Behind the dynamic and attractive image of Montpellier lies a more contrasting reality: that of a territory deeply recomposed by metropolization, where social and territorial inequalities are worsening. This evolution fuels a feeling of downgrading and constitutes fertile ground for the progression of the far right.
Metropolization: A Dominant Development Model
Metropolization refers to the process by which large cities concentrate ever more population, qualified jobs, investments, infrastructure, and political power. This phenomenon is closely linked to globalization, the tertiarization of the economy, and competition between territories.
Metropolises thus become major poles of attractiveness, but also spaces of strong internal and external inequalities. As shown by works in urban and economic geography, this model produces a hierarchy of territories:
- Attractive and connected centers;
- Dependent peripheries;
- And spaces relegated outside of growth dynamics.
This dynamic is well documented by the OECD and numerous academic works on "winning cities" and "losing territories".
Montpellier: A Metropolis in Full Expansion… But Socially Fractured
Rapid and Attractive Growth
Montpellier is one of the French metropolises with the strongest demographic growth. Its catchment area now counts more than 775,000 inhabitants, driven by:
- A major university hub;
- A dynamic service-sector economy;
- An image of a young, innovative city where "life is good".
This attractiveness has translated into rapid urbanization, the expansion of the metropolis, and major urban projects (Port Marianne, Odysseum, tramway lines, etc.).
But a City Center Poorer than its Periphery
Contrary to popular belief, poverty is strongly concentrated in the city center.
According to INSEE:
- The poverty rate in Montpellier exceeds 25%;
- It is significantly higher than in peripheral communes;
- Nearly one in five inhabitants lives in a priority neighborhood of city policy.
Montpellier is among the large French cities where the standard of living gap between the center and the periphery is the most marked.
Metropolization and Socio-Spatial Segregation
An Increasingly Fragmented City
Metropolization produces spatial fragmentation:
- 🟢 Attractive and gentrified neighborhoods: Rising land prices, concentration of educated and mobile populations.
- 🔴 Working-class neighborhoods (Mosson, Cévennes, Petit Bard…): High unemployment, precariousness, strained public services.
- 🟡 Residential peripheries: Wealthier households but dependent on cars, vulnerable to rising energy costs.
This organization reinforces what researchers call socio-spatial segregation, where living conditions depend heavily on the place of residence.
A Model That Manufactures Downgrading
Metropolization creates winners and losers:
- Those who benefit from the economic dynamic;
- And those who suffer from rising rents, job precariousness, and distance from services.
This feeling of territorial downgrading is now well documented by social science research.
Territorial Downgrading and the Rise of the Far Right: A Documented Link
What Research Says
Numerous studies show a clear link between:
- Local economic decline;
- Feeling of territorial abandonment;
- Voting for the far right or populist parties.
🔹 Harteveld et al. (2024) – British Journal of Political Science Shows that the perception of local decline significantly increases voting for far-right parties, independently of individual income level.
🔹 Greve, Fritsch & Wyrwich (2022) – Journal of Regional Science Regions in sustainable economic decline vote more for populist parties.
🔹 "Losers of Modernization" Theory (Betz, Kitschelt) Individuals and territories excluded from the benefits of globalization develop political mistrust, resentment, and protest voting.
The determining factor is not just poverty, but the feeling of relegation and the impression that "the system no longer works for them".
Montpellier: Fertile Ground for These Dynamics
In Montpellier, several elements combine:
- Strong demographic growth but unequally distributed;
- Concentration of poverty in certain neighborhoods;
- Rising housing prices;
- Increased dependence on cars in the periphery;
- Feeling of abandonment in certain territories of the metropolis;
- Perceived distance from decision-making centers.
These dynamics correspond precisely to the factors identified by research as favorable to the progression of the far right.
The RN vote progresses more in peripheral communes and socially fragile zones, where access to employment, services, and mobility is more difficult.
When Metropolization Manufactures Its Own Opposition
Metropolization is not a neutral phenomenon. In Montpellier, as elsewhere, it has produced growth and attractiveness, but also deep inequalities.
By letting gaps widen between territories, it fuels a feeling of social and territorial downgrading, from which the far right profits today. The rise of the far right is not a political accident, but one of the symptoms of an unbalanced development model.
Rethinking metropolization means asking a deeply political question: how to reconcile territorial development, social justice, and democracy?
What Alternatives to Metropolization?
Faced with the social, territorial, and democratic limits of metropolization, many voices — researchers, local elected officials, associative actors — are today calling for a deep rethinking of territorial development models. Far from questioning progress or urbanity, these alternatives propose to correct imbalances and redistribute benefits.
They rely on a shared observation: the concentration of wealth, jobs, and services in a few large metropolises is neither socially sustainable nor politically neutral. Other trajectories are possible.
Polycentrism: Exiting the "Metropolis-Only" Logic
The polycentric model is based on a simple idea: instead of concentrating most investments in a single large city, it is about strengthening several intermediate urban poles, connected to each other and capable of offering comparable jobs, services, and quality of life.
In the case of Montpellier, this would imply ceasing to think of the territory solely from the metropolis and strengthening the economic and social capacities of cities like Sète, Lunel, Lodève, or Béziers, not as dependent peripheries, but as fully-fledged poles.
Economic Relocalization: Recreating Activity Outside Metropolitan Centers
Another alternative consists of putting production and employment back at the heart of territories. Metropolization has often been accompanied by excessive specialization of urban centers in upper tertiary functions, leaving less valued activities to peripheries.
Economic relocalization aims on the contrary to:
- Maintain or recreate local productive activities;
- Support craftsmanship and local supply chains;
- Develop the social and solidarity economy;
- Orient public procurement towards local actors.
Spatial Justice: Reducing Territorial Inequalities
The notion of spatial justice starts from a simple principle: equality cannot be achieved without an equitable distribution of resources in space. Access to transport, education, health, housing, or culture varies greatly depending on the territory, producing lasting inequalities.
Rather than compensating for these gaps a posteriori through social policies, spatial justice proposes to act upstream, through spatial planning itself.
The Right to the City and Territorial Democracy
Theorized by sociologist Henri Lefebvre, the notion of the "right to the city" is based on the idea that inhabitants must be able to participate in the choices that shape their living environment. It opposes a technocratic or strictly market-based vision of urbanism.
Concretely, this involves giving a greater place to citizen participation, public land control tools, and housing policies limiting speculation.
Territorial Ecological Transition
Finally, the critique of metropolization joins that of its ecological model. Urban sprawl, dependence on the car, and soil sealing are incompatible with climate objectives. A territorial ecological transition implies bringing places of living, working, and consumption closer together.
Another Way Than Metropolization
These different alternatives have one thing in common: they break with the idea that concentration and competition are the natural drivers of development. On the contrary, they propose a rebalancing of territories, a reduction of inequalities, and a democratic reappropriation of planning choices.
At a time when metropolization fuels the progression of the far right, these alternatives constitute an attempt to refound a more just, sustainable, and democratic development model.
Main Sources
- INSEE – Income, poverty, and spatial segregation
- Harteveld et al., British Journal of Political Science, 2024
- Greve et al., Journal of Regional Science, 2022
- OECD – The Metropolitan Century