L’interface ville-campagne en France. Bilan des recherches sur la production d’espaces périurbains

Abstract

The 1982 population census demonstrates the demographical reinstatement of French rural space, the importance of the urban exodus and the déconcentration of housing estates towards the countryside situated on the periphery of the big towns. The spectacular development of the production of detached houses, as in periurban areas, has to be seen in the context of the transformations in the French socioeconomy of the last fifteen years. Different definitions and evaluations of périurbanisation have been put foward and are discussed here. The relations between the production of periurban space and social movement are then analysed. On the one hand, it is appropriate to nuance the picture of a relatively homogenous periurban society of salaried middle classes, and not to neglect the appearance of the strengthening of segregational procedures in the rural areas receiving urban migrants. On the other hard, the analysis of social practices and of the situations occupied by these «neo-rurals» in municipal administration illustrates the convergences between the «rurban» discourse valorizing village and family, and the local ideology. Finally, the periurban space has to be studied as a segment of the urban market from the point of view of accommodation and employment : the diversity of the configurations of peripheral urban areas conveys the socio-economic specifities of the towns and the regional urban network.