Urbanisme commercial et géographie

The paper proposes a short reflection on the commercial planning issue. Five points will be considered : a definition of the urban planning field, a presentation of the methodological problems, the underscoring of the five major current challenges (new balance city center - out of town, central areas revival, traditional unplanned shopping center maintenance (or revival), local and neighbourhood centers maintenance, out of town developments planning), the first steps towards a new commercial policy, the analysis of the connections between commercial planning and geography.