Metropolitan Cork

Metropolitan Cork is a semi-official term which refers to the city of Cork, Ireland, its suburbs, the rural hinterland that surrounds it, and a number of the towns and villages in that hinterland.^[3] Some of the latter towns and villages are within the administrative area of County Cork.

Metropolitan Cork
Metropolitan area
Cork, the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland
Country	Ireland
Region	County Cork
Largest city	Cork (222,526)
Area
• Metro	820 km^2 (320 sq mi)
Population ^[1]
• Metro	270,000
• Metro density	330/km^2 (850/sq mi)
GDP ^[2]
• Metro	€103.206 billion

The term Metropolitan Cork was used in the Cork Area Strategic Plan to refer to the area whose labour and property market is shared with the city.^[4] The plan declared that it was envisaged as an area with "an integrated transport system, and the social, cultural and educational facilities of a modern European city".^[5] Metropolitan Cork is the core employment hub of the "Greater Cork" area. The term is loosely defined but has been taken by authorities to include the city of Cork, its suburbs and the towns of Ballincollig, Blarney, Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill, Cobh, Douglas, Glanmire, Glounthaune, Midleton, Passage West and Ringaskiddy.^[3][6]

According to the Cork Area Transit System (CATS) Study Final Report of February 2010, at that time, the metropolitan area covered 820 km² and approximately 270,000 people.^[1]

By mid-2018, legislation was drafted to expand the boundary of Cork city, to include a number of the metropolitan area towns (such as Blarney and Carrigtwohill).^[7][8] This change proposed to bring much of "Metropolitan Cork" within the bounds of the Cork City Council area.^[7][8] On 31 May 2019, the boundary change came into force, with the city bounds being extended to include Ballincollig, Blarney, Glanmire, Rochestown, Grange and Cork Airport, and thereby increasing the city population from 125,000 to approximately 210,000.^[9]

Greater Cork

Greater Cork is an area that extends beyond Metropolitan Cork, and includes the Metropolitan Cork area (referred to in the regional planning guidelines as the "Cork Gateway"), plus Mallow and its hinterland, as well as the ring towns of Bandon, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom and Youghal.^[10] This Greater Cork area was recorded as having a population of 377,596 in 2006.^[10]

Population

Year	Cork city	Cork city and suburbs	Metropolitan Cork	Greater Cork
2000	123,810 ^[11]	—	251,510 ^[11]	345,100 ^[11]
2001	123,600 ^[12]	—	253,000 ^[12]	—
2002	123,062 ^[13]	186,239	—	349,388 ^[10]
2006	119,418 ^[13]	190,384 ^[13]	274,000 ^[12]	377,596 ^[10]
2011	119,230 ^[14]	198,582 ^[14]	289,739 ^[15]	397,800 †^[16]
2016	125,622 ^[17]	208,669 ^[18]	305,222^[19]	—
2019	210,000 ‡^[9]		—	—
Note: † indicates medium-migration scenario projection from 2007 CASP plan Note: ‡ 2019 Cork boundary change brought many suburbs into Cork City Council bounds Note: — indicates no available data.

References

1. Cork Area Transit System Study - Draft Final Report (PDF) (Report). Cork City Council. April 2009. p. 1.7. Retrieved 22 September 2018. The Metropolitan area, as defined in CASP, includes Cork City and the towns and areas in the immediate hinterland [..It..] covers 820 km2, and has a population of 272,541, as determined from Census 2006
2. "Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices by metropolitan regions". ec.europa.eu.
3. Cork Area Strategic Plan (PDF) (Report). Cork City Council. 2001. p. 2. Retrieved 22 September 2018. Metropolitan Cork [..] encompasses both the City proper, and the settlements of Ballincollig, Blarney, Carrigaline, Douglas, Glanmire, Glounthane, Carrigtwohill, Midleton and Cobh
4. . Archived from the original on 19 November 2007.
5. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2006.
6. (PDF). Cork City Council. July 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
7. "Bill set to give effect to Cork boundary extension". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
8. "Boundary increase for Cork City Council approved by Cabinet". The Irish Times. 6 June 2018.
9. "Cork City's population to grow by 85,000 and expand fivefold ... at midnight". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
10. Regional Planning Guidelines 2010-2022 (PDF) (Report). South West Regional Authority. pp. 16, 26. Retrieved 22 September 2018. Greater Cork, which comprises the Cork Gateway, and includes the Mallow Hub and a number of other towns known as the Ring towns (Fermoy, Youghal, Bandon, Kinsale, Macroom)
11. (PDF) (Report). p. 28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2006. 2000 Population / City: 123,810 / Rest of Metropolitan Cork: 127,700 [..] Total: 345,100
12. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2006.
13. "Census 2006 - Population by Alphabetical List of Towns, CensusYear and Statistic". CSO.ie. 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2018. Cork City, Cork / Population 2006 (Number): 119,418 [..] Cork Suburbs, Cork / Population 2006 (Number): 70,966
14. "Census 2011 - Population and Percentage Change 2006 and 2011". CSO.ie. 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2018. 2011 / Both sexes / Cork City/ Population (Number): 119,230 [..] Cork Suburbs Total, Co. Cork / Population (Number): 79,352
15. Metropolitan Cork Joint Retail Strategy (Table 4) (PDF) (Report). Corkcitydevelopmentplan.ie. March 2015. p. 8. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
16. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2007.
17. "Census 2016 - Preliminary Actual and Percentage Change in Population 2011-2016". CSO.ie. 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
18. Census 2016 - Geographical distribution - Population by constituency - Chapter 2 (Table 2.2 Population of urban areas, 2011 and 2016) (PDF) (Report). CSO.ie. 2016. p. 15. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
19. "Cork 2050 Main Report" (PDF). corkcoco.ie. Cork County Council & Cork City Council. March 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

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