36

This article looks at changes in spatial organisation and in the relationship between towns and mountain areas in Switzerland in the 1990s. The first part is an analysis of income in different regions and shows variations in wealth distribution. The second part uses a double factor analysis to examine trends in the location of the population and businesses between 1991 and 1998, using data from employment statistics for the country’s 106 «spatial mobility zones». The new spatial organisation of Switzerland territories seems to be underpinned by two trends: an acceleration in the concentration of activities (and income) around the main urban centres, particularly Zurich and Basle; and a considerable increase in the spread of the population outside urban zones, particularly in the Alpine and pre-Alpine regions. The result is a broad area where population dynamics are centred on employment and where, as a result of recent crises, the population has dwindled. These changes, which should be seen as a spatial effect of economic deregulation, pose real problems in terms of geographical mobility, which has consequently become an important issue for the territorial development of the Alpine region.