities, and the socio-economic level of occupants. This creates distinct social areas, with clear divisions into upper, middle, and lower-class districts. Some areas are dominated by high-rise apartment blocks, often built to house immigrants in the 1960s, resulting in dormitory towns with substandard housing and infrastructure. Others are characterized by low-rise housing of better quality, often with gardens, and occupied by middle and upper classes. Slums and shantytowns also exist.
• Industrial Areas: Pollution regulations and urban planning have pushed industrial activity to specially equipped zones, often located near ports or along major roads, away from residential areas.
• Transportation Space: Includes streets, urban roads, parking lots, stations, and airports.
• Public and Private Facilities: Green areas, sports facilities, hospitals, educational institutions, and department stores are increasingly important.
• Commercial Areas: Small shops are located in residential areas, while larger retailers are in the city center. Department stores are found in commercially important and high-traffic areas, while those requiring large land areas are located on the city outskirts.

The Urban Hierarchy

Over 78% of the Spanish population lives in cities. Spanish urban growth has been uneven. Madrid (2,881,506) and Barcelona (1,505,581) are the only municipalities with over one million inhabitants. Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, and Malaga are above 500,000. The rest have between 10,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. Some Spanish cities have declined due to factors like rising housing costs, deteriorating central and historic areas, and a growing preference for areas with better environmental conditions. This has led to urban sprawl into nearby rural villages and environmental degradation.

There’s a significant imbalance in population and city distribution. Most of the Spanish population is concentrated in a few cities. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, and Malaga alone host 20% of the national population. The largest cities have formed extensive metropolitan areas since 1970, influencing a large portion of the total Spanish population. Some metropolitan areas have larger populations than many provincial capitals. The uneven distribution of cities across the territory has resulted in unequal economic dynamism between the periphery and the interior. The periphery has gained economic weight due to greater productive diversification, while the interior has traditionally been linked to agriculture and less specialized services. Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, Andalusia, and the Cantabrian fringe have more cities and a high urbanization rate. Inland, only Madrid and its metropolitan area, along with Zaragoza and, to a lesser extent, Valladolid, are considered major urban centers.

The Spanish urban system is organized hierarchically, with each city performing a set of functions and interacting with others. Cities are ranked according to their importance within this system.

Metropolises

At the top of the urban hierarchy, metropolises have populations over 250,000 and perform specialized and diversified functions, influencing their surrounding areas by supplying goods and services. A hierarchy exists within metropolises based on size, functions, and the extent of their area.

• National Cities: Madrid and Barcelona have the greatest demographic weight, large metropolitan areas, and are among the major European and global cities. They are distinguished by:
  1. Concentrating most headquarters of large companies and being centers of business decisions.
  2. Having great economic diversification and highly specialized services, such as financial and business services, and hosting major companies in leading sectors.
  3. Possessing dense transport and communication networks connecting them with the rest of Spain, Europe, and the world.
  4. Madrid, as the national capital, is also a significant administrative and political decision-making center.
• Regional Metropolises: Cities between 300,000 and 1.5 million people, such as Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Malaga, Bilbao, and Las Palmas. They have strong connections with national cities through dense transport networks and exert significant influence on their regions. They are the economic backbone of their Autonomous Communities, concentrating major industries and important administrative services. Some are also important tourist centers.
• Regional Sub-metropolises: Cities with over 200,000 inhabitants. They maintain strong connections with national and regional cities and act as service centers for their provinces.
• Medium and Small Cities: Primarily perform commercial functions, with populations between 50,000 and 250,000. They offer primarily tertiary functions, but less specialized ones. They are endpoints of dense bus networks connecting them with surrounding areas. They may have industrial specializations or port functions.

Cities are considered central places that supply goods and services to a catchment area. The larger the city, the more diverse and specialized its urban functions. A balanced settlement system corresponds to the central place theory developed by German geographer Christaller, which classifies central places according to the quality and variety of their functions and assigns them a hexagonal catchment area. In Spain, Madrid is the main central place, with its influence extending across the country. Other major centers are located on the periphery, including Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, A Coruña, and Bilbao. Mid-range cities are located at intermediate distances, followed by smaller centers with less influence.