Local economic attractiveness: luring not only jobs

Local development can rely on several approaches: attracting factories and offices, but also working to draw tourists, retirees, and persons working elsewhere to the area. One can compile a map of French economic attractiveness by analyzing criteria such as the share of leisure activities, the development of transport, and the quest for a better residential environment. The map features coastal or mountain areas that promote their natural assets and quality of life. But there are also the peripheries of large metropolises inhabited by employees and their families who have come to find affordable housing without necessarily working in the area. The main magnets for jobs are northern France, the Rhone valley, and the large cities of southern France. The inflow of skilled employees is concentrated in Paris and a few large regional metropolises. Apart from these areas, the “Greater South-West” has trouble promoting its residential attractiveness, and a portion of the industrial north-east remains untouched by these economic flows.