France new regions planning? Better order or more disorder ?

TL;DR

This paper critiques France's regional reorganization plans by analyzing their geographical, social, and entropic properties, questioning whether these plans lead to more order or disorder.

Contribution

It introduces an entropy-based theoretical framework to evaluate regional division plans, moving beyond traditional geographical and social analyses.

Findings

Most plans do not fit existing distribution models.

Entropy considerations suggest a balance between order and disorder.

Current plans with 22 regions are an exception.

Abstract

This paper grounds the critique of the 'reduction of regions in a country' not only in its geographical and social context but also in its entropic space. The various recent plans leading to the reduction of the number of regions in metropolitan France are discussed, based on the mere distribution in the number of cities in the plans and analyzed according to various distribution laws. Each case, except the present distribution with 22 regions, on the mainland, does not seem to fit presently used theoretical models. Beside, the number of inhabitants is examined in each plan. The same conclusion holds. Therefore a theoretical argument based on entropy considerations is proposed, thereby pointing to whether more order or less disorder is the key question, - discounting political considerations.