Géohistoire de la fragmentation de la mégarégion parisienne

Abstract

The area of influence of global conurbations and agglomerations goes far beyond administrative borders. This questions the governance needed to deal with the challenges raised at this scale. This article offers to focus on the example of the Paris region, where the division has stayed the same since 1956 and where interregional cooperations have failed. More precisely, our objective is to understand why a small Parisian region was created and why its boundaries have not been modified to adapt to the functional aspect of the region. This geo-historical approach, using many archives, identifies the role played by the ideas and strategies of several actors, from Jean-François Gravier to the Valls government. The analysis also shows that political actors have difficulty in understanding the megaregional influence of Paris, and that the problems of cooperation in the megaregion will be exacerbated by the reform of the regional map (2015), which merged territories belonging in part to the urban area of Paris (Oise and Aisne, for example) with areas affected by very different dynamics and issues.

Keywords

• territorial governance
• Île-de-France
• geohistory
• regionalization/regionalisation