The modern région of Picardie is larger than the historical province of Picardy. The south of the Aisne département and most of the Oise département were historically part of the province of Île-de-France, while the Somme département and the north of the Aisne département were the province of Picardy proper.
As the historical Picardy was deemed too small to become a région , the French government decided to join it with the north of Île-de-France (specifically, the pays of Beauvaisis, Valoi, Noyonnais, Laonnois, Soissonnais, Omois, to quote only the most prominent). The name of the historical province of Picardy was given to this new région.
Thus, the Picardie région is somewhat an artificial région, with the south of the Oise département lying inside the metropolitan area of Paris. People in the south of Oise commute to Île-de-France for work, and hardly feel Picard ("Picardy inhabitant").
Although Picardie is somewhat a stagnating région , with the industrial area of Saint-Quentin in the north of Picardie had hit by economic crisis, the south of the région, at the border with Île-de-France, is booming due to the increasing inflow of Parisians relocating to the distant and greener suburbs of the Oise département.
