Aims

By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the economic principles of the spatial organisation of human activities, and apply these principles to the study of concrete examples.

Main themes

The course aims to study the principles governing the spatial organisation of economic activities, and particularly the formation of the main human agglomerations.

Content and teaching methods

The course will start with a description of the main forces of agglomeration and dispersal involved in the formation of the economic landscape according to the spatial scale employed (district, town/city, country or commercial bloc). This will be followed by a study of the creation of agglomerations and the emergence of regional imbalances; this will be illustrated by an analysis of territorial imbalances within the European Union. A particular, but fundamental, form of agglomeration is the town/city, and there will be an analysis of its main raisons d'être. At a strictly urban level, there will be an examination of the operation of property markets, the residential structure, and socio-geographic stratification. Students should ideally have, in addition to a good grounding in micro-economics, an interest in economic history as there will be numerous references to the history of towns/cities and territories.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Two-year degree courses in Economic Sciences.


Written examination.

A reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Other credits in programs