How can France get its medium-sized towns back on track for growth? At a meeting organised by La Fabrique de la Cité, geographer Achille Warnant proposed a number of possible avenues. The first of these involves taking account of wide regional differences and targeting support measures.
Medium-sized French towns are directly affected by the effects of global warming, economic shocks and changes, social transformations and demographic aging, and are key to every ongoing transition. Having long been a blind spot for policymakers and the media, they have been attracting new government attention in recent years.
The appearance between 2015 and 2018 of initiatives with names like “The town centre of tomorrow, “Demonstrator centres” and “Town centre action” illustrate the state’s intent to breathe new life into regions often defined in pessimistic terms (demographic shrinkage, commercial vacancy and social decline).
But can medium-sized towns really be reduced to a position of passivity and fragility? Are they not also crucibles for economic, civic and environmental experimentation and innovation? What conditions are necessary to capitalise on this dynamism?
It was to answer these questions that La Fabrique de la Cité proposed a gathering on 9 November 2025 to discuss the place and role of medium-sized towns in regional restructuring. It offers an opportunity to discuss these issues with Achille Warnant, a geographer specialising in medium-sized towns, co-director of the Local Experimentation and Innovation Observatory at the Fondation Jean‑Jaurès, and author of an article entitled “Villes moyennes, quels enjeux à l’heure des transitions?” [Lit. Medium-sized towns: what are the challenges in a time of transitions?].
Taking account of regional diversity
The financial instruments devised by the government in recent years to encourage economic and social development in medium-sized towns, to close development gaps, and to support housing, mobility and business, have undoubtedly plugged a gap. However, they are limited in various ways.
First is their often-universal dimension. In trying to address too much, we approach problems in a highly imperfect way, says Achille Warnant. “Commercial vacancy is certainly an underlying trend. In many medium-sized towns, it stands at 15% or more, especially in the northeastern quadrant of the country. The rate of unoccupied housing stock is also significant. But not all situations are equal – far from it.”
Targeting mechanisms and associated resources is a necessary condition for effective public action.
While northeastern and central France are undergoing long-term population decline, the southern and western regions remain relatively attractive, as do towns near large cities, border areas and coastlines.
A geographer therefore needs to fully consider the diversity of these towns, with their varied situations and trajectories.
Fertile grounds for regional innovation
Going beyond their geographical differences, medium-sized towns are loci for numerous initiatives and demonstrators supported by local political, economic and charitable stakeholders. But Achille Warnant cautions that “This dynamism is insufficiently recognised and is worth supporting if we want these towns to play their full role in regional reorganisation.”
Examples of this dynamism are not lacking: reinvestment in industrial wasteland as part of restrained and functional urban planning in Montbrison (Loire); a circular urban planning project to avoid urban sprawl and the launch of a municipal virtual assistant in Epinal (Vosges); creation of a property fund to buy and relocate businesses into the local economy in Vierzon (Cher); “Zero long-term unemployment regions” trials in Laval (Mayenne); a campaign against vacant housing in Cahors (Lot); free public transport in Châteauroux (Indre); rollout of a connected campus in Nevers (Nièvre); installation of rooftop solar panels on industrial buildings in Creusot and Montceau‑les‑Mines (Saône‑et‑Loire); to name but a few.
Abandoning the quest for attractiveness at any price
How can we now maintain support schemes for medium-sized towns while adjusting their focus? Achille Warnant is calling for the creation of a nationwide regional experimentation fund to support innovative locally operated initiatives selected according to the unique circumstances of each region and managed as part of an ongoing conversation between local authorities, national government and institutional partners.
Another possibility the researcher suggests is to abandon the quest for attractiveness at any price, which weakens cooperation within regions and fuels counterproductive competition between neighbouring towns and villages.
He believes that targeting the mechanisms and associated resources is a necessary condition for effective public action: “It would require clear recognition of the gaps and stronger targeting of resources toward the regions in the greatest difficulties. That would involve a detailed mapping of vulnerabilities, combining quantitative indicators with a qualitative reading of local dynamics.”
03/16/2026
