CONTRASTING STRUCTURES OF METROPOLITAN MOBILITY IN SPAIN

The results used in this paper are drawn from an INTERREG ITC European Union project examining the territorial and functional characteristics of the Spanish metropolitan urban regions, and its integration within the south west European urban systems. Seven Spanish metropolitan areas (Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao and Zaragoza) are considered in order to explain the nature of urban mobility of each case. Economic agglomerations, morphologic agglomerations and spaces responding to the delimitations of functional urban regions were identified as three kinds of clearly differentiated territorial spaces. The study adopted the methodology used by the United States Census Bureau for the identification of the Spanish metropolitan areas, based on travel to work trips. The analysis of the flows of journeys between the places of residence and work allowed the achievement of a clear understanding of the nature of mobility patterns in the respective metropolitan regions.