The Ten Most Dynamic Cities

An ancient city has evolved into a new type: the multinational town.

France's dynamo is a pink-brick city with a 17th-century feel, but its dynamism is powered by jets.

Call it the Airbus effect. The industrial revolution had all but bypassed Toulouse when local engineer Clément Ader got a flying machine off the ground in 1890 (13 years before the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk). From that bouncy start emerged Europe's aerospace capital. Airbus accounts for a quarter of industrial employment in the department of Haute Garonne, of which Toulouse is the capital. Each Airbus job generates two more in related companies, making Toulouse a leading multinational company town, alongside the likes of Nagoya (home of Toyota) and Bentonville (Wal-Mart).

That's great when the multinational is flying high. Record Airbus sales in 2005 meant boom times. The Toulouse suburb where Airbus HQ is located, Blagnac, now has "a head of state visiting every trimester," marvels mayor (and Airbus alum) Bernard Keller, over the din of construction. Toulouse's own suburbs are growing even faster than the center. "Airbus used to build two planes a month. Now it's 35!" enthuses Claude Terrazzoni, head of the chamber of commerce, rattling off companies--Honeywell, Goodrich--that have set up to serve Airbus.

Some efforts have been made to diversify, for example by creating a European hub for cancer research, and wisely so. Now that Airbus has come up against uncertainty, as production troubles delay its new A380 superjumbo, Toulouse's vulnerability may be exposed. "It's Airbusville!" says Philippe Hugon, author of a history of Toulouse and chief editor of the local monthly Toulouse Mag. "A problem with Toulouse is its mono-industry." And that's an industry all too familiar with bumpy rides.

Tracy McNicoll