A functional classification of cities in Finland

Abstract

This study has two main purposes. First, it compares in Finnish conditions various functional city classification methods which have been introduced ear­lier, and explains the location and size of the cities in the functional types thus obtained, together with their status in the central place hierarchy. Secondly, principal component analysis is used to examine whether the basic dimensions of occupational life do in fact take form according to the traditional main occupa­tional categories on which functional city classification is usually based; whether, in other words, totally new role types exist in the special urban conditions of Fin­land.

International city classification based on traditional main occupational cate­gories appears to suit Finnish conditions imperfectly, though they naturally have some pedagogical significance. Multivariable analysis, when applied to the detailed occupational statistical material of the cities in Finland, seems to reveal, primarily, a general integrated type of city, several types expressing manufactur­ing cities, and a unique type of service city in slightly industrialized peripheral areas.