ABSTRACT
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOPPING CENTRES IN THE PARIS REGION
Annie Delobez
By publishing two decrees on 31.12.58, the French government broke with a long tradition of freedom in the area of commercial establishments. This freedom, like free competition, had been instituted in 1791 by the Le Chapelier law. Throughout the 1950s the strict application of this law meant that the authorities had been powerless to act in response to the rapidly increasing scarcity of retail provision in city suburbs generally and especially in the suburbs of Paris. The first of these decrees allowed the prefect when giving permission for the building of new housing developments to compel property developers to include in their plans the various commercial and factory premises needed for the new population. The second new decree allowed the enforcement of the provision of shopping centres in town planning schemes. In fact already around Paris for the previous four or five years a few small groups of neighbourhood shops had been built at the heart of new residential areas constructed by parapublic organisations. These became known as ’’centres commerciaux” after American shopping centres. It is estimated that over the last thirty years some 180 of the new planned groups of shops have been established by property developers.
