Tätortsområde

Tätortsområde is a Swedish statistical term used to describe the built-up area surrounding and connected to a tätort, or urban locality. It is used in national statistics and planning to reflect the actual urban fabric as it exists on the ground, rather than administrative borders.

A tätort is defined by Statistics Sweden (SCB) as a locality with at least 200 inhabitants, where the distance between buildings is short enough to form a continuous built-up area. A tätortsområde extends this concept to include adjacent built-up parts that are functionally part of the same urban continuum, even if they lie in different municipalities. The exact boundaries are determined from building and population data and are updated periodically by SCB.

The key distinction is that tätortsområde is a geographic description of the built environment, not an administrative unit. It concentrates on how housing, streets, and services form a connected urban landscape, which is important for analyses of population density, housing supply, commuting patterns, and infrastructure needs.

Uses and implications: tätortsområden are employed in urban and regional planning, transport modeling, and market analysis to understand the spread of urbanization, plan service provision, and assess regional development. They also facilitate comparisons over time and between regions.

Limitations: boundaries depend on data quality and methodological choices, and can change with new measurements. The concept focuses on built form and may not capture functional ties beyond physical connectivity.

In summary, tätortsområde provides a statistics-based view of the actual urban footprint around a tätort, highlighting how the built environment extends beyond administrative boundaries.