Jean-François Gravier

Jean-François Gravier is a French geographer famous for his work Paris and the French Desert published in 1947, and republished in 1953 and 1972. He denounces the extreme concentration of France in Paris, and the monopoly of that city over French resources.

Quotation

“The Paris and its suburbs behaved, not like a metropolis vivifying its back-country, but like a monopolist group devouring his national substance.” (Paris and the French desert, Paris, Portulan, 1947)

See also

• Regional planning
• Decentralization

Bibliography

Gravel (J. - F.). Paris and the French desert, Portulan, Paris, 1947, 418 p. Gravel (J. - F.). Paris and the French desert in 1972, Flammarion, Paris, 1972, 284 p.