Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2007. Sectio Scientarium Economicarum et Socialium. (Acta Academiae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 34)

Michael Carmona: A városfejlődés szerepe a régiófejlődésben

A városfejlődés szerepe a régiófejlődésben 37 This workforce drain had in some sense a positive effect for the deserted regions, since the agricultural activities, lacking workforce, had to turn to intensive mechanization, thus accelerating the modernization of the French agriculure, and in turn convicing more young people living in the countryside that they would made a better living by migrating to Paris. A second major consequence of this demographic tide was that the increase in the Parisian population brought extra customers to the Parisian consuming market, thus favouring the creation of new industries, new services, new shops, and distributing more salaries, more purchasing power, more wealth in Paris and in the communities around Paris. Paris was an overcrowded city, with more thant 3 million inhabitants packed on a surface of 100 square kilometers, and the overspill of the population in the suburbs was accelerating, the suburbs of Paris accommodated 2 extra millions before the war burst; the figure became 3, then 4, 5, 6 million; today, the population of the city of Paris has dwindled to 2 million, and the suburbs have climbed to 9 millions, leaving a poor 500.000 inhabitants to the rural part of the region. This piling of inhabitants in the suburbs of Paris produced a downgrading of the quality of life, since housing mixed with heavy industry plants; the absolute priority granted to industrial production allowed environmental conditions to become worse and worse; but the people, as well as the governmental authorities, cared very little for that, since high wages, lively conditions of life and entertainment, were present. Most of the newcomers were young people, and they marryied earlier than today, made many babies, fuelling in this way the increase of the consuming market; they needed new housing, with bigger apartments and houses to host their numerous children. Many districts inside Paris had to be renovated, that is, the former old buildings erected during the nineteenth century were pulled down, and new high rise, built after the most modern rules of the realistic socialism style, triumphant all over Europe, were completed. At a time, Paris had little place left for these new built areas, and governmental authorities were looking for spatial extension, that is coveting green areas outside Paris, where corn, vegetables and beets were grown, and which could be bought at a low price in order to be transformed in new urban districts. As for the elderly people living in Paris or in the dense suburbs surrounding Paris, since the environment was bad, when they retired, they had no need to remain in the bad conditions of life prevailing in the capital city; so they naturally tended to leave Paris in order to settle in the countryside, and, for that purpose, they bought deserted houses in deserted villages all around Paris. So new inhabitants came in the agricultural territories surrounding Paris: one category was provided by young people establishing in the new buildings which were just dormitories to them; a second category were elderly persons, retired from Paris, and still bearing the habits of a long duration of life in a big, lively city; they quickly were bored to death by the quiet life of the villages. Urban people and agricultural people really belonged to two worlds which were completely ignoring each other. I have a personal memory which strikingly illustrates this situation. At the beginning of the sixties, the French State had decided to