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The collapse of agricultural production has gone on since Perestroïka. The collapse is particularly heavy in livestock. At the same time, there are no signs of the advent of privatisation. There are still few private farms. Land continues to be monopolized by collective farms. This passivity is explained by the lack of basic equipment in post-Soviet countryside and by country people's mentality.

Situated in semi-arid and arid environment and having a fragile equilibrium of their ecosystems, the rural regions of the Eastern Rif in Morocco, are subjected to various mutations which could be noted in all fields at different levels. These transformations are directly linked to emigration. On the social level, a decrease of the population is observed in all the parts of the region. This triggers a deficiency of workmanship and changes in farming modes. Only about 10 % of the farmers continue cultivating the totality of their lands directly. Several parcels of fertile lands are abandoned and some of them are planted with olive trees. Consequently, the extension of the uncultivated land induces high surface runoff which causes many damages to the landscape. Farming represents the most adequate way to reduce land erosion in the Rif. The presence of man in this region is a fundamental factor for its environmental stability. On the other hand, the traditional techniques of soil and water conservation are abandoned, which causes them to deteriorate. The rural habitat undergoes several transformations : dispersion, architectural modifications, etc. The whole of these mutations always has ambivalent consequences on environmental stability.

By laying down the principle of well-balanced districts within the boundaries of a town and also by taking into account the great variety of accommodation, which guarantees a good social mix, the 1991 Orientation Law for the City (L.O.V.) is the first decisive step in the setting up of France's town-planning policy. It is based on the observation corroborated by the development of the urban area of Nantes that the different residential areas and the socio-spatial structures of towns reflect the geographical layout of accommodation in their midst. Nevertheless, only a very limited number of councils in Nantes and its suburbs restrict themselves to the objectives ot the L.O.V. scheme ; most of them, on the contrary, are quite willing to favour a most judicious layout of council houses and flats in the city and its suburbs in order to prevent gerrymandering and depreciation.