ABSTRACT
Transformations over time have partly reflected, in addition to natural conditions, the origins of Europe's diversity. The originally slow territorial integration, with its phases of progress and setbacks, followed by its rapid acceleration over the past 50 years have been transforming the European continent into a common space of life and destiny. It has also emerged from earlier chapters that the European territory is somehow caught between a plurality of global issues, on the one hand, and, on the other, the willingness of communities and local authorities to ensure, in an ever changing context, cohesion, competitiveness and quality of life in their territorial dimension. Territorial dispersion and deconcentration factors are more recent in character and often exert their influence on a smaller scale. Urban deconcentration on the periphery of metropolitan areas is the most obvious manifestation, taking place whether through suburbanization or through the growth of small- and mediumsized urban centres located in the area of influence of large cities.
