Urban area

An urban area is a location characterized by high human population density and vast human-built features in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural areas such as villages and hamlets.

The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has soared in the decades since. In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion) and since then the world has become more urban than rural. This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city. In 2014 there were 7.25 billion people living on the planet, of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would grow to 6.4 billion by 2050, with 37% of that growth to come from three countries: China, India and Nigeria.

Leicester Urban Area

The Leicester Urban Area or Greater Leicester Built-up Area is an urban agglomeration centred on the City of Leicester in the English (Central South East) Midlands, UK. It forms the core of Eurostat's LUZ (Larger Urban Zone), and would be the primary focus of its Extended Metropolitan Region "EMR" or more loosely defined City region (United Kingdom).

While it has no formal definition as an administrative area, it is defined by the Office for National Statistics with a population of 508,916 at the time of the 2011 census.[1] This was an increase of 15% from the 2001 census population of 441,213. It comprises Leicester itself and several outlying suburbs, towns and villages which are all situated in close proximity to the city. A 2015 mid-year estimate indicates that population of the area in question may now be approaching 585,000 (583K), and that a modest extrapolation to 2020 gives a figure of just under 0.66 million (658K).

The urban area is the eleventh largest in England, between the Bristol Urban Area and the Brighton and Hove Built-up area, although given that it has recently experienced the highest growth rate of any English city (2011 census), there may well be a tendency for it to climb the table and even supplant one or two of its neighbours as its rate of growth exceeds that of Bristol, Sheffield and Nottingham. "Leicester" itself comprises a proportion of between c.55% to over 75% of the Urban Area population, dependent on whether its definition is restricted to the Unitary Authority (UA) in isolation or expanded to include its contiguous extra-UA suburbs. The needs, limitations and rights of the inhabitants of the more rural or socially or geographically isolated communities, that may account for another 5-15% of the total population of their respective disctricts, counties or larger communities, should always be borne in mind as they form an integral part of the extended cohort albeit that they may differentiated access thereto.

Leicester

Coordinates: 52°38′N 1°8′W / 52.633°N 1.133°W / 52.633; -1.133

Leicester (ⁱ/ˈlɛstər/ LESS-tər,but often locally /ˈlɛstɒ/) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. It is the burial place of King Richard III.

In the 2011 census the population of the Leicester unitary authority was c.330,000 making it the most populous unitary authority in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th largest by population in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom.

"Unlike almost every other city in the UK, Leicester has retained a remarkable record of its past in buildings that still stand today". Ancient Roman pavements and baths remain in Leicester from its early settlement as Ratae, a Roman military outpost in a region inhabited by the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe. Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the early medieval Ratae is shrouded in obscurity, but when the settlement was captured by the Danes it became one of five fortified towns important to the Danelaw and it appeared in the Domesday Book as "Ledecestre". Leicester continued to grow throughout the Early Modern period as a market town, although it was the Industrial Revolution that facilitated a process of rapid unplanned urbanisation in the area.

East Midlands

The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. The eastern part of the Midlands, the region consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, most of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

The region has an area of 15,627 km² (6,033 sq mi), and is home to over 4.5 million people (2011). East Midlands contains four cities: Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, though other major settlements include Boston, Loughborough, Mansfield, Northampton and Skegness. Its proximity to London and connections to several national motorways have led to the East Midlands becoming an economic hub. It is also the location of the East Midlands Airport.

Geography

The highest point in the region is Kinder Scout in the Peak District near Glossop, at 2,088 ft (636 m). The centre of the East Midlands area lies roughly between Bingham and Bottesford. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, close to the boundary between the East and West Midlands. 88% of the land is rural, although agriculture accounts for less than three percent of the region's jobs. All of the coastline within the region falls within Lincolnshire.

2011 census

2011 censuses were conducted in the following countries: