| Abstract: |
This paper examines the development of “creative” services (research,
information, art etc.), located in medium-sized areas. Insofar as urban
dynamics lead to extend the advanced services outside metropolises, particular
attention is given to issues concerning the definition of “medium-sized
cities”, and their significance regarding urban systems; the approach in terms
of creativity and metropolization clarifies the incidence of their economic
contexts and their structuring role within spatial frameworks. The findings
presented in this paper are based on the experiment of French cities. They
precise the meanings and the limits of the urban size effect, which can play
in favour of medium-sized areas growth, and to their detriment as well. |