6533b825fe1ef96bd128248f

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Services supérieurs et recomposition urbaine

subject

description

Since the 1980s, we have observed an increasing tendency o f specialized services like producer services to leave their « natural habitat » in the center o f large met ropolitan areas in order to re loc at e in suburban zones. This phenomenon is particularly apparen t in North American citi es and seems to be occurring around certain French cities too. This paperinvestigates the forms taken by this new trend, and the reasons behind it. Taking economic geography and economics of cities as our theoretical basis, we first describe the main forces deter mining the agglomeration o f producer services and their preference for certain big cities. Agglomeration factors are to be looked for not only in production factors, and th en mainly in information and skilled labor, but also in the specific demand characteristics o f producer services. Second, we attempt to explain the recent movement o f deconcentration o f producer services. This process is the result of classical dispersion forces such as congestion or competition for land, b ut also o f more specific factors associated with new communication technologies, workers' lifestyles and the product cycle. The differences between N orth American andFrench observ ations can be ascribed to differences in the nature o f the agglomeration and dispersion forces at work.