The Timișoara metropolitan area is a metropolitan area in Timiș County, which includes Timișoara and 14 surrounding communes. It was legally established in 2008 as an inter-community development association and is a member of the Federation of Metropolitan Areas and Urban Agglomerations in Romania (FZMAUR).^[2]

The first attempts to create a metropolitan area appeared in 1999–2000, when Timișoara and six peri-urban communes in the first ring surrounding the city (Dumbrăvița, Ghiroda, Giroc, Moșnița Nouă, Săcălaz and Sânmihaiu Român) entered into a local partnership.^[3] The result of this partnership was the elaboration of a medium- and long-term "strategic concept of economic and social development".^[4] In 2004, by a decision of the Timiș County Council, the first Metropolitan Consultative Council was established.^[3]

The delimitation of the area of influence was approved by HCL no. 387/2008.^[5]

The total area on which the Timișoara metropolitan area extends is 1,079.54 km² – of which 129.27 km² represent the administrative territory of Timișoara, and 950.27 km² the area of influence of the city – occupying about 3.4% of the West development region and about 12.5% of Timiș County.^[6]

The Timișoara metropolitan area is administered by the Timișoara Growth Pole Intercommunity Development Association, led by a General Assembly, a Board of Directors and a General Manager.^[6] The General Assembly is the supreme governing body, composed of all members of the Association. The president of the Association is the mayor of Timișoara.^[6] The total number of representatives in the General Assembly is 31 members.^[6] The Board of Directors is the executive governing body of the Association, composed of the president of the Association and two members appointed by the General Assembly for a period of two years.^[6]

According to the 2021 census, the population of the 15 administrative units totals 367,430 people, of whom 250,849 live in Timișoara.^[1]

According to the 2011 census, the resident population of the Timișoara metropolitan area was 387,604, 5.3% higher than previously reported in the 2002 census.^[3] The population of the metropolitan area represents 21.2% of the population of the West development region and 56.26% of the population of Timiș County.^[3] The majority of the population (82.38%) lives in Timișoara (319,279) and only 17.62% in the area of influence (68,325), given that the area of Timișoara represents about 12% of the area of the metropolitan area.^[3] The population growth was more pronounced in the peri-urban countryside than in Timișoara, the share of the city in the total population of the area decreasing by almost 4% between 2002–2011.^[3] In its extended area of influence, defined as the area that can be reached within a 60-minute drive from the city proper, live about 950,000 people.^[11]

Timișoara polarizes over 80% of the county's turnover and over 30% of the region's.^[3]

The city's economic profile, largely based on manufacturing, has encouraged the expansion of urban mass toward the larger metropolitan area. If between 1992–2012 Timișoara expanded by 13%, the metropolitan area expanded by about 18%. Some of the peri-urban localities have undergone a dramatic process of transformation. For example, during this period, Dumbrăvița expanded by 138%. Other localities expanded by 20%, 30% or 50%.^[11]

The area of influence has a mixed functional profile, generally dominated by the service sector.^[7] The villages in the immediate vicinity of the city – Ghiroda, Remetea Mare, Giroc – crossed or delimited by major roads (E70) and the villages in the vicinity of well-defined industrial areas of the city (Sânmihaiu Român) have micro-industrial areas, the industrial units located here having significant shares in the turnover of the locality (over 40%, even over 50% in the case of Giroc).^[7] In general, agriculture plays a minor role in the functional profile of the area of influence.^[7]