Identifying functional urban areas using administrative data: The case of Ankara,Türkiye

Abstract

This paper provides an applied case to delineate Functional Urban Areas in Ankara, Turkey, adapting the original method developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) to the lack of commuting-flow data. The proposed method aims to overcome the lack of official commuting data, a challenge often encountered in non-European countries. Other challenges addressed by the paper are the need to ensure consistency with existing administrative and institutional settings in Turkey and selecting the most appropriate local units to be used as building blocks. The methodology developed in this study can serve as a model for other countries facing similar data limitations, contributing to the global effort to standardise urban delineation.