Megacities without Global Functions.

2007

Present urban evolution is characterized by two major phenomena. On the one hand, the number of very large cities, the megacities, increases dramatically, especially in the less developed countries (LDCs). On the other hand, globalization leads to the emergence of cities coordinating complex and global economic activities, the global cities, especially in the more developed countries (MDCs). So, the two phenomena are diverging. A number of megacities do not exhibit any global function.The global performances of megacities are well correlated with their degree of economic development. But it is worth wondering why economic underdevelopment is consistent with urban growth but not with city gl…

L'idée de région et le fait urbain The idea of region and the urban fact

2009

Bien que la region soit un concept multiforme, voire omniforme, le decoupage regional est le cadre privilegie de la pensee spatiale et de l'action territoriale. Or la moitie des etre humains du monde, et plus des trois quarts des europeens, habitent dans une ville. Les villes produisent plus que proportionnellement a leur poids demographique, et concentrent les activites economiques de haut niveau, particulierement la production de haute technologie, les sieges sociaux, la finance et les services aux entreprises. Dans l'economie globalisee, les performances regionales semblent etre soumises a celles des villes, et les interactions economiques regionales, nationales et mondiales sont princip…

The metropolis in retrospect : from the trading metropolis to the global metropolis.

2005

SummaryMetropolization is not a new phenomenon: metropolises have been around for centuries. The prime and permanent function of a metropolis is the coordination of economic activities at a world scale. This function has been applied to different activities in history, depending on technological conditions and economic organization, and consequently it generated different forms of metropolises. The resulting continuities and discontinuities in the metropolises' evolution can be understood in terms of agglomeration economies. In the pre-industrial period, the trading metropolis coordinates long range trade. The industrial revolutions generate new needs for coordination of production and give…

Advanced services and city globalization on the Eastern fringe of Europe

2007

Capital cities in East Central and Eastern European Countries (ECEEC) are changing rapidly. Since the 1990s, the ECEEC capitals have faced the double challenge of the market (the transition process) and of integration in the world economy (the globalization process), which supposes a sufficient development of coordination functions and thus of advanced services concentrated in these cities (city globalization). Their capacity to join the network of global cities is evaluated on the basis of their relative specializations in advanced services and their connections with the rest of the world. The comparative analysis leads to contrasted globalization perspectives. Thus, Budapest, Prague and W…

Megacities and global cities. Urban size does not make urban function

2008

Most megacities (more than 5 million inhabitants) are located in developing countries and a number of them have a weak global economic role, if any. Most global cities are in the developed countries and they are not always very large city. There is a form of divergence between the size of the cities and their economic role in the global economy. This paper proposes some avenues for understanding this mega-global divergence.

Advanced Services and European Integration. The Potential of Regions in East Central and Eastern European Countries.

2006

Local Interactions and the Global City Metropolization in Warsaw

2002

A number of the world's large cities are taking on increasing economic importance in the international arenas because they concentrate high-order activities This metropolization process is a result of the changes occurring in the emerging post-industrial economy, i.e. the rise of services and information. It is based on the combination of proximity interactions and global interactions and it is characterized both by a specific internal spatial pattern and by a large outside area of influence. Since the transition period, services, and particularly high-order services, have grown more rapidly in Poland than in EU countries, as if a catching-up process has been underway. A large part of these…

History and Nowa Huta

2007

Nowa Huta, dix-huitième arrondissement de Cracovie avec plus 200.000 habitants, est un quartier incontournable. Sa place dans le système urbain polonais est le fruit d'une histoire mouvementée, reflet des événements qui ont bouleversé le pays depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. C½ur économique de la région sous le socialisme, reflet de l'idéal soviétique puis symbole d'une transition difficile et de l'échec du système économique socialiste, elle renaît depuis peu par le développement des activités culturelles, patrimoniales et artistiques, à l'image de sa Cracovie.

Metropolises stability vs. change

2003

In everyday language and even in some scientific work, the term “metropolis” evokes nothing more than a very large city, a focus for all that is good — and bad — about urban life. The vast literature on metropolises and metropolization, especially in Europe over the last 20 years, shows that things are anything but straightforward. Population alone is probably not a necessary condition and obviously not a sufficient condition to characterize a metropolis. Somany phenomena are associated with this term that, like Lacour (1999), we may wonder whether this diversity is evidence of just how rich or just how poor the concept is. Producing a meaningful definition is indeed a challenge (...)

Nowa Huta ou l'ironie de l'histoire.

2007

en ligne http://www.regard-est.com/

Utopie, égalité et liberté : l'impossible idéal

2012

The purpose of this article is to derive the logical but unexpected consequences in terms of social justice, of the presuppositions on utopian constructions. In the conditions generally in effect in urban utopias which lay claim to a certain amount of social justice combining equality, fairness and liberty in different ways, equality is likely to interfere with liberty, even create inequalities, and liberty can adapt to inequalities, perhaps even create losses of liberty. Thus, the illusory perfection of Utopia is exposed. Analysis of the mechanisms and operating conditions of urban utopias, which have appeared recurringly especially since the Renaissance, makes it possible to show how the …

On poles and centers: Cities in the French style

2005

International audience; The “multicentric city” is an oversimplified view of the contemporary city. The term “center” covers a multi-faceted reality. A center is not only a concentration of activities. It also means domination,power, creation and interaction. Consequently, the “secondary centers” do not necessarily replicate the main center and they are clearly differentiated. We define the “pole” as a concentration ofactivities, whatever their nature, and the “center” as a concentration of high-order and strategic activities, so that the so-called multicentric cities may be both multipolar and monocentric. This suggests what we call the Multipolar-Monocentric hypothesis.The paper sets out …

Économie des villes contemporaines

2009

International audience; Pourquoi existe-t-il des villes ? Pourquoi les villes attirent, pourquoi elles repoussent ? D'où vient leur puissance économique ? Comment déchiffrer la croissance, l'étalement et la recomposition des villes ? Pourquoi sont-elles des lieux de communication, des portes ouvertes sur le monde ? Comment s'imposent les villes globales ? Ce livre propose des réponses à ces questions en faisant appel à l'histoire, aux faits contemporains et au raisonnement économique moderne exposé de manière simple et accessible. Il offre des clés pour mieux comprendre la ville du XXIe siècle.

Polarization and suburbanisation in Warsaw

2001

The economic transition in Poland leads to a restructuration of economic activities which affects spatial patterns of cities, especially in Warsaw. Analyzing the location and re-location of population and employment in Poland’s capital allows to enlarge the debate on the suburbanization forms to the Central and Oriental European Countries. The results support the fact that the city center is still largely the most important district in terms of population andemployment, so that in 1999 the city keeps a strong monocentric character. However, from 1994 to 1999, population and employment move towards the Warsaw’s suburbs. Two significant observations, namely the suburbanization of retailing an…

Economics of contemporary cities

2009

Pourquoi existe-t-il des villes ? Pourquoi les villes attirent, pourquoi elles repoussent ? D'où vient leur puissance économique ? Comment déchiffrer la croissance, l'étalement et la recomposition des villes ? Pourquoi sont-elles des lieux de communication, des portes ouvertes sur le monde ? Comment s'imposent les villes globales ? Ce livre propose des réponses à ces questions en faisant appel à l'histoire, aux faits contemporains et au raisonnement économique moderne exposé de manière simple et accessible. Il offre des clés pour mieux comprendre la ville du XXIe siècle.

Advanced Services and Regional Integration. The Case of the CEECs

2005

Working Papers on Services, Space, Society (WPSSS17)http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/ssru/papers/wpsss17.pdf

In search of lost centrality

2007

The major changes of economic space organization seem to cast doubt over the concept of centrality and its applications, especially at the city, city network and global economy scales. Urban sprawl gives rise to a diffused or multiple centrality. Economic globalization reorganizes material and immaterial flows, and redistributes economic power to the advantage of global cities. A precise analysis of the terms center and centrality and of the phenomena they refer to permits to show that the classical patterns, if they are properly adapted, remain relevant at the urban scale, but that new centrality patterns are emerging at the world scale, on a reticular basis.

Varsovie, une nouvelle métropole

2003

Depuis la chute du mur de Berlin, de profondes modifications économiques, politiques et sociales ont vu le jour dans les Pays d’Europe Centrale et Orientale. Parmi ces transformations, la naissance de nouveaux acteurs économiques, leur adaptation aux conditions de l’économie de marché et notamment leur entrée dans les réseaux globaux modifient, jour après jour, les anciens équilibres entre les métropoles européennes. Certainesgrandes villes comme Budapest ou Varsovie suivent un processus original d’adaptation aux nouvelles conditions économiques, politiques et techniques qui résulte à la fois du poids de leur histoire et de leur capacité de transformation. Dans ses grandes lignes, l’évoluti…