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The concept of polarized region merely refers to criteria of tertiary activities. Now the industrial phenomenon is endowed with a polarizing capacity of its own. Both types of polarization may combine their effects or, conversely, turn out to be conflicting as regards the organization of space. This article offers a typology from examples in continental Europe. The elementary concordance (Southern-France-Pyrenees, Italian Piedmont) is opposed to the complex concordance (regions of Lyon and Milan). Paleotechnical industrialization (Northern France, Rhineland-Westphalia) has given rise to « regions of cities » which are quite typical. Where a more recent urbanization has developed on the fringe of the traditional urban web (Alps of the North, Saale valley in D.D.R., Porte d'Alsace), a new balance is being searched for- This typology should lead to an awareness both of the disturbing effects of industrialization in liberal economies, and of the necessary remedies to apply.

Described and explained in a simple way and using trivial exemples, the factorial analysis of correspondances is presented as a well-adapted method of comparison of urban functions. The necessary calculation has been worked out on a programmable pocket-sized calculator.