The regions further away from large towns and their peripheries could decline demographically and economically. Principal Regional Science research studies show "metropolisation" in developed countries since the 1980s. Although the forces of dispersion described in these studies explain pre-urbanisation, they do not, however, include the development of remote rural areas, which are attracting more and more residents. This demographic recovery accompanies a significant progression of employment and revenue, and this development of non-metropolitan areas questions both the theory and the experts. The productive capacity of these regions now seems insufficient to explain these new trends. According to the economic base theory, the production of goods and services is only one of the drivers of local economy. State transfer revenue, civil servant and commuter salaries, retirement pensions and tourist spending are all contributing factors to the regions' total revenue, despite their lack of productive capacity. How are these different factors combined? Faced with the complexity of the relationship person-activity-region, it is essential to consider all the factors as a whole, rather than look at them separately; join together the different model theories, instead of opposing them. Very different, still productive, more and more residential and recreational, the french rural regions make for an area of study favourable for understanding the emergence of one or more models of non-metropolitan development.
