Les espaces frontaliers, des espaces à la marge ?

Context. The book La France des marges [The fringe areas of France], which contains this chapter, was published to answer a question: The question of the "fringe areas" was a subject of the admission exam of the CAPES and the state exam in history and geography in France in 2017 and 2018 (selection procedure for secondary school teachers in France). The scientific editors of the book, Martine Candelier-Cabon and Solène Gaudin, have dedicated a chapter to the national borders for the many types of fringe areas within the space. They entrusted Grégory Hamez and Frédérique Morel-Doridat to write these. The target of this chapter is to therefore point out elements of easily understandable and conveyable knowledge for the target group of students aiming to become teachers.

Methodics. The authors of this chapter chose two different approaches for their work:

• A theoretical and bibliographical one that lists the most important scientific works that have already been published on the subject. This permitted discussion of the question of fringe areas along the borders in general, pointing out the many situations, also in a non-European context, and emphasising the importance of relativisation depending on the spatial analysis standards.
• An approach of statistical and cartographical examinations on the level of the entire European Union (on the level of NUTS2) and the level of cross-border spaces between France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany (adjusted level LAU1/2). The authors discuss the formation of peripherals based on existing literature, including the development rate of the population within two decades (1991-2011) and migration in a more recent period (2009-2014) - with these two variables permitting the development of a long-term trend for one generation and a short-term trend concerning the attractiveness/repulsion.