New economic poles in the periphery of European metropolitan areas

The dispersal of population, commerce and industry to the outer edges of cities is, in quantitative terms, the most important development in urban areas in west-ern industrial societies in the last half century. The processes of peripheral growth have for a long time been observed and interpreted in the context of what might be called a 'discourse of dissolution of urban structures'. Key items of the discourse are terms like 'urban sprawl' or 'dispersal' and a rhetoric of a vanishing of the (traditional) 'European City'. In the last decade the discourse has been partly replaced by a perspective that focuses more on the newly emerging spatial structures on the urban fringe itself. The new discourse on urban reorganisation in the periphery is based on various sources: - Edge Cities and other associated forms of suburban centres have become ever more important elements of metropolitan regions in North America. - New theoretical approaches, like Regulation Theory, put emphasis on develop-ments in the urban periphery in search for 'post-Fordist' urban structures. The paper examines the question what types of new spatial clusters of economic activities can be identified in the periphery of European metropolitan areas. Empirical results of a cross section of case studies are presented. The case studies focus on metropolitan areas of European importance (Berlin, Budapest, Madrid, Moscow and Paris). Two levels of economic poles are identified: - New economic poles: concentration areas of economic activities that emerge in the last decades and have and employment size of at least 5000. - New economic nodes: activity centres of a minimum employment size of at least 1000. The results show that very few of these new economic poles bear resemblance to American Edge Cities.

Regionale Bevölkerungsentwicklung in Frankreich: eine Untersuchung auf der Ebene der zones d'emploi

The paper studies the regional demographic trends in France from 1968 to 1990. This study is based on a concept using zones d'emploi (labour market regions) as regional analysis units instead of régions de programmes or départements as usually done in other studies. The 348 zones d'emploi are functional units based on commuter flows. The study follows two main objectives: (1) Analysis of the main regional migration and population trends over the three census periods from 1968 to 1990. (2) Analysis of the growth trends of different types of regions on the basis of typifying the zones d’emploi (labour market regions) according to economic criteria and settlement structure criteria. The large-scale pattern of the population and population trends. Owing to the stronger growth of the rural zones d'emploi after 1975, the growth figures are rather suggestive of deconcentration trends. In the 80ies, however, the demographic trends were rather indicative of concentration trends: there has been a disproportionate growth in the regional metropolises and in the area around Paris. Additional indicators such as the employment trend and the business formation rate underline the dominance of concentration trends. That dominance of concentration trends on the inter-regional level in France is in accordance with studies which consider the large agglomeration areas to be the "winners" of the emerging European Union internal market. migration trends seem to be relatively stable in comparison to the massive change in the general economic and political framework in France and Western Europe. For instance, more than 60% of the zones d'emploi (labour market regions) have steadily shown either migration losses or migration gains over the three census periods. The different region types, however, show more distinct changes. The zones d'emploi (labour market regions) with a tertiary sector specialisation show a higher population growth than mainly industrial regions. Some agricultural regions obtained migration gains. But these influxes are often not linked with a corresponding job displacement. Using settlement structure types gives different results in the migration

Birmingham und das Black Country: wirtschaftlicher und raumstruktureller Wandel in der West Midlands Conurbation

The urban region around Birmingham and the Black Country -the so-called West Midlands Conurbation- is the economic centre of the West Midlands region and one of the biggest agglomerations in Great Britain. Here, since the seventies in a painful process of transformation a change of the industrial heartland into a more service-oriented metropolis has been going on. The economic change is accompanied by changes of persistent spatial structures. Measures of revitalisation chiefly pursue the aim to turn Birmingham into an international business centre. The essay surveys current trends in the development of spatial structures in the West Midlands Conurbation by the example of selected parts of the area. In particular, the city core of Birmingham, the old industrialized areas and the urban fringe are dealt with. In the city an increase in office space and a tendency towards expansion of the business centre into neighbouring districts is to be observed. In the parts of the town characterized by industry processes of decay and renewal are often going on side by side. Frequently, service facilities and retail shops are subsequent users of old industrial areas. One problem is the insufficient consideration of consequences of individual redevelopment projects for the whole city. In the outskirts, road construction and land consumption by business parks threaten to spoil the green belt surrounding the conurbation

Niedergang, Erneuerung und intraregionale Entwicklung in einem altindustriellen Raum: das Beispiel der Region Nord-Pas-de-Calais

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region has been one of the most important industrial areas of France in the last one and a half centuries. The economic power of the region rested for a long time on the dynamic development of coal mining, iron and steel production and the textile industry. In the last decades the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region experienced -like other old industrial regions in Western Europe- a series of crises of its key industries that led to a crisis of the whole region. On the other hand, signs if a regional revitalisation are noticable. The article focuses on the intraregional level and analyses the development of intraregional disparities that result from the parallel processes of decline and renewal. New growth is predominently concentrated in the Lille agglomeration. The Lille agglomeration is more and more becoming the regional metropolis with a dominant position in the spatial system. Adjacent rural areas profit from spill over-effects of the agglomeration. This, for instance, explains the growth of the subregion (zone d'emploi) Flandre-Lys. An axis of development is emerging between Lille and Calais. Arras seems to be becoming a new growth pole and could be the end point of another axis of development originating in Lille. New economic growth in the Pays Minier is limitied to the central cities of Valenciennes and Douai and to the fringes of the area. The former coal mining districts themselves show few signs of a revitalisation and are still dominated by derelict land. No alternative to a further development of the existing industrial basis is discernible in the Dunkerque area. The eastern parts of the region seem to be detached from the regional renewal. They possess neither the necessary prerequesites for exogenous impulses nor the potential for endogenous development. It seems that the region does not follow one common path of development, but that a threefold pattern of development is emerging: a revitalisation based on the expansion of the tertiary sector in the Lille area and -to a certain degree- in Arras; "re-industrialisation" in the form of a modernisation of existing enterprises in the coastal regions and in parts of the Pays Minier and a decline without signs of a revitalisation on the eastern parts of the region

Auf dem Weg zur grenzüberschreitenden Metropole?: Verflechtungen und Kooperation im belgisch-französischen Städtedreieck Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai

Die bereits seit langer Zeit "durchlässige" Grenze zwischen Frankreich und Belgien entwickelte sich in den 90er Jahren immer mehr zur "offenen" Grenze. Die Durchlässigkeit betrifft nicht nur die Territorialgrenze, sondern teilweise auch die sogenannten "Systemgrenzen", z. B. den Arbeitsmarkt, Teile des Schulwesens und des privaten Gesundheitswesens. Grenzüberschreitende Aktivitäten der Bevölkerung gehören im Städtedreieck Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai zum Alltag. Vielfalt und Intensität der Aktivitäten bestätigen die These, daß sich ein grenzüberschreitender Aktionsraum im Grenzgebiet herausgebildet hat. Dieser Aktionsraum umfaßt vor allem die unmittelbar an der Grenze gelegenen Gemeinden. Grenzüberschreitende Kooperationen auf lokaler und regionaler Ebene haben dagegen erst in den letzten Jahren ein größere Bedeutung erlangt. In den 90er Jahren ist ein breites Spektrum von Kooperationen auf intraregionaler und kommunaler Ebene entstanden, die einen neuen bottom up-Ansatz der Zusammenarbeit ohne Einbeziehung zentralstaatlicher Institutionen darstellen. Den Hintergrund für das neue Interesse an einer Zusammenarbeit mit den Nachbarstädten jenseits der Grenze bildet das Ziel durch Vernetzung eine "europäische Größenordnung" zu erreichen um sich als Knotenpunkt im entstehenden Netz europäischer Metropolen zu etablieren. Trotz der Vielzahl der grenzüberschreitenden Kooperationen auf verschiedenen Ebenen (Gemeinden, Gemeindeverbände, Regionen) ist das belgisch-französische Städtedreieck ist noch weit davon entfernt eine grenzüberschreitende Metropole zu bilden.Interconnections and cooperation in the French-Belgian city triangle Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai The border between France and Belgium, which has long been regarded as "permeable", developed during the 1990s into more and more of an "open" border. The permeability pertains not only to the territorial border, but in part also to the so-called system borders, e.g. the job market, parts of the school system and the private health system. Border-transcending activities form part of the every-day life of the population in the city triangle Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai. The diversity and intensity of the activities confirm the thesis that a border-transcending activity space has developed in the border region. This action space incorporates primarily the communities in the immediate vicinity of the border. In comparison to this, it is only in recent years that border-transcending cooperations on local and regional levels have gained a greater importance. In the 1990s a wider spectrum of cooperations on the intra-regional and community levels arose, which demonstrate a new bottom-up approach to cooperation without the involvement of centralised state institutions. The background for the new interest in cooperation with neighbouring cities on the other side of the border is the aim to create an entity having a "European order of magnitude" and to establish this as a junction point in the existing network of European metropoles. In spite of the large number of border-transcending cooperations on various levels (communities, community societies, regions), the French-Belgian city triangle is still far from becoming a border-transcending metropolis

Lehrstellensituation und Jugendarbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland (mit Kartenbeilage)

The development in Leipzig and in other districts governed by the job centre in the new German federal States (former State of East Germany) demonstrate that the dual system is not yet capable of providing for sufficient numbers of trainee positions. It is only possible to balance out a certain proportion of the deficit in trainee positions by the employment of huge State subsidies. A further component of the deficit is cut back be the reduction in demand: in other word, by channelling the applicants into school-based or occupational alternatives. However, faced with the current framework conditions, these often have the character of a "holding pattern", after the completion of which the young people once again have to chase after an occupational trainee position. In order to ensure the provision of sufficient numbers of trainee positions, it is nec essary that considerable thought is dedicated to various models which transfer the focus from the single-firm to pan-firm financing of training. This form of financing already exists in the building trade. In this way, it was possible to increase the willingness of the firms to accept trainees. The State subsidies -amounting to almost 100 million DM in Saxony last year- have reached a level where an increase seams hardly practicable. It would appear to be more sensible to employ the current means in a focused manner for a continual supply of occupational trainee positions and to support in a more intensive manner the occupational training potential by means of the promotion of training associations, for example by the introduction of a stock exchange agency for these associations, rather than financing cost-intensive ad hoc programmes for training outside of the companies themselves. Experience has shown that young people that have received training within a company have better chances on the job market than those who have completed courses outside of companies. Within the framework of the regional job market research, it must be taken into account that the prognoses for the job market -despite the current problems on the job market- all speak of a medium-term deficit in skilled workers, even in the new German federal states. Therefore, the supply of trainee positions -just as much in the general interests of the economy- should not orientate itself to transient shortfalls, rather to the long-term requirements. Otherwise, the lack of skilled workers could prove to be an inhibiting vice on the development of the economy in the next decade in the new German federal states

Neue Entwicklungen an der Peripherie europäischer Großstädte: ein Überblick

In the last few years, the outlines of a new discussion of problems around the urban periphery have become apparent. If we compare these issues of the current discourse with the suburbanisation debate of the seventies, it becomes obvious that there has been a change in perspective. The development of the periphery is no longer perceived from the point of view of the core city, and interpreted as being an "outpouring" or "dissolving" of the city, but rather it is the new structures on the edges of the city on which the main interest lies. It is less the dissolving of the city as more a reformation of city structures which is focused on - newly established central structures on the periphery of European metropoles. A batch of new jargon attempts to give these new centres a title: "Zwischenstadt", edge city, exopoles, aeroville, technopoles, outer city, etc. In many cases, the contents and delimitation of the terms remain unclear. The following essay depicts various approaches within this discussion of new development tendencies on the periphery of cities and connects this discursive level with a first summary of the level of research which has been carried out on the developments on the periphery of European metropoles. In this context, we focus on the tendencies of peripheral growth in Spain, France, Germany (old and new federal states), Hungary and Russia. The selection of countries cannot cover all manifestations of the process of suburbanisation in Europe, but does register essential differences as a result of the West-East profile: different locations in the continental economic area, differences in the level of economic development, transformation countries on the one hand and established market economies on the other hand. In addition to the considerable national differences, western and eastern European developments are clearly dissimilar. They are significantly unlike American regional patterns on the periphery of large cities - from the urban sprawl of American suburbs. Different cultural evaluations of the cities, dissimilar planning cultures and different political forms of regulation are opposed to a radical change in European settlement structures. From a theoretic point of view of regulation theory, these processes in the city regions are the result of the different modes of regulation, which are determined by the overlapping of different scales of regulation (supra-national, national, regional and local)

Frankreich: Bevölkerungsentwicklung in den neunziger Jahren - erste Ergebnisse der Volkszählung 1999

From the first results of the French 1999 census we can see that the existing regional trends in the development of the population in France are continuing in weakened form. While the north and north-east with their high birth rates, as an older industrial region, continue to be migration areas, the south is gaining as a result of population moving in. Another thing that is taking on the form of a continuous development is the growth of some regional centres such as Nice, Montpelier and Toulouse. The traditional imbalance between Paris and the "province" seems to be diminishing as a result of the region of Paris (Ile-de-France) losing quantitative amounts of population. In spite of this, we should still be cautious about interpreting the data with reference to the possibility of decentralisation or a loss of importance in the region of the capital. The intertwining area of Paris has continued to extend itself into the bassin Parisien (the Parisian basin) in the last decade, i.e. the bordering region. However, in order to completely assess the data from the census, we will have to wait for the evaluation of census data that is planned for spring of 2001

Von La Defénse nach Moskwa City: "Bürocities" als Wettbewerbsstrategien europäischer Metropolen

Die Bürocity ist ein typisches Element einer Metropole von internationaler Bedeutung, die als Projekt des Stadtumbaus in vielen Großstädten während der letzten Jahrzehnte entstanden ist. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die Entwicklung und Funktion großer Büro- und Dienstleistungsstandorte anhand der Beispiele La Défense in Paris und Moskwa City in Moskau analysiert. Ein Projekt von paradigmatischer Bedeutung ist La Défense in Paris. Moskwa City in Moskau ist ein Beispiel für ein Großprojekt, dessen Realisierung derzeit noch am Anfang steht. Insbesondere die Hintergründe und Faktoren, die die Entwicklung von La Défense und Moskwa City in den Kontext der jeweiligen gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen stellt, werden thematisiert. Die Bürocity hat zunächst unmittelbare lokale Effekte für die städtische Ökonomie. Neue Büroagglomerationen sind Teil des städtischen Immobilienmarktes, sie stellen Raum für bestimmte ökonomische Funktionen zur Verfügung. Bürocities gelten jedoch auch als Standorte zur Organisation regionaler, nationaler und globaler ökonomischer Prozesse. Sie sind daher mit der Frage ökonomischer (und im weiteren Sinne politischer) Macht verbunden. Sie sind Faktor der Außendarstellung der Städte im Wettbewerb um Positionen im Netz der europäischen Metropolen. Ihre Funktion ist mehrdeutig: einerseits sind sie Knotenpunkte der modernen Dienstleistungs- und Informationsgesellschaft, andererseits Markenzeichen und Symbole der Innovation und der Integration der jeweiligen Metropole in die globale Ökonomie. Sowohl La Défense als auch das Projekt Moskwa City verdeutlichen die Zusammenhänge zwischen politischen Intentionen, städtebaulichen Visionen und wirtschaftlichen Interessen. Auf einer symbolischen Ebene lassen sie sich als 'gebauter Weltstadtanspruch' interpretieren. Die aktuellen Bauprojekte zeigen, dass die Bürocity von La Défense weiterhin das Experimentierfeld für Bürobauten internationalen Stils und Vitrine des französischen Verständnisses einer neuen Moderne bleibt. Auch bei dem Projekt Moskwa City wird deutlich, dass hinter seiner Realisierung nicht nur ökonomische Überlegungen stehen. Die Dimension der Bürocity, ihre Einbindung in das funktionale Gefüge der gesamten Stadt und der architektonische Ausdruck der projektierten Gebäude verdeutlichen, dass hier nicht nur ein Entlastungszentrum für Büro-, Geschäfts- und Hotelnutzungen geplant ist. Moskwa City ist zugleich Programm. Sie soll den Aufbruch in eine neue Zeit symbolisieren. Trotz der jeweiligen spezifischen nationalen und lokalen Bedingungen ihrer Entstehung liegen den hier beschriebenen Bürocities ähnliche Leitbilder der Stadtentwicklung zugrunde. Neben ihrer Bestimmung als Experimentierfeld für Architektur und Laboratorium der Moderne (oder Postmoderne) ist den Bürocities die Funktion der Fokussierung globaler (politischer, ökonomischer und kultureller) Prozesse zugedacht. Auf der anderen Seite begünstigt der ökonomische Strukturwandel, dem die Städte während der letzten Dekaden unterworfen waren, die Umnutzung und Entwicklung der alten Industrieflächen, insbesondere in den Randbereichen der Innenstadt. Die Städte entwickeln bei der Konzipierung, Realisierung und Vermarktung der Bürocities unternehmerische Qualitäten und Strategien. Im Konkurrenzkampf um die bestmögliche Eingliederung in die Rangfolge der Weltmetropolen erscheinen Wachstumsbranchen wie produktionsorientierte Dienstleistungen, Hochtechnologie sowie Informationstechnologien als Garanten von Stadtentwicklung, Bürocities als das dazugehörige Requisit.The office city is a typical element of metropolises of international significance; many of them have been constructed in the last few decades as part of the city development in a large number of large cities. This article analyses the development and function of large office and services sites using the examples of La Défense in Paris und Moskva City in Moscow. The project La Defense in Paris is indeed a paradigm. Moskva City in Moscow is an example of the start of a major project. The article focuses on the backgrounds and factors that place the development of La Défense and Moskva City in the context of their respective social significance. Initially, office cities have direct local impact on the city economy. New agglomerations of office space are elements of the city property market, providing space for certain economic functions. However, office cities are also regarded as sites for the organisation of regional, national and global economic processes. They are therefore intrinsically linked to the question of economic (and in a wider sense political) power. They are factors in the manner in which cities portray themselves to the outside world in the competition for positions in the network of European metropolises. They are multifunctional: firstly they are nodal points of the modern services and information society, secondly landmarks and symbols of innovation and integration in the respective metropolis and in the global economy. La Défense and the project Moskva City both emph asise the links between political intentions, city development visions and economic interests. On a symbolic level, they can be interpreted as 'cosmopolitan city standards in stone'. The current building projects reveal that the office city of La Défense remains the field of experi mentation for office buildings of international style and a showcase of the French understanding of a new modernity. The project Moskva City also reveals that its realisation is not founded on commercial interests alone. The dimensions of the office city, its integration in the functional framework of the entire city and the architectural expression of the buildings emphasise that here it is not simply a question of planning a relief centre for office, commercial and hotel uses. Moskva City is equally a programme. It is intended to symbolise departure into a new era. Despite the specific national and local circumstances of their construction, these two office cities are based on similar principles of city development. In addition to their designation as a field of experimentation for architecture and as laboratories of modernity (or post-modernity) the office cities are additionally designed to focus global (political , economic and cultural) processes. On the other hand, the economic structural transformation that both cities have experienced in the past decades promotes the reuse and development of the old industrial spaces, especially in the peripheral areas of the city centre. The cities develop entrepreneurial qualities and strategies in the concept management, implementation and marketing of the office cities. In the competitive battle for the best possible position in the order of global metropolises, growth branches such as product-orientated services, high technology and information technologies appear to be guarantors of city development, with office cities as their props

Quelles dynamiques pour les petites villes en Europe ? Une étude comparée Saxe-Bretagne (1990-2015)

L’article vise à montrer la diversité des facteurs d’évolution des petites villes européennes à partir d’une étude comparée de deux régions périphériques dans leur espace national mais sujettes à des évolutions démographiques opposées : la Saxe et la Bretagne. Après avoir présenté les hypothèses et choix méthodologiques, une typologie des trajectoires démographiques de ces villes de 1990 à 2015 par région est dressée. Les enseignements par rapport à l’état du savoir actuel en sont tirés : loin d’une crise globale, l’évolution des petites localités est très dépendante de leur distance aux agglomérations dynamiques (grandes ou moyennes) et de la santé démographique de leur région. L’économie résidentielle ne suffit cependant pas à leur assurer un avenir, la base économique et leurs fonctions de pôle de service restant des déterminants majeurs.The diversity of the factors commanding the evolution of small European cities is addressed from a comparative analysis of two peripheral regions within their national space but subject to opposite demographic trends: Saxony (Eastern Germany) and Brittany (France). The assumptions and the methodological choices are presented. The population dynamics of the towns from 1990 to 2015 exhibit various types for each region. The results are used to reassess the current state of knowledge: far from a general crisis, the evolution of small cities is very dependent on their distance from dynamic (large or medium) agglomerations and the demographic dynamics of their region