Urban sprawl in France. A regional typology of urbanization trends and its demographic and economic background.

摘要

Coming from a rural background, the urbanization of the French society was late, and urban population became larger than rural population only in 1930. Urbanization progressed steadily during the decades of high economic and demographic growth following World War II. The last third of the Twentieth Century in France was dominated by an overall tendency to urban sprawl. Population growth and scattered urbanization was the result of several distinct causes. Urban sprawl comes in the first place. It follows that growth has been polarized in a few regions. Multivariate data analysis tells us that the population growth has the most important lever effect on urbanization, particularly migratory attractivity. Ageing is another major cause, because 4/5th of the decrease of size of households is due to ageing. Tourism is another important factor, particularly in the coastal areas and in mountainous regions.