Areas with urban character 2012 encompasses the agglomerations and two other urban spatial categories: multi-oriented municipalities and centres outside of agglomerations. The agglomerations are part of the territorial divisions. In order to measure urbanisation, the definition of the urban area has been defined by the FSO for over 100 years. It allows a spatial comparison to be made between urban spaces whose boundaries are unequal at institutional level. The classification of Switzerland's municipalities is based on uniform statistical criteria for the whole of the territory (chiefly population density, the number of jobs, the link of continuity of the developed area and the minimum number of inhabitants and commuter flows).
