1 Congreso de la Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional (XXX Reunión de Estudios Regionales) Defining multicriteria urban areas. An application to Catalonia. 1 Vicente Royuela, Javier Romaní and Jordi Suriñach Grup d’Anàlisi Quantitativa Regional (AQR) Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) vroyuela@ub.edu , romani@ub.edu , jsurinach@ub.edu FAX: 93.402.18.21 Abstract In this paper we analyse the different methodologies used for the the definition of territorial areas based on economic criteria, for example, those used for the construction of travel-to-work areas (TTWA), which are complemented with other social and economic aspects that have a key influence in the localization of individuals. We adopt the classification of human needs proposed by Maslow (1975), which can be used to implement a multi-dimensional measurement of quality of life (Royuela and Suriñach, 2003). In practice, the direct consequence of these ideas is the need of adopting simultaneously several criteria and techniques of grouping the territory: administrative areas, commuting based algorithms, and gravitational techniques. These points help us build a system of multicriteria urban areas consistent with the overall use of time by individuals. 1 We are grateful to Mónica Reyes for allowing us to use some results of her previous research. This paper sintethises the results of a study developed for Observatori de Desenvolupament Estratègic de Catalunya (ODECAT), from the Regional Government of Catalonia.