HAPPY FRINGE AREAS. Towns, Villages and Hamlets in Metropolitan Areas

Villes, villages hameaux dans les métropoles

Beyond the limits of the central conurbation of Paris, urban countryside areas are expanding; and they are doing so under the influence of the city. These territories, on the fringes of the metropolitan area, now appear as a resource territory — an ideal of a life closer to nature, yet one still connected with the metropolis and its assets.

While highly diverse, these fringe areas concentrate significant problems linked to urban sprawl: longer commuting distancesand transportation times, social-geographical dispersion, landartificialization, urban sickness, etc.