Since the 70s, France has experienced deeply new spatial economic trends, largely driven by the business service sector. Medium sized cities appear to be suffering from such trends which much more benefit to larger urban conurbations. Mid-size cities grow at a slower rate and mainly differ from...

This Handbook brings together 49 international specialists to address an issue of increasing importance for the world’s post-industrial economies; innovation as it relates to services.

This article analyses the evolution of employment in the French regions, putting the accent on business service firms. A ‘shift and share’ type of analysis shows that a primary decentralisation in tertiary activities seems to emerge in the 1990s, essentially pertaining to ancillary producer...

Medium-sized cities are often considered as a valuable substitute to a large metropolis as they may promote better sustainable growth. However, these second rank conurbations do not benefit from economies of scale as do larger cities. They share some characteristics with a big metropolis,...