Abstract
Peripheral retail expansion is characterized by the continuous production of large car-dependent off-centre stores and leads to the destruction of small independent stores in suburban and rural areas. It is a major preoccupation for public authorities and residents as it affects the vitality and viability of neighbourhoods and the survival of spatially deprived areas. Our objective is to study off-centre retail expansion as a global mechanism of urban sprawl and its implication for equitable and sustainable development. We first survey the international literature on social and economic implications of retail expansion and its consequences for spatial equality. Then, on the basis of national and regional retail studies, local newspapers and financial analysts’ reports, we assess on the spatial and social effects of retail expansion on a local scale and at a regional level in the Île-de-France Paris region, over the 1975–2013 period. Finally, we produce spatial statistics using 1975–2013 databases on retail floorspace, numbers of large and small retail units and demographic and socio-economical characteristics in each of the 1281 municipalities. We aim at measuring and characterizing retail expansion and decentralization and its socio-economic consequences in the Ile-de-France region. We have concluded that retail expansion affects sustainability and equity by leading to social and spatial inequalities.
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Notes
- 1.
The access to this database is protected by the French National Committee for statistical secret.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Region Île-de-France and the DIM R2DS program for the financial support and the centre for access to securized data (CASD) for their support in accessing to the data on retail development.
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Torre, A., Peiffer-Smadja, O. (2023). Peripheral Retail Expansion: Social Implications and Spatial Inequalities the Case of the Île-de-France Region. In: Vaz, E. (eds) Geography of Happiness. Contributions to Regional Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19871-7_5
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