Impact of recession on socio-economic structure of French urban system

In order to promote construction of dynamic models for socio-economic structure of national urban systems we need a better knowledge in mechanisms governing functional and social redistributions between cities. Empirical regularities are provided from the French case, with detailed information for 400 urban agglomerations covering a fast-growth period (1954-1975) and a more recent phase of economical crisis (1975-1980). Observations are made about structural persistency and time scale of urban change.