The objective of this article is to analyse, on various scales and through the case of Lyons in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the role of gates and outskirts in the early modern urban trade. In order to understand better how the economy contributes to the urban environment and, on the other hand, how does the urban space determine which practices are carried out by women and by men, particular attention will be given to illicit activities, namely food and calico smuggling. Because the town gives us insight into the interaction between local and global issues and allows us to shed light on interlocking territories, it offers a particularly pertinent perspective for studying illegal practices. The town is itself subject to rapports de forces and power plays, since one of the characteristics of political power is that it seeks to organize the town and its suburbs by segregating and controlling the territory.