Varsovie entre polarisation et dispersion

The introduction of the market induces a restructuration of economic activities (tertiarization) which generates a reorganization of the urban structure of Warsaw. The analysis of this process introduces the Central and Oriental European Countries into the debat on the universality of the suburbanization forms. From 1994 to 1999, population and employment move towards the Warsaw?s suburbs. However, the central districts are largely the most important in terms of population and employment. The city keeps a strong monocentric character in 1999. But the suburbanization of retailing and population services, and the emergence of a specialized CBD show an evolution towards the urban multicentric model. The speed of the movements suggests the existence of a catching-up process. Thus, the geography of employment changes shows that Warsaw presents an original development. For historic reasons, the center is still strongly dominant, but a number of universal characters of the suburbanization appear. Classification JEL : P59, R11.