thumb|[[Katowice in Silesian Voivodeship (Poland), the biggest city of the largest urban area in the Upper Silesian metropolitan area.]]
The Katowice–Ostrava metropolitan area (also known as Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area or Upper Silesian urban-industrial agglomeration) is a polycentric metropolitan area in southern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic, centered on the cities of Katowice and Ostrava, and has around 5 million inhabitants. (1.3 million people) and Częstochowa metropolitan area According to the Brookings Institution, area has a population of 5,008,000 (2015).
Transport
Air transport
Two international airports – Katowice Airport and Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava – serve the area.
Rail transport
High-speed rail link between Katowice and Ostrava is scheduled to be completed by the year 2035. It will cut down the travel time between the two cities from 105 to 37 minutes.
Regional trains are operated by Koleje Śląskie, most importantly serving Katowice, Rybnik, Racibórz, Bielsko-Biała, and Cieszyn in Poland, and the railway junction station in Bohumín near Ostrava in Czechia.
Road transport
Polish A1 and Czech D1 motorways connect the urban areas of Katowice, Rybnik and Ostrava. Bielsko-Biała is linked with Cieszyn/Český Těšín and Frýdek-Místek by the Polish Expressway S52 and Czech D48 motorway, while connection to Katowice urban area via Expressway S1 is in construction.
Notes
ESPON used in "ESPON project 1.4.3" two almost identical names: Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area and Silesian-Moravian polycentric metropolitan area.
See also
- Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region