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This is happening everywhere, though. Young people in every western nation seem to be flocking to central, dense urban areas while at the same time market force

This is happening everywhere, though. Young people in every western nation seem to be flocking to central, dense urban areas while at the same time market forces cause retail to thin its margins and coalesce. It sucks, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's different.

muninn_ 10y ago
It's actually a really good thing. Instead of shopping at places like JCPenny or other big-box retailers, people are spending more money and buying higher-quality or locally made things in those areas. It's a win for everybody except sweatshops and cheap, disposable goods.
mxfh 10y ago
For most young people it's not a choice. First the higher education to get today's jobs is not available in smaller towns, so you have to move away first. While in parallel the old hands-on jobs and professions are disappearing from smaller towns due to rationalization and centralization tends to move away higher skill jobs as well, so people less often stay or find an incentive to come back after their college years. Unless smaller towns specialize or remote work plus high rent pressure in centers drives people back out I dont see how that trend will reverse. Compared to eastern Europe and Spain France has relatively low pressure with the demographic change in rural areas: http://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/europakarte/#11/43.9278/2.1475/en http://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/europakarte/#11/43.9278/2.14...
- wott 10y ago
  [About the map] What you see there is in fact the influence of Toulouse's growth. Inhabitants are flowing from Paris and the Northern parts of country, and they are ready to settle very far away from Toulouse. People not only settle 10 or 20 kilometres away, but also up to 80 and 100 km away. And then they drive that distance to work. There are several problems with that. The first is that there is a continuous urban spread around Toulouse, more or less US-style; and then, farther away, there are small urban spread around small towns and villages. People did not move there to live in a city or village apartment, they want a house/villa, with a garden and a swimming pool. The second is that the "god" figures that you can see on map do not reflect the reality on the field. The consequence of what I said in the previous paragraph is that these places are turned into bedroom communities, into dormitory village. There is no more life after these people have settled than there was before. These people activities are turned towards the metropolis, there is no gain in vitality for the village. Another factor, in more remote places where the influence of Toulouse is small or nil, is that people who fled the countryside in the 50's and 60's are back there for their retirement. So that makes good figures: stabilisation or small growth. But as you can imagine, that doesn't translate into more activity and life. As years pass, the biggest employer of the municipality becomes the elderly home. You can't base a local economy on this. And that is not sustainable either, early baby boomers won't last forever. A final point about what makes such maps look better than reality. My place used to be 4000 inhabitants in 1850. It is now "stable" under 800 inhabitants. Neighbouring communities underwent even more serious losses. But the major 'emigration' waves happened long ago (in the 50's and the 60's for the last one), so it doesn't show on such maps. Afterwards, the flows and the leaks have been moderate, compared to past bleedings.

muninn_ 10y ago

It's actually a really good thing. Instead of shopping at places like JCPenny or other big-box retailers, people are spending more money and buying higher-quality or locally made things in those areas. It's a win for everybody except sweatshops and cheap, disposable goods.

mxfh 10y ago

For most young people it's not a choice. First the higher education to get today's jobs is not available in smaller towns, so you have to move away first. While in parallel the old hands-on jobs and professions are disappearing from smaller towns due to rationalization and centralization tends to move away higher skill jobs as well, so people less often stay or find an incentive to come back after their college years. Unless smaller towns specialize or remote work plus high rent pressure in centers drives people back out I dont see how that trend will reverse. Compared to eastern Europe and Spain France has relatively low pressure with the demographic change in rural areas: http://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/europakarte/#11/43.9278/2.1475/en http://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/europakarte/#11/43.9278/2.14...

wott 10y ago
[About the map] What you see there is in fact the influence of Toulouse's growth. Inhabitants are flowing from Paris and the Northern parts of country, and they are ready to settle very far away from Toulouse. People not only settle 10 or 20 kilometres away, but also up to 80 and 100 km away. And then they drive that distance to work. There are several problems with that. The first is that there is a continuous urban spread around Toulouse, more or less US-style; and then, farther away, there are small urban spread around small towns and villages. People did not move there to live in a city or village apartment, they want a house/villa, with a garden and a swimming pool. The second is that the "god" figures that you can see on map do not reflect the reality on the field. The consequence of what I said in the previous paragraph is that these places are turned into bedroom communities, into dormitory village. There is no more life after these people have settled than there was before. These people activities are turned towards the metropolis, there is no gain in vitality for the village. Another factor, in more remote places where the influence of Toulouse is small or nil, is that people who fled the countryside in the 50's and 60's are back there for their retirement. So that makes good figures: stabilisation or small growth. But as you can imagine, that doesn't translate into more activity and life. As years pass, the biggest employer of the municipality becomes the elderly home. You can't base a local economy on this. And that is not sustainable either, early baby boomers won't last forever. A final point about what makes such maps look better than reality. My place used to be 4000 inhabitants in 1850. It is now "stable" under 800 inhabitants. Neighbouring communities underwent even more serious losses. But the major 'emigration' waves happened long ago (in the 50's and the 60's for the last one), so it doesn't show on such maps. Afterwards, the flows and the leaks have been moderate, compared to past bleedings.