Since geography implies the study of space and its influence on human behavior, quantitative geography must encompass more than standard factorial methods. The interpretation of factor loadings and the subsequent description of factor score patterns should thus not constitute the final stage of any spatial analysis but rather the starting point. We study the socio-economic and family « spaces » of the Québec city urban region. We find that the Québec model tends to differ from the classic North American model; symbolic and cultural factors make for a much more coherent and dense centre city while economic factors, as elsewhere on the continent, result in a pattern of concentric zones around the C.B.D. Even though the use of discriminant analysis poses certain methodological problems, we nonetheless found it to be a useful technique for understanding urban social space.