Contenu du sommaire

In the first part of this text, it is tried to follow, along these last 20 years, the demographic and spatial growth of the Lyons urban zone. This growth, spatially continuous and demographically important, has, since, vanished in large periurban areas. The goal of the second part is to characterize this periurban space, over all from a demographic point of view, and to show that the changing dimension of the urban zone has been simultaneous to its internal reorganization.

Researches in urban geography have been interested for several years in the study of familiar landscapes perceptions by the inhabitants of the cities. This paper, which is only explorative, deals with large or smaller public houses groups located in the East part of the urban area of Lyon. The analysis of urban space's production and of the numerous talks about it, seems to be a preliminary before any further enquiry. We are convinced that the deep meaning of urban space must be founded from the experience of those who are living in.

The swelling of September 21 and 22 1980 was due to an extensive mediterranean shower and the water rise was as sudden as short. Nevertheless, in the Cevennes area, the rain distribution shows a movement of the cores of the heaviest precipitations northward and beyond the watershed, i.e. over the basin of the upper Loire. Along the upper course of that river, although the dryness of the soil reduced the flow, the swelling equaled or surpassed the levels of the highest recorded overflowings (october 1907, September 1866, October 1846, October 1878).