In the present doctoral dissertation, shopping trips are seen as conveying and bringing to light the underlying logics of the Paris metropolitan region polycentric structure. The selected approach relies upon a multi-scalar space-time analysis (ranging from general metropolitan dynamics to individual daily journeys within the metropolis) and combines the methods of spatial analysis with qualitative interviews and mental maps. It is first and foremost grounded upon the analyses of two databases on shops and daily shopping trips throughout the whole Paris metropolitan region - in which the latter are seen as structuring metropolitan space. These opening surveys reveal a relational and morphological polycentrism, showing a network-metropolis hinging upon several centralities. Besides, by focusing on both shopping trips and commercial structuring logics of the Paris metropolitan region, the present work offers further information on the Paris metropolitan region, different from the more commonly employment- and commuting-based approach. The second part turns to metropolitan dynamics considered through individual and group mobility patterns. This change in perspective exposes differing journeys and trip chains corresponding to varying neighbourhood scales and strikingly distinct time-budgets rooted in inequalities, as shown in an in-depth analysis of student population. Halfway between anchoring and networking logics, shopping trips offer a specifically relevant prism to grasp, analyse and differentiate the Paris metropolitan region dynamics, from the metropolitan to the individual scale.
Shopping Trips and Centralities in the Paris Metropolitan Region