Corine Land Cover 2000 - Settlement Areas

Settlement areas include:

• true settlements (including areas of green spaces)
• industrial and commercial areas, transport units and airports
• mines, dumps and construction sites
• urban (artificial) green spaces
• sport and leisure grounds

In the overview map it is not possible to show smaller settlement areas. Although settlements only cover less than 2% of the area of Tyrol, most people's daily life takes place here. The majority of Tyroleans live and work here but it is also where they spend their leisure time (shopping, sport, playgrounds). Tourists also spend most of their time in artificially created areas (accommodation, going out, airport, motorway, railway station).

It is possible to draw the run of the valleys without an altitude line (or rivers) according to the distribution of the settlements, because bigger settlements have developed along the transport axes which naturally orientated themselves to the valleys. Bigger towns grew up on the crossroads of important trade routes (Innsbruck, Bozen, Meran, Sterzing, Brixen, Lienz). Furthermore, in the higher mountain areas only the valley floors offer enough room for larger settlements.