The purpose of this paper is to derive the main consequences present long-term demographic and economic trends may have on urban growth and structure in developed countries. Urban implications of five processes are discussed: ageing of population, international immigration, globalization, disindustrialization, and the increasing role of new technologies of communication. The urban impact of these processes are examined as well from the point of view of the spatial structure of a nation's territory (the urban network) as from the point of view of the spatial structure of the city itself. The author's conclusion is that, all other things being equal, present demographic and economic long-term trends all lead towards strengthening the main metropolitan regions of the most developed countries, and towards reinforcing the central zones within these regions.
The underlying increase of income changes our daily time use. According to the fact that the daily time budget is strictly stable, time becomes, in relative terms, the scarcest resource. Facing this growing feeling of time scarcity, faster transport modes are developed to help us to save time. Nevertheless, everything happens as if, despite the speed increase, the scarcity of time is growing. To enlighten this paradox, travel time budgets of industrialised cities are analysed. First the Zahavi's conjecture of the travel time budget (TTB) stability is reviewed. With the reinvestment, in new trips, of travel time savings due to higher speed, we obtain a space and time urban sprawl. Such a mechanism is observed in North American and Oceanic towns. An "extensive urban model" can be characterised by increasing travel distances and TTB. In opposition, Asian and European cities form the "intensive urban model", with stable TTB. What is the signification of this European specificity? Is Europe simply lagging behind the North-American "model". Or is it a different way of managing the scarcity of time?
Urban Sustainable development has underlined the necessity to decrease automobile use in metropolitan areas. Urban sprawl is seen as a major factor of automobile dependence. Therefore, the comparative advantages of the compact city are a strong incentive to adopt compacification measures. Nevertheless, some critics have questioned these advantages as much as the feasibility of such policies. By listing the arguments from each side of the debate, we try to build a method to understand the urban form-mobility patterns interaction. Some results on the metropolitan area of Bordeaux are presented.
This text compares mobility behaviours of the Belgian according to the urbanisation level of their place of residence. This urbanisation level is based on a morphological criterion: continuity of built up areas. Micro data of the 1999 Belgian national household travel survey make it possible to compare daily mobility behaviours. Travel demand, daily activity patterns, either their structured by work or not, appear remarkably uniform. Urbanisation level in the Belgian territory does favour certain means of transport, it influences travelled distances, but has very little impact on travel times.
The assessment of the importance of goods transport in economy faces a number of definition and methodology problems. On the one hand, transport is split between third account transport (sold on the market of services) and own account transport (imbedded in agricultural, manufacturing or services firms that use in-house means of transport). On the other hand, some transport firms have a mixed activity, encompassing both passengers and freight. The measure of freight transport in terms of involved employment overcomes both difficulties.The paper carries out such a measure on a rather long period (from 1982 to 1999) et compares two important European countries (Germany and France). This diachronic approach allows to estimate the rhythm of transport outsourcing (the shift from own account to third account). International comparison validates and moderates results. Finally, the exercise is broadened, from mere transport to a wider "logistics" activity.
Railway regional passenger transport is experiencing since 1970 in France and Italy but also in the main European countries a decline in modal split facing car mobility. To inverse this trend, the regionalization of railway regional passenger transport is today implemented in France and Italy. This reform is still in both countries in process and will have some impacts on the regional service by opening the field to service's contracts between transport authorities and operators (only the national operator SNCF in France is allowed). In this paper, we analyze the framework of regional railway passenger in France and Italy. We highlight then the impact of the regionalization reform for both countries. We show that regionalization is based on a double negotiation process: first, with the central State, it deals with the determining of financial grants due to this transfer of competence without transfer of charges. Secondly, it deals with a negotiation for establishing a convention Transport Authority/Regions and Operators. Organization and financing competence, communication, pricing, quality control will be competencies of the regions. We will then conclude by showing the challenge and limits of the reform. What are the brakes of the regionalization reform in France and Italy?