Bydgoszcz–Toruń metropolitan area (Polish: aglomeracja bydgosko-toruńska) is the name of the bi-polar agglomeration in the middle of the Vistula river centered on the cities of Bydgoszcz and Toruń in north-central Poland. The distance between the built-up areas of the cities is about 30 km. They are the administrative capitals and economic centers of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Despite the fact that these two cities are integrating gradually, they have been in a great competition through the centuries.[citation needed] In September 2004 the Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz joined Toruń University as Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz. Although not without some controversy[to whom?], this is usually considered as an important step in the integration process.[by what?][according to whom?]
Depending on the calculation method and on what is the exact area taken into consideration, the total population varies from between about 600,000 and 800,000 inhabitants.[citation needed]
Population
The total population of the two biggest cities combined (Bydgoszcz[3][4] + Toruń[5]), excluding adjacent communities:
This would change only in the year of 1938, when Bydgoszcz was moved from the Poznań to the Pomeranian Voivodeship, soon to take the role of the capital of the whole region.[8]
The postwar growth of the cities and the new political administrative landscape led to application of the term "Bydgoszcz-Toruń metropolitan area" which first appeared in the 1960s.[9]
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