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Since most research on economic metropolisation has until now concentrated on "high added value" workers on both sides of the border, little place is left for analysis either of the less valued categories in the process of metropolisation, or of the diversity of jobs within the regional labour markets. What, then, is the position of less favoured social categories in the evolution of cross-border metropolises over the last decades, when compared with managers or other liberal professions? To answer this question, a case study is carried out here on the cross-border commuters in the Lorraine Region (France), who participate in great numbers in the metropolisation of Luxembourg, by comparing them to those who work in France. The objective of this article is to give an account of the spatiotemporal evolution of the principal social classes among the cross-border commuters, based on the French population censuses. These databases, from 1968 to the present day, are comparable both in the time and space. The results confirm that a cross-border metropolis of Luxembourg has been formed, notably since the 1990s, by a substantial increase of highly qualified cross-border commuters, as well as by an augmentation of the less qualified workforce during this period: thus, in the Region of Lorraine, even in 2013, the share of the cross-border working class (commuting to Luxembourg) remains greater than that of the working class within France. Moreover, complex links exist in the phenomenon of metropolisation between historical social segregations and specifically metropolitan segregations in terms of the socio-spatial organisation of the territory in question: for example, the secondary urban centres of the French metropolitan area, such as Thionville or Metz, serve as a residential reservoir for the most highly qualified cross-border commuters, especially when this type of workforce has already been observed in these agglomerations in the past. Primary results point to the need to learn more about the conditions of different residential trajectories, as well as about the social status of different workforces on each side of the border. more...

Since most of researches on economic metropolization have until then concentrated on "high added value" workers on both sides of the border, little place is left neither for analysis of the less valued categories in the process of metropolization, nor for the diversity of jobs within the regional labour markets. Yet, what is the position of less favoured social categories in the evolution of cross-border metropolis during last decades, when compared with managers or other liberal professions? To answer this question, a case study is carried out on the cross-border commuters in the Lorraine Region (France) who participate in great numbers in the metropolization of Luxembourg, by comparing them to those who work in France. The objective of this article is to give an account of the spatiotemporal evolution of main social classes among the cross-border commuters, based on the French population censuses. These databases are, from 1968 to the present day, comparable both in the time and space. The results confirm that a cross-border metropolis of Luxembourg is formed, notably since 1990s, by a substantial increase of highly qualified cross-border commuters, as well as by an augmentation of less qualified workforce during this period: thus, in the Region of Lorraine, even in 2013, the share of the cross-border working class (to Luxembourg) remains greater than it of the working class within France. Moreover, complex links exist in the phenomenon of metropolization between historical social segregations and the specific metropolitan segregations in terms of socio-spatial organisation of the territory in question: for example, the secondary urban centres of the French metropolitan area, such as Thionville or Metz, play a role of the residential reservoir for the most highly qualified cross-border commuters, especially when this type of workforce has already been observed in these agglomerations in the past. The first results assume to learn more about the conditions of different residential trajectories, meanwhile, the social status of different workforces on each side of the border. more...

Between 2001 and 2007, nearly 8,000 resi­dents of Luxembourg went to live in Bel­gium, Germany and France though they remained employed in Luxembourg. For the vast majority of these people, this cross-bor­der move implies a growth of commuting distance and can therefore be regarded as a particular form of cross-border suburbaniza­tion. Despite these growing distances, indi­viduals report some residential satisfaction. However, beyond this apparent satisfaction, the analyses reveal some paradoxes. In terms of location first, it appears that most respondents would have liked to stay in the Grand Duchy, but at the same time only few of them wish to move back to Luxembourg. Then, in terms of daily mobility, the results suggest that residential satisfaction is little affected by dissatisfaction with commuting. Moreover, while the difficulties of commu­ting are often invoked by those seeking to return to Luxembourg, the mobility pro­blems are much less mentioned by the people actually being returned to live in the Grand Duchy. The role of daily mobility in these cross-border residential strategies is therefore complex more...

Nowadays, public spaces have to be planned to allow a full accessibility for people with disabilities. The measures proposed to improve pedestrian mobility need to consider the surrounding space from the users’ point of view. However, urban space cannot be purged of any obstacles, since a favourable areas for some users can simultaneously be unfavourable to others. Therefore, disability is addressed as the result of a situation where the balance between urban planning and the user’s demands, according to his own physical characteristics, are inexistent or not efficient. A socio-spatial answer to the expectation of a “handicap of situation” approach seems to pass by the location and the identification of the nature of spaces at the scale of a neighbourhood, but also by adapted routes to users at the scale of a segment. To achieve this, a pedestrian-oriented data collection and analysis, an urban audit, is provided to complete a geographical information system and to configure potential moving restrictions in respect of various users. more...

For small states like Luxembourg, the stability and economic growth depend on migration. This contribution of new populations is, however, a strongly contrasted migration : highly qualified and less qualified workers. In a pragmatic perspective, migrants need to integrate the housing market. In this context of integration, the housing market in Luxembourg is characterized by high prices for either the purchase or the rental of a dwelling. The property of a single-family house is also being a “dominant residential model”. So what is the positioning of migrants compared to the nationals in the Luxembourg housing market ? Is the residential integration is possible and desired by migrants according to their qualification level and their country of origin ? To study these questions, two approaches are used : 1) residential segregation indices, 2) descriptive portraits of households’ residential mobility. The data analyzed come from the longitudinal European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for Luxembourg (PSELL2, 1994-2002) and the Luxembourg national census (STATEC, 1991, 2001). The results show that house ownership access is easier for highly qualified foreigners as well as the Nationals independently of their qualification level. This being said, less qualified households, especially foreigners, are facing more difficulties for integration. The government housing support programs facilitate access for less qualified households to the housing market. However, the same housing programs conduct them to the “dominant residential model”. The observed mobility in the housing market, as well as on the territory, suggests different aspirations and strategies of integration for specific migrant categories. If these residential trajectories lead to integration, they also suggest slow residential segregation dynamics which are connected to the top of the socio-economic scale. more...

In this paper we propose to analyse the spatial behaviours of cross-border workers who are crossing daily the border between France and Luxembourg (mobility beam: Thionville-Luxembourg). We suppose that the border influences the planning and the activity spaces of cross-border workers and contributes to form specifics routines and spatiotemporal behaviours. These particularities are highlighted by the comparison of spatial behaviours of cross-border workers to those of actives who commute on another comparable mobility beam without national border: Voiron-Grenoble. The analyses are based on quantitative mobility surveys of the CERTU. Results reveal a differential border effect on the location and duration of activities of cross-border workers: consumption, leisure, visiting. Cross-border workers have an important residential base because they spend more time close to their place of residence. On the contrary, the other workers choose the proximity of the work place to perform their daily activities. more...