Le plan radio-quadrillé des terroirs non planifiés

Abstract

Magali Watteaux, The Radial Pattern of Squares in Unmapped Areas Most plots in French villages fit into in a radial pattern of squares, which associates a network of routes polarized by a village habitat with auto-organized and inherited plots of land, usually in a pattern of squares. This modelization, based on several observations, forces us to critically review the opinions formulated by historians about how medieval space was organized. The village territory was not radial-concentric , and it did not clearly emerge during the polarization and birth of villages. When they exist, radial or concentric forms did not organize big areas, and they can always be set down to necessities. The phrase radial concentric is misleading, and applying this pattern to French villages is reductionist in relation to a much richer and more moving geographical reality. © éditions de l'EHESS.