Economic mechanisms at work in rural areas, delineation of French rural areas and consistence of public interventions.

摘要

This paper suggests definitions of rural areas based on spatial economics theory. We focus on mechanisms that are able to explain the spatial dispersion of population and activities. Two categories of non urban areas are distinguished: on one hand, rural surrounding cities, where changes come from population spread mechanisms; on the other hand, rural areas without urban influence, structured by small employment centres. The French delineation, called "Zonage en aires urbaines et en aires d'emploi de l'espace rural" (ZAUER), takes into account this distinction and allows us to give a relevant description of their development features. It seems to be useful to combine it with another French delineation in "Bassins de vie" in order to understand themain logics of rural development policies.