Trajectoires résidentielles et morphologiques des franges périurbaines : une méthode appliquée au Limousin

Abstract

This study provides a method to analyze residential development dynamics which imply discontinuous urban patterns. Using an original spatio-temporal database recording tax data, this method gets over difficulties to describe modern patterns of urban growth from the residential lots scale to a larger spatial scale, and over time it traces the beginnings of periurban development. On this methodological basis, an empirical analysis is developed to characterize trends in periurban areas, in the French region of Limousin, from 1950 to 2009. The results point out the specific residential trajectories and patterns of each periurban fringe through time. This empirical analysis is enlightened by successive contributions in urban economics focusing on spatial patterns in urban sprawl.

Keywords

• discontinuity
• spatial diffusion
• urban form
• spatio-temporal dynamics
• periurban