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Roussillon chemical plant was founded in 1915 for war supplies which could not be produced in the Saint-Fons plant, the cradle of the Rhône-Poulenc company. The site chosen offered so many advantages that it has always been used since then, but with different ends. After breaking a way from the mother plant in Saint-Fons, the Roussillon factory has become a well integrated unit for forty years (1926-1966) , but in two very competitive sectors : plastics and textiles. The last fifteen years have been less favourable. At present a recovery may be expected considering the value of site and the investments undertaken close by : a hydroelectric plant made by the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône and Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice nuclear power station.

The industrial zone, which is to a factory and a warehouse as a housing estate to a detached house, is both a recent and, from certain points of view, an outdated concept, which cannot be analysed without taking into account the economic and urban context in which it is found. Thus, having defined an industrial zone on the technical, financial and administrative levels, one may examine the original needs and requirements which had to be met when the zone was built, and then determine in what ways the industrial zone should be adjusted to keep abreast with the evolution of these needs and requirements. Examples will be taken from the Rhône-Alpes region, and more particularly from the Lyons area, in order to illustrate this point.

The example of the recent evolution of weaving in the Beaujolais and Roannais regions shows that no activity nor region is definitely doomed. Indeed, facing the challenges of these last ten years, the weaving manpower has constantly shrunk, owing to the productivity profits and the closing-downs. But the evolution is very heterogeneous. It varies according to the firms and the types of products. Beside those which are the victims of a selection, you find some important firms which resist, particularly those which depend on an exterior group, for despite some slowness to adapt themselves, they can benefit from some financial ressources to bring themselves up to date. At last, some very few small and medium sized undertakings show some dynamism thanks to the quality of their managerial staff.

With 20 % of the total capacity located in Northern America, the Saint-Laurent axis had seen its traditional assets get stronger since the 1981-1982 crisis. The new geographical distribution of production that has resulted from it puts Quebec in first line again. The migration of investments throughout the continent for the last twenty years was an answer to more and more complex localising strategies in which the energy factor remaines decisive nevertheless. Studying the impact of that industry on the Saguenay Basin makes it possible to analyze the advantages offered by a regular profit, the interpendent relationships between a prevailing industry and the area where it is located and the system of spatial integration on industrial concern with all the connections between companies it is supposed to develop.

Spontaneous industry occured in rural zones during the high growing period and mostly developped in the « intermediary » regions of the mediterranean peninsulas, as Middle Italy or Valencia region in Spain. Based on the low wages levels, it is now concurrenced by ohter countries offering lower labour costs. Nevertheless Italy has registered a new « boom » based on innovation and the use of non declared labour. Most of the traditionnal industries in this sector are threatened, in spite of the public or professional unions aids. The only resisting firms are those which apply innovation process similar to that could be observed in the spontaneous industry regions.