Activity in centre zones, 1 January 2011

People are increasingly choosing to live in urban areas. It is also a political goal to utilise the urban areas as intensely as possible in order to ease the pressure on the surrounding land and at the same time minimise the need for transport.

The centre zones have become denser in recent years both with regard to residents and employees per square kilometre. While the number of employees decreased somewhat last year, the density increase continued for residents. Nevertheless, there are around twice as many employees as residents in centre zones.

A high density of residents is an indicator of effective land use utilisation as well as less energy-demanding transportation. However, a high density of residents can also indicate poor dwelling conditions, scarcity and pressure on green areas.

The density in centre zones increased by urban settlement size. There are more employees than residents per square kilometre in all group sizes. The largest cities have almost 6 times as many employees and residents per km² compared to small urban settlements. Only the largest cities have had growth in area, residents and employees over the last 5 years. The density of residents has increased in all size groups, while the density of employees has only increased in the 20 000-100 000 size group.

The different group sizes do not necessarily include the same urban settlements. Urban settlement growth can lead to a shift towards the upper group sizes and small settlements on the other hand can fall below the definition criteria and be omitted.