European megalopolis
The concept of European megalopolis , or dorsal European was developed by Roger Brunet to indicate a space densément populated and strongly urbanized which extends roughly from London to Milan. It is inside this space that the production of richness and flows are most important in Europe. In a certain manner, it can be regarded as centers it economic Europe. However, other concepts can make it possible to describe the European economic heart, like that of Pentagone London-Paris-Milan-Munich-Hamburg and that of Euro-boxing ring, centered around Brussels, which gathers all the European metropolises connected the ones to the others by TGV within approximately 3 hour. Many specialists in the Town and country planning prefer today to insist on the concept of European polycentrism, but concede that a certain phenomenon of Conurbation is observed the North Sea to the Rhenish valley.
The European dorsal was also called “ blue Banane ”, name inspired of its curved form and the dominant color of the flag of the European Union or of that “” representing traditionally the continent of Europe, blue.
Birth of the concept
In 1973, Roger Brunet publishes an article entitled “Structures and dynamic of the French territory” in which he insists on the existence of an economic and demographic axis major extending from London to Milan. The areas concerned were then the London basin, the Benelux, the north-eastern fringe of France (Alsace and Lorraine), the Rhenish valley , the western half of the Bavaria, the Suisse and the west of the basin of the Po in the north of the Italy. In 1989, Brownish and GIP Reclus make for DATAR a new study, much médiatisée on the same subject. The conclusions highlighted a coherent urban corridor and curve extending from London at Milan, center major of the European space development according to this study (according to the model Center/Périphérie used in geography and economy).
Perimeter and power
The megalopolis or European dorsal corresponds to a space with the strong space densities being spread out between London and Milan, sometimes widens Manchester with Rome, that is to say approximately 70 million inhabitants on 1500-1700 km length.This unit is regarded as the heart of Europe because it gathers the cities and the most dynamic spaces in term of political, economic and cultural weight. One thus finds London, a total city with a PUB of 208,9Md $ (superior with the GDP of South Africa); the the Benelux countries, with two cities gathering the major institutions of the European Union (Brussels, Luxembourg), the Randstad Holland and one of the largest ports of the world (Rotterdam); the Rhenish Europe; Italy of North with the industrial towns of Milan and Turin.
From the geographical point of view, there exist two major discontinuities with the Manche and the the Alps, but these last were exceeded by the construction of road infrastructures and railway like the Channel tunnel and the tunnels alpine.
Relativisation
Many detractors stressed that this study was carried out in the context of Europe cut into two because of Cold war, and that so it did not take into account sectors however also structuring on the continent, such as the agglomeration Berlin oise, the Baltique and Warsaw, or the corridor of the the Danube. To that the importance of the Paris basin and the Mediterranean Arc is added. In addition, a third of blue banana covers deserted zones (the North Sea, the Alps) or hard touched by difficulties of conversion of industry (Wallonia, Lorraine, the Saar, the Ruhr).
New approaches
Today, the approach in term of Center and Périphérie of European space seek to integrate Paris which remains a periphery of this dorsal.In 1998, Roger Brunet proposes to distinguish a new space gathering the main cities from the Northern half of the megalopolis: London, city of the Randstad Dutch, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich, Basle, plus Paris. It calls this unit the Boxing ring . This word means “German ring”, it thus points out the ring of Niebelung, the gold of the the Rhine, river which is in the middle of this system. With the English direction, the word evokes also the ground on which the champions clash. The European capitals Brussels and Strasbourg are appreciably two hearths of the ellipse of the Boxing ring and Luxembourg is in its center. Another approach is proposed the Euro-boxing ring, which gathers all the European Métropole S connected the ones to the others by a Ligne at high speed (LGV) within approximately 3 hour. Centered around Brussels, it includes/understands in particular cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam, $the Hague, Frankfurt, Cologne… soon Milan, even in a near future Madrid, via Barcelona.
The chart of these capitals connected enters by the trains at high speed like the Thalys, the Eurostar, or the Artésia is called by the geographer Guy Baudelle the " red octopus ".
In the field of the Town and country planning in Europe, strongly the concept of Polycentrisme emerges which is posed in reaction to the centrality considered to be excessive of the European territory. This centrality is described and denounced in the Development scheme of Community Space through the figure of the pentagon which the towns of London form - Paris - Milan - Munich - Hamburg. In the current political representations of European town and country planning, the blue banana is not mobilized to describe the territorial organization, and Paris is resolutely regarded as belonging to the center.