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1996
5

Structure and public utilities. Retail and service frequentation in Languedoc-Roussillon (France)

Structure et services publics. Fréquentation des commerces et des services dans le Languedoc-Roussillon (France)
Jean-Luc Bonnefoy

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1In Languedoc-Roussillon region, a strong population growth is an important factor of change in the equipment and public utilities of the cities, as well as in retails and services (PURSE) frequentations, mainly in urban rings and marginal regions. To keep or install equity in access to PURSE, especially when spatial disparities are strong, is a critical question of country planning. Structure and PURSE frequentations analysis in 1979 and 1988 allows the observation of restructuring which appeared in that dynamic. In a decade, population and area attraction contrasts have declined : intermediate levels gather strength, while population spreads in the country. The prevailing form of PURSE frequentations network is hierarchical, but more than 30 per cent of cities are engaged in complementarity relationships, which are in progress. This kind of relation reveals the intercommunity links: cities complement each other in PURSE possession and frequentations. These cities could represent small market towns; where PURSE profitability is encouraged. The combined analysis of populations variables, PURSE frequentations, commuting and a road network shows the burst of the old cellular structure of towns in Languedoc-Roussillon, for the benefit of the major cities: Montpellier, Nimes, and Perpignan which is of minor importance. Two territory practices appear: a local territoriality according to preferences of proximity PURSE frequentations, and a nomadic territoriality where employment and PURSE tend to go to the major town. That study is a first attempt of a adjusted and functional movement across the territory, where interdependancy and the social preservation process should be the ins of rural planning operations.

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References

Electronic reference

Jean-Luc Bonnefoy, « Structure and public utilities. Retail and service frequentation in Languedoc-Roussillon (France) », Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography [Online], Systems, Modelling, Geostatistics, document 5, Online since 03 May 1996, connection on 02 April 2023. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/2171 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.2171

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About the author

Jean-Luc Bonnefoy

C.T.I.G., Université de Provence, France

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CC-BY-4.0

Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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