Over the past decade, the world of territories has undergone profound changes with the extension of metropolitan status in 2014, the reform of the map of regions in 2015 and, three years later, the outbreak of the Yellow Vests movement which was to be the revealing new fractures. However, if economic geography upsets the balance between cities and regions, political factors also influence.
Over the past thirty years, new trends have emerged with the tightening of growth around large metropolitan areas and a rise in territorial inequalities. The spontaneous tendency is therefore not in equilibrium. Investments are now going to the richest regions. A new centre/periphery divide is taking shape before our eyes.
The metropolisation of economic growth and employment continues with around fifteen privileged agglomerations (Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rennes, Montpellier, etc.) and a disconnect between the regions of the north-east and those of the south-west. Growth in activity is all the weaker in the northeast as the demographic dynamic is unfavorable there, contrary to what is observed in the territories of the Atlantic and Mediterranean seaboards. The “winning” regions in the west, south-west or south-east of France, such as Brittany, New Aquitaine or PACA, are attracting more and more working people and retirees. The “losing” regions are the Hauts-de-France and a large part of the Grand-Est, which have lost a significant part of their production activities and, at the same time, of their retirees. For these territories, it is therefore a double penalty. Affected by a structural crisis, they do not benefit from the increased mobility of the French people and the shift in income that it generates. Only a few cities, such as Lille or Strasbourg, escape downgrading.
A Darwinian scenario
Consequently, the inter-institutional games that develop between cities and regions vary greatly according to socio-economic and political configurations. A first scenario, which could be described as Darwinian, outlines a configuration of very strong competition between regions and metropolises for the control of economic levers. This scenario can be identified in regions characterized by very strong economic polarization and conflicts of political preponderance. The example of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is striking. There is a rivalry between the regional executive, chaired by Laurent Wauquiez (LR), and the two main cities, Lyon and Grenoble, acquired by the ecological left. This competitive game is also identifiable in Ile-de-France, which superimposes the levels of governance between the city of Paris (Anne Hidalgo, PS), the metropolis of Greater Paris (Patrick Ollier, LR), the regional executive (Valérie Pécresse , LR), but also the various State administrations.
However, a second, more cooperative scenario is emerging. Many French regions and cities have neither the institutional resources nor the economic capacity to engage in autonomous development strategies. Interdependence is required to develop the major equipment projects of the future such as railway lines or renewable energies. This is the case of Rennes and Brest and the Brittany region; Nantes and Angers and Pays-de-la-Loire; or Lille and Amiens and Hauts-de-France. The current economic, energy and agricultural transitions also highlight these interdependencies between cities and regions to manage resources (water, land), mobility and, in general, adapt to the imperative of decarbonization. Let’s not be naïve, however: the fight against global warming will not eliminate real territorial competition, but will undoubtedly shape new forms of cooperation between cities and regions. The Anthropocene era demands it…
*Romain Pasquier is research director at the CNRS and holder of the “Territories and mutations of public action” chair at Sciences Po Rennes. This political scientist is considered one of the best observers of French territory.