Editorial : Les petites villes européennes comme enjeu d’équité territoriale

Les circuits de proximité. Un levier contre la banalisation des paysages alimentaires commerciaux d’une petite ville (Clermont-l’Hérault, Occitanie) ?

“…Les petites villes, celles qui comptent entre 3 000 et 20 000 habitants (Demazière, 2017), sont une strate négligée par la recherche urbaine (Bailleul et al, 2019). De même, la littérature sur la relocalisation des circuits de distribution s'est focalisée sur des métropoles et leurs espaces périurbains, rarement sur des unités urbaines plus petites (Baysse-Lainé et al, 2018).…”

The shrinkage of justice and hospital facilities in small French cities (2000–2016)

“…Although Gourdon et al (2019) underline the fact that decline occurs not only in small cities, and Atkinson (2019), Kresl and Ietri (2017) insist on the fact that small cities are not a homogeneous category, it must be emphasized that for small cities, the provision of public services is an essential part of their attractiveness (Boutet et al, 2019;Bailleul & Baudelle, 2019): "the availability of services is a key building block for economic diversification and the consequences of service closures can have significant effects upon community" (Halseth & Ryser, 2006, p. 71). Indeed, the fragility induced by the shrinkage of justice courts or MSO beds may affect the functioning of these cities in three broad ways.…”

“…According to Atkinson (2019), small cities (5,000 to 50,000 inhabitants) represent 56% of Europe's urban population. Even though small cities usually tend to grow faster than large metropolises in the short term, the risk of small-city marginalization within the broader context of Western development (whereby larger cities and metropolitan regions seem to polarise demographic and economic growth) has been highlighted by several scholars (Bailleul & Baudelle, 2019, Baron et al, 2010, Batunova & Gunko, 2018, Filion, 2010, Gourdon et al, 2019. However, Wolff and Wiechmann (2017) have shown that the relationship between smaller cities and urban shrinkage is irregular, and depends on the regions in which the cities are located.…”

Explaining the Dynamics of Small Towns in Western France by Testing ThWyjaśnianie dynamiki małych miast w zachodniej Francji poprzez testowanie trzech możliwych czynnikówree Possible

“…In the literature, small cities in developed countries are generally presented as weak links, both at European level (Mayfield et al 2005, Bailleul et al 2019 and in various national contexts in countries such as Germany (Steinführer 2015, Swiaczny 2015, Wirth et al 2016, Russia (Batunova, Gunko 2018) or the United States (Krugman 2017).…”

“…France is no exception to this prevailing pessimism. Many French essayists insist on the decline of small cities and their lack of a future (Roques 2009, Chauvier 2017, Bailleul et al 2019. Towns in decline are thus the most scrutinised, although they are far from being the dominant case.…”