One of these employs the idea of a “bassin de vie” to argue that the appropriate geographic unit for optimizing quality of life has a small geography, especially in rural territories. “ Basssins de vie” in France are defined as an area where people both live and work, and where they can obtain the vast majority of the services that they need locally. The logic in this theory is that a high degree of physical and social connectedness leads to a better quality of life and to better local decision making.