Au-delà du dualisme métropolitain : les différentes configurations du développement territorial dans la région des Hauts-de-France

This paper studies how development and its attributes are distributed across the territories composing the region of « Hauts-de-France ». For this purpose, we adopt two typologies : the first one distinguishes the territories of the region according to their degrees of urbanity, and the second one focuses on the influence of the major employment hubs. Based on this two typologies, we show that rural areas are not all losing employment in favour of major urban centers, and that the large cities (except the Lille Metropole and the north side of Parisian Metropole) appear on this point in a less favorable situation. We then present the indicator we have designed in order to measure the development of the region? territories. We study the distribution of the indicator?s attributes by mobilizing the two typologies adopted. We show that large urban center of Hauts-de-France present quite low disadvantages in terms of Transportation-Employment, attracting more and more jobs, whereas other non-isolated rural areas (suburban areas in particular) manage to do well in terms of Housing-Environment, which could explain high rates of population growth in their constituant municipalities. This results shows there is no single model of local development that is based solely on the size of territories and the economies of agglomeration offered by metropolization.