Blue Banana

The Blue Banana (Dutch: blauwe banaan; French: banane bleue; German: Blaue Banane; Italian: banana blu), also known as the European Megalopolis or the Liverpool–Milan Axis, is a discontinuous corridor of urbanization in Western and Central Europe, with a population of around 100 million.^[1]^[2] The conceptualisation of the area as a "Blue Banana" was developed in 1989 by RECLUS, a group of French geographers managed by Roger Brunet.^[3]

It stretches approximately from North West England through the English Midlands across Greater London to the European Metropolis of Lille, the Benelux states with the Dutch Randstad and Brussels and along the German Rhineland, Southern Germany, Alsace-Moselle in France in the west and Switzerland (Basel and Zürich) to Northern Italy (Milan, Turin, and Genoa) in the south.^[4]^[5]

^ "The Blue Banana - the True Heart of Europe". 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^ "The European Blue Banana". Eu-partner.com. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
^ Brunet, Roger (1989). Les villes europeénnes: Rapport pour la DATAR (in French). Montpellier: RECLUS. ISBN 978-2-11-002200-4. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
^ Gert-Jan Hospers (2002). Beyond the Blue Banana? Structural Change in Europe's Geo-Economy (PDF). 42nd EUROPEAN CONGRESS of the Regional Science Association Young Scientist Session – Submission for EPAINOS Award 27–31 August 2002. Dortmund, Germany. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2006.
^ Gert-Jan Hospers (2003). "Beyond the Blue Banana? Structural Change in Europe's Geo-Economy" (PDF). Intereconomics. 38 (2): 76–85. doi:10.1007/BF03031774. S2CID 52214602. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2010.

[bigthink-1] "The Blue Banana - the True Heart of Europe". 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.

[2] "The European Blue Banana". Eu-partner.com. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2013.

[Brunet1989-3] Brunet, Roger (1989). Les villes europeénnes: Rapport pour la DATAR (in French). Montpellier: RECLUS. ISBN 978-2-11-002200-4. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2018.

[Gert-4] Gert-Jan Hospers (2002). Beyond the Blue Banana? Structural Change in Europe's Geo-Economy (PDF). 42nd EUROPEAN CONGRESS of the Regional Science Association Young Scientist Session – Submission for EPAINOS Award 27–31 August 2002. Dortmund, Germany. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2006.

[Gert2-5] Gert-Jan Hospers (2003). "Beyond the Blue Banana? Structural Change in Europe's Geo-Economy" (PDF). Intereconomics. 38 (2): 76–85. doi:10.1007/BF03031774. S2CID 52214602. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2010.

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