Le Nord‐Pas‐de‐Calais, entre mutations économiques et développement humain

The productive infrastructure of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has for decades been undergoing a transformation that is raising questions about the trade-off between economic change and social progress. In areas where the economic difficulties have been the most pronounced, local activity has come to a standstill, with diminished prospects for social progress. This problem has intensified since 2008, with a crisis that has had important consequences for local regions. This article has three parts. The first discusses the different changes that were seen in the economy in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, where growth has exceeded the national average, in periods of both prosperity and crisis. The construction of a regional macroeconomic model helps to highlight a certain autonomy that policy-makers can exploit. The second part presents the different drivers of local development in an effort to construct a profile typology for territories in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, in light of economic changes and polarities. Finally, the third section provides a different perspective on regional development using alternative territorial inequality indicators, highlighting a possible contradiction between economic growth on the one hand and human and sustainable development on the other.