Functional regions: concept and types

Abstract

Annotation The contribution is concerned with a concept of a region in spatial and regional science. A number of terms related to specific instances of a region can cause a misinterpretation of the concept both in

Local Labour System After the Turn of the Millennium in Hungary

“…2015: 62-81;DOI: 10.15196/RS05204 that in the former, weekly movements for work purposes are also included. The latter basically refers to daily commuting and does not necessarily take into account only the flow to a particular centre (Klapka-Halás-Tonev 2013). The common feature of these delimitations is that they cover regions that have intense relations, and depending on regional characteristics, significant areas may fall outside the created zones.…”

“…2015: 62-81;DOI: 10.15196/RS05204 delimitations, the 'quality' of centres (their size, and role in employment and institutional supply) and the specific features of the spatial flows and interactions organising the region must be taken into account. The real spatial organisational character of the city centre and the mutual relation system between the city and its region are essential for the creation of such a region (Klapka-Halás-Tonev 2013). In the course of its delimitation, commuting to work is taken as the basis for assigning the settlement to the centre where most people go to work (without a minimum threshold), but the urban character of the centre is emphasised by taking into account the existence of 15-20,000 employees (Drobne et al 2010).…”

“…Despite this, in the course of the delimitation, most studies were mainly based on commuting for work purposes (Cörvers-HensenBongaerts 2009). Functional regions can be divided into further subgroups according to the direction of the commute (Klapka-Halás-Tonev 2013). In the OECD delimitation, functional regions were separated only in the narrower surroundings of cities with a population greater than 100,000, highlighting the large population density (OECD 2012).…”

A Multistage Agglomerative Approach for Defining Functional Regions of the Czech Republic: The Use of 2001 Commuting Data/ Vícestupňový aglomerační přístup k vymezení funkčních regionů České republiky: využití údajů o dojížďce z roku 2001

“…(for more information, including the schemes, see Klapka et al, 2013a). Functional regions are usually understood to be the areas organised by the horizontal functional relations (flows, interactions) that are maximised within a region and minimised across its boundaries, so that the principles of internal cohesiveness and external separation regarding spatial interactions are met (for example, see Smart, 1974;Karlsson, Olsson, 2006;Farmer, Fotheringham, 2011;Klapka et al, 2013a).…”

“…A functional region (Klapka et al, 2013a) is conceived as a general concept that has to prove only the condition of self-containment, which is considered its crucial defining and identifying characteristic. Its inner structure, inner spatial flows and interactions, need not necessarily show any regular patterns -on the contrary, they can be random in some cases.…”