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This short paper provides the initial provocation for a themed issue that emerges from a conference on the topic of geographies of social crises/crises of social geographies. The article calls for a (re)consideration of the “social question” in the 21st century. We call for social geographers to engage with the historical dynamics of places and milieus to understand novel class societies and the violence that underpins social inequalities. The article makes a case for an empirically saturated social geography. We believe this provides a useful programme which helps to understand current phenomena of political, social and economic crises.

This paper develops three analytical categories – range, supporting capacity, exigency/notability – to capture how supra-individual phenomena affect the people studied by empirical research. Researchers face a tension between constructivist and realist perspectives as the examined phenomena are simultaneously social constructs, in the way people perceive and understand them, and social facts in their consequences. Taking a critical perspective on the notion of large social phenomena – popularized by Theodore Schatzki – the paper develops an explorative terminology that aims to facilitate practice-oriented field research. Examples of empirical research on transition and degrowth initiatives illustrate how research subjects estimate the range of a phenomenon by trying to grasp whether they are in or out of its reach; the supportive capacity of a phenomenon by exploring how far it carries certain processes; and they experience the exigency of a phenomenon and ascribe a certain notability to it. Taken together, this terminology grasps the way phenomena are matters of concern, rather than matters of fact, for the research subjects.

Equality, a concept so central to democratic societies, is being scrutinized in a critical manner in this paper. It argues that the spatial borders of territorial states are also the limits of the validity of the principle of abstract equality, of its ideological productivity as well as its emancipatory potential. The paper discusses the Marxist critique of the limitations of the merely abstract, formal understanding of equality that is inscribed into the structures of democratic states, and the ways in which both the Marxist tradition and current theories of radical democracy find an emancipatory potential in the demand for abstract equality that makes possible going beyond its very abstractions. The focus of these discussions is on how spatiality is integrated into theories of radical democracy on the level of theory. The paper suggests that combining the insights on the productivity of spatial forms from discussions in human geography with the critique of merely abstract equality is a decidedly geographical contribution to the development of theories of the political.

Dans le champ des études urbaines, les travaux quantitatifs portant sur la mesure des ségrégations sociales ou des divisions sociales de l’espace sont souvent centrés sur le cas parisien et marqués par une faible profondeur historique, du fait en particulier des difficultés méthodologiques inhérentes à une telle approche. Cet article présente ici une analyse diachronique des divisions socioprofessionnelles de l’aire urbaine de Nantes sur quarante ans (1975-2015). L’approche méthodologique proposée est résolument quantitative et croise les apports d’outils et de traitements souvent mis en œuvre séparément. La première partie s’appuie sur les indices de ségrégation et de dissimilarité pour mesurer l’évolution de la ségrégation entre groupes socioprofessionnels, et montre la baisse de ces indices depuis les années 1970. La seconde partie mobilise une combinaison de techniques statistiques multivariées (Analyse en Composantes Principales, Classification Ascendante Hiérarchique, Analyse des séquences) pour proposer une typologie cartographique des formes successives des divisions socioprofessionnelles de l’espace. Ces analyses permettent notamment de documenter les dynamiques d’embourgeoisement et de gentrification qui affectent certains secteurs centraux de l’espace métropolitain nantais, tout en soulignant les situations de mixité socioprofessionnelle relatives qui prévalent dans la majorité des quartiers et communes de l’aire urbaine. Dans un contexte où les "fractures géographiques" des mondes urbains sont souvent évoquées, sans être pour autant établies empiriquement, cet article propose une objectivation quantitative de certaines questions au cœur du débat public français. Within the field of urban studies, quantitative research on the assessment of social and urban segregation mainly focuses on the Paris case. Research is also characterised by little historical depth, due in particular to the methodological difficulties corresponding to such an approach. This paper presents a diachronic analysis of the social segregation of the Nantes metropolitan area over forty years (1975-2015). It adopts a quantitative approach combining tools and processes that are often addressed separately. The first part of the paper uses segregation and dissimilarity indexes to measure the evolution of segregation between social groups; it demonstrates the decline in these indexes since the 1970s. The second part uses a combination of multivariate statistical methods (Principal component analysis, Hierarchical classification analysis, Sequence analysis) in order to provide a spatial typology of the successive patterns of urban segregation. These analyses bring evidence of the gentrification dynamics, which concern some central areas in the Nantes metropolitan area. Besides, they highlight the social mix configurations that prevail in most neighbourhoods and municipalities of the metropolitan area. While the urban spatial fragmentations are often mentioned without being empirically grounded, this paper brings a series of quantitative evidences concerning current crucial French political issues and debates. En el campo de los estudios urbanos franceses, los trabajos cuantitativos vinculados a medir la segregación social o la división social del espacio, se centran frecuentemente en el caso parisino y marcados por una baja profundidad histórica, debido a dificultades metodológicas inherentes a tal enfoque. Este artículo presenta un análisis diacrónico de la segregación socio profesional del área urbana de Nantes en cuarenta años (1975-2015). El enfoque metodológico es cuantitativo, combinando las contribuciones de herramientas y tratamientos que a menudo se implementan por separado. La primera parte aplica los índices de segregación y disimilitud para medir la evolución de la segregación entre grupos socio profesionales, y expresa el declive de tales índices desde la década de 1970. La segunda parte utiliza una combinación de técnicas estadísticas multivariadas (Análisis de Componentes Principales, Clasificación Ascendente Jerárquica, Análisis de secuencias) para proponer una tipología cartográfica de las sucesivas formas de segregación socio profesionales del espacio. Estos análisis permiten, documentar las dinámicas de un creciente aburguesamiento y gentrificación que afectan a ciertos sectores centrales del espacio metropolitano de Nantes, al mismo tiempo que destacan las situaciones de relativa mixtura socio profesional que prevalecen en la mayoría de los barrios y comunas del área urbana. En un contexto en que frecuentemente se mencionan las "fracturas geográficas" del mundo urbano sin ser establecidas empíricamente, este artículo propone objetivar cuantitativamente aspectos cruciales que están en el debate público francés.

The potentiality of crowds, in terms of possibilities for achieving a livelihood in the big and dense cities, gains centre stage in contemporary urban studies dealing with the global South. These emergent effects of crowds act as dissociation of further work in urban theory from the global North that often displays a universalistic claim. However, contemporary urban theory both from the global South and North has astonishing less to say about internal processes of crowds that could be interpreted as emerging effects. The paper analyses the work on crowds by Peter Sloterdijk and the performative theory of assembly by Judith Butler in terms of theoretical possibilities to enrich contemporary thinking on urbanity in the South. The paper accentuates two important arguments for urban theory that could be fit into existing work in the field. Sloterdijk emphasises the “affective synthesis” of crowds and the build environment as an important mechanism of interaction between crowds and urbanity, whereas Butler elaborates the performative effect of crowds to articulate the right of owning attested rights.

This paper examines questions of how issues of visual representation and vision have changed with the the quantitative and theoretical thinking in 1950s and early 1960s Anglophone geography. If the quantitative revolution in geography is understood as a scientific revolution, one should also expect a revolution of the ways in which geography made use of visualizations. At the center of this essay is William Bunge's “Theoretical Geography”, one of the founding text of this new geographical thought. This book forms the starting point for a discussion of the changed roles and changed forms of visualization in the production of geographical knowledge. Following Fred Schaefer's attack on Richard Harthorne, Bunge placed the search for morphological laws at the center of a geography that is strongly oriented towards geometry. In this paper, the text of Bunge serves as a starting point into the field of early analytical cartography and the first consideration of what later, become geographic information systems and their new visual language. In this paper this history of GIS is largely told without a history of technology a well as without its political context of the cold war and the Fordist state.

This paper undertakes a creative exploration of bulky rubbish [sperrmüll] in the City of Bonn by expanding on and utilising what has come to be known as non-representational thinking. Through a non-representational engagement with sperrmüll, I shed light on waste as a significant human-nonhuman ecology as it appears in an especially routinised manifestation in urban space. In doing so, the paper contributes to a discussion about enacting non-representational methodologies within German-speaking human geography. Here, there are three methodological interventions for a non-representational endeavour: (1) interfering, (2) material thinking, and (3) writing and presentation. These interventions are supported by revisiting Deleuze and Guattari's notion of assemblage; using it as a way to attend to sperrmüll as an area-sized fabrication connecting humans and various other materialities, and which directs thought towards a wide array of agencies. In conclusion, non-representational perspectives are advanced as a way to expose the affective ecologies that enable certain actions and hamper others.

Recent debate in human geography has challenged the problematic "alternative"/"conventional" duality that characterises contemporary food provision. Within this binary, alternative food networks and initiatives (AFIs and AFNs) are positioned in opposition to more conventional, agri-capitalist modes of food production and distribution. Framing food around materially, discursively and spatially distinct, albeit relational, geographies not only reinforces this binary but also reaffirms the hegemony of agri-capitalism that alternative provision seeks to undo. Focusing on examples of artisanal and industrial bread production in the UK and the USA, this paper challenges such ontological framings. Drawing from conceptual insights into diverse economies and alternative economic spaces (e.g. Gibson-Graham, 1996:2004; Lee and Leyshon, 2003) and adopting an integrative approach to practice (Shove and Pantzar, 2005; Hand and Shove, 2007), this paper examines the practices that constitute artisanal and industrial baking. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which embodied practices constitute the spaces of production for such foods. While acknowledging the considerable distances between the geographies that circumscribe these alternative and conventional foods, this paper argues that practices of food production narrow these distances, thereby destabilising the alternative/conventional binary. The geographies of food may mobilise an array of places, materials and ideologies, which are suggestive of two opposing systems of food provision, but practices of food production reveal an array of marginal spaces that challenge this. By reorienting critical attention onto these marginal spaces, the differences between artisanal and conventional food become blurred – and the affinities produced through normalised discourses and materialities of food are contested, resisted and disrupted. I argue these spaces are insurgent and that they come together through affinitive practices, which result in the potential for radical change within food provision.

Die im südlichen Indischen Ozean gelegene, postkoloniale Inselrepublik Mauritius ist gegenwärtig Herausforderungen in ihrer Regionalentwicklung ausgesetzt, die in der Transformation der Insel von einer agrikulturellen, zuckerbasierten Gesellschaft hin zu einer diversen Ökonomie begründet sind. Die Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen in allen Regionen des Inselstaates soll durch einen dreigliedrigen Ansatz der regionalen Entwicklung erreicht werden, der im Wesentlichen aus einer Sonderwirtschaftszone, dem internationalen Tourismus und Investitionen in die Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie besteht. Der Aufsatz analysiert, ob diese Strategien erfolgreich in der Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen in Mauritius sind. Die Regressionsanalyse verdeutlicht, dass lediglich der Informations- und Kommunikationssektor einen positiven Einfluss auf die Lebensbedingungen zeigt. Er ist allerdings hochgradig sozial selektiv. Dagegen weist der internationale Tourismus einen negativen Einfluss auf die Lebensbedingungen auf, da die parallel auftretende Verknappung von Immobilien zu hohen Wohnkosten in den touristischen Gebieten führt. Die Sonderwirtschaftszone zeigt ebenfalls einen schwachen, negativen Einfluss. Der Aufsatz folgert aus diesen Ergebnissen, dass die existierenden Regionalentwicklungspfade in Mauritius ambivalent sind und vorsichtiger politischer Anpassungen bedürfen, um das übergeordnete Ziel der Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen auf der Insel zu erreichen. Postcolonial island state of Mauritius, located in the South of the Indian Ocean close to the eastern coast of Madagascar, is currently facing challenges of regional development due to a transition of the island from an agricultural, sugar-based society to a diverse economy. The improvement of living conditions in all regions of the island state shall be achieved by a tripartite approach of regional development consisting of the export processing zone, international tourism and marked investments in information and communication technology. The paper analyses whether these strategies are successful in enhancing conditions of living in Mauritius. The regression analysis reveals that the information and communication sector shows a positive impact on regional development only, although it is highly social selective. By contrast international tourism has a significant negative impact on living conditions because of the accompanying scarcity of property resulting in unaffordable housing in tourist areas, whereas the export processing zone displays just a minor negative impact. Thus, the paper discloses that the existing regional development paths in Mauritius are ambivalent and need carefully political improvement to accomplish the purpose of an enhancement of living conditions in all regions of the postcolonial island state.

Cet article présente le logiciel « PixScape », un outil pour modéliser le paysage visible à partir de données spatiales numériques. PixScape offre l’avantage d’être un outil intégré regroupant l’ensemble des fonctionnalités disponibles dans les outils SIG standards existants dans ce domaine et proposant d’autres fonctions originales. Il facilite l’enchaînement des tâches dédiées aux analyses de visibilité et propose une large gamme de métriques fréquemment utilisées. Son originalité repose notamment sur le choix entre deux méthodes spécifiques de calculs de visibilité et la possibilité d’analyse avancée de la configuration des scènes paysagères. L’article présente un panorama de l’ensemble des paramètres d’analyses offertes par PixScape, les métriques de visibilité disponibles, ainsi que les méthodes de parallélisation visant à réduire les temps d’exécution. This paper presents the PixScape software dedicated to landscape visibility modeling based on digital spatial data. PixScape is an integrated software combining all existing functions in standard GIS tools in this field, and proposing ‘other original functions. It facilitates the overall processing chain of visibility analyses, and offers a wide range of commonly used metrics. Its originality is to offer a choice between two specific methods of visibility computations, and the possibility of advanced analysis of landscape visible configuration. The paper presents an overview of all the visibility analysis parameters offered by PixScape, all the available visibility metrics, and the parallelization methods for reducing computation time.

The patterns, motivations, and consequences of the outmigration of young adults from rural areas is a classic topic in population geography. In our paper, we first take a critical look at statistical analyses and cartographic representations of migration patterns of young adults in rural areas using Central Germany1 as an example, stressing the shortcomings of quantitative analyses of residential mobility. We argue that migration is a complex social process, taking place as the result of the interplay of demographic, socio-structural, political, economic, and production-related factors involving the mobile individuals, as well as other actors, discourses, and practices. Following this, we discuss the emergence of cultures of (out-)migration in rural areas characterised by heightened mobility over longer periods of time and possible approaches to analyse such regional phenomena. We hence aim at a deepening of the concept of “culture of migration” and an expansion of the debate on motives and practices of migration to include psychological approaches, as well as a complex systems perspective.

Wenn man räumliche Planung verstehen möchte, ist es wichtig, die Selbstverständnisse und beruflichen Identitäten der handelnden Akteure zu kennen. Bislang ist dazu in Deutschland kaum geforscht worden. Der Beitrag basiert auf einem Forschungsansatz, der berufliche Identitäten als Ergebnis des Zusammenwirkens gesellschaftlicher Anforderungen und eigener Handlungen in den Fokus rückt. Es wird gezeigt, welche Rollen Regionalplanern von außen zugewiesen werden und wie Regionalplaner selber ihre beruflichen Identitäten wahrnehmen und daran arbeiten. Anhand von Dokumentenanalysen und autobiographisch-narrativen Interviews wird untersucht, welche Subjektpositionen in schriftlichen Diskursfragmenten, die sich auf Regionalplanung und Windenergie beziehen, zu finden sind, welchen äußeren Anforderungen sich Regionalplaner ausgesetzt sehen, welche Ansprüche sie selber an ihr berufliches Handeln stellen, welche Techniken des Selbst sie praktizieren und welche diesbezüglichen Spannungen sie wahrnehmen. Die Ergebnisse knüpfen an internationale Untersuchungen über planerische Identitäten an und können als Angebot an die Praxis gelesen werden, individuelle Praktiken und Spielräume der Identitätsarbeit zu reflektieren. If one wants to understand spatial planning, then one needs to know about the self-conceptions and professional identities of the key actors. So far, this has hardly been the object of scientific inquiries in Germany. This paper relies on a research design that analyses professional identities as resulting from the interplay of external discursive interpellations and own practices of identity work. It examines the roles, which are assigned to spatial planners at regional level in Germany, and how planners themselves perceive and shape their professional identities. The empirical part uses textual analyses and autobiographic narrative interviews to elucidate subject positions in published documents. It furthermore shows, which discursive interpellations spatial planners see themselves exposed to, which standards and norms they define for their professional work, which techniques of the self they employ und which tensions they perceive in this regard. The results tie in with international research on planners' roles and identities. The findings call on planning practitioners to reflect upon individual practices and existing opportunities of identity work.

This article deals with one of the most controversial topics in urban studies related to mobile capital and mobile people. At first glance this seems to be contradictory since numbers of short-term rentals have decreased dramatically due to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. However, this paper is not about numbers and statistics. Instead it discusses structural issues regarding governance and power relations which remain important topics (especially) in times of crisis. It provides insights regarding the following issues: firstly, it deconstructs different “myths” that still surround short-term rentals and Airbnb and secondly, it delineates the structural power of Airbnb as a new urban institution. This helps us to understand some of the conflicts over Airbnb and the pitfalls with current forms of regulation on the one side as well as showing the complexity and agency of short-term rentals on the other.

Aux États-Unis comme au Canada, le développement urbain engagé par les acteurs publics prend régulièrement la forme de projets d’échelle et de durée intermédiaires. Certains sont issus de pratiques assimilables à des traductions "locales" du concept d’aménagement urbain public ; tandis que d’autres répondent à des logiques alternatives – notamment d’aménagement urbain négocié. La mise en perspective des projets urbains évoqués dans la littérature existante (Bonneville, 1986 ; Dablanc, 1996 ; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b ; Poiret, 2014 ; Courcier, 2008 ; Viel et al., 2012 ; Dushina et al., 2015), enrichie d’un travail de terrain recueillant les témoignages des acteurs du secteur, montre comment l’aménagement urbain public nord-américain s’organise en fonction du maître d’ouvrage et du territoire de projet. Malgré l’immensité du continent, les logiques politico-légales qui y conditionnent l’aménagement urbain public local permettent d’identifier des traits communs aux pratiques nord-américaines. Certains acteurs publics locaux (échelons fédérés mais également municipalités) s’avèrent capables d’engager des projets répondant à la définition de l’aménagement urbain public. Cependant, l’étude conclut qu’aucun de ces acteurs n’a structuré sa pratique au sein d’une filière institutionnalisée - comme c’est le cas en France. In the United States and in Canada, the urban development initiated by public actors often takes the form of projects of intermediate scale and length. Some of these developments reflect the local practice of a public urban development influenced by the North American politico-legal frameworks; while others follow alternative logics, such as the practice of a negotiated urban development. This work is based on a cross-section analysis of the North American urban projects documented in scholar literature (Bonneville, 1986 ; Dablanc, 1996 ; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b ; Poiret, 2014 ; Courcier, 2008 ; Viel et al., 2012 ; Dushina et al., 2015), enriched by interviews with actors of the local urban development industry. This approach shows how the public urban development practice is organized in North America. Despite the vastness of the North American continent, the politico-legal logics which influence the local translations of the urban development concept allows for a way to identify some common features in local practices. The paper shows that some North American public actors (especially States and municipalities) are able to initiate urban development projects which address the characteristics of public urban development. However, the work concludes that none of these public actors has structured their practice of public urban development in a specific framework - as is the case in France. Tanto en Estados Unidos como Canadá el desarrollo urbano propuesto por los actores públicos se desarrolla generalmente bajo una forma de proyectos de escala y duración intermedia. Algunas de estas prácticas son el resultado y reflejo de iniciativas “locales” que emanan del concepto de planificación urbana desde lo público, mientras que otras responden a lógicas alternativas vinculadas a una planificación negociada. Este artículo se desarrolla y sostiene bajo un análisis transversal de la literatura académica en la materia (Bonneville, 1986; Dablanc, 1996; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b; Poiret, 2014; Courcier, 2008; Viel et al., 2012; Dushina et al., 2015) junto con un trabajo de campo vinculado a la realización de entrevistas a actores locales del sector. Los resultados expresan como la planificación urbana pública norteamericana se organiza según el cliente y proyecto de territorio. Además, a pesar de la envergadura del continente, las lógicas político-legales que condicionan la planificación del urbanismo público local permiten identificar rasgos comunes en las prácticas efectuadas. Si bien ciertos actores públicos locales (escala federal o municipios) son capaces de iniciar proyectos que cumplen con la definición de planificación urbana pública, tales prácticas no se estructuran bajo un canal institucionalizado, como es el caso francés.

The dynamics of software – and thus also of its development – is an inherent part of the story of how mobilities are made and work. Building on this argument, this ethnographic study explains how navigation software development is caught in a constant culture of acceleration through commercial competition and shifting transport conditions, on the one hand, and a logic of routing and navigation based on creating the fastest route possible for its users, on the other hand. Behind this overall process of technological acceleration lies a multiplicity of forces – sometimes accelerating, but at other times slowing down, stuttering, moving in reverse, or completely coming to a halt in breakdown, shifting the pace of such technological progress. Bringing software development practice into the picture of how mobility systems work (or don’t work) allows us to understand the multiple temporal orders of speeding up and slowing down that push and pull at the fabric of our mobile infrastructures. Doing so will help us counter the popular discourse that our networked, seamless digital technologies are invincible. Based on an ethnography at ‘BerlinTech’, a large commercial navigation software company, this paper provides a multilayered understanding about the temporal forces fuelling our software driven mobility infrastructures.

Les villes d’Afrique subsaharienne sont marquées par une diversification des coopérations urbaines avec l’intervention de multiples bailleurs étrangers et une forte croissance des marchés de l’expertise urbaine. Entre 2018 et 2019, 148 millions de dollars venant de l’étranger ont été investis dans le développement urbain de la capitale kényane, Nairobi. À travers l'étude de cas de la Ville du rail à Nairobi, cet article questionne les processus de négociation et de décision des grands projets dans les villes d’Afrique subsaharienne, dans le contexte d’une dépendance aux financements externes. Nous entrons dans les mécanismes institutionnels, les registres discursifs, et les jeux d’évitement par lesquels les acteurs nationaux et internationaux légitiment leur action dans la phase d’instruction d’un grand projet. Nous montrons que ces coopérations représentent des ressources pour l’action locale, mais attisent également des concurrences et peuvent avoir des effets disruptifs pour la gouvernance urbaine. Sub-Saharan African cities are characterized by a diversification of international urban cooperation with the intervention of multiple foreign donors, and a significant increase of the markets for urban expertise. Between 2018 and 2019, $148 million was invested in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. Through the case study of the Railway City in Nairobi, this article questions the negotiation and decision-making processes of megaprojects in sub-Saharan African cities, in the context of a high dependency on external funding. We take a dive into the institutional mechanisms, discursive registers, and avoidance plays through which national and international actors legitimize their actions in the instruction phase of a megaproject. This paper shows that these international cooperations represent resources for local action, but also stir up competition and can have disruptive effects for urban governance. Las ciudades del África subsahariana están marcadas por una diversificación de cooperación urbana producto de la intervención de múltiples donantes extranjeros y un fuerte crecimiento en los mercados de experiencia urbana. Entre 2018 y 2019, se invirtieron 148 millones de dólares desde el extranjero para el desarrollo urbano de Nairobi, capital de Kenia, A partir del estudio de caso de esta ciudad ferroviaria, este artículo reflexiona en torno a los procesos de negociación y decisión de grandes proyectos en las ciudades del África subsahariana, en el contexto de la dependencia de fondos externos. Indagamos los mecanismos institucionales, registros discursivos y las estrategias y complejidades por la cual los actores nacionales e internacionales legitiman su acción en la fase de evaluación de un gran proyecto. Mostramos que, si bien estas cooperaciones representan recursos para la acción local, también alimentan la competencia y pueden generar efectos perjudiciales para la gobernanza urbana.

Spatial planning intends to limit urban sprawl by constraining settlement areas. But the question remains: which planning efforts achieve higher urban densities? By using geostatistical data, this paper analyses urban density and transport patterns for the case of Switzerland. Based on this analysis an instrument is developed that allows to evaluate the impact of spatial planning policies on land consumption. This instrument further develops the understanding of how spatial planning influences land use patterns. Based on the results, the applicability of this instrument for decision-making in spatial planning is discussed., disP - The Planning Review, 56 (1), ISSN:0251-3625, ISSN:2166-8604

This paper addresses the mobilization in the global South of the notion of the right to the city, reflecting the debates on the “southern turn”. It analyzes the complexities surrounding the incorporation of certain elements of the debate in the post-colonial context, posed on the one hand by the neo-Marxist authors of the North who have reactivated the notion since the early 2000s, and on the other hand in developmental approaches. It thus returns to the contribution of so-called southern cities, and particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to the debate on the right to the city and the place that these cities occupy in it. The aim is to shed light on the way in which contemporary discussion on the right to the city has been elaborated in order to question the limits of the North/South analytical nexus, whether the latter aims to denounce the theoretical domination of the North over the South or whether it reinforces the specificity of the South and the need for theorization by the South.The right to the city, urban, Sub-Saharan Africa, critical geography, informal

The housing question is a topic of increasing concern in a number of European cities. Rising housing costs burden many households. Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008, housing has increasingly come under spotlight of investors. Institutional and private actors invest in real estate not only in metropolitan areas but also in middle and small-sized towns. Tourism-induced demand increases the pressure on housing markets particularly in tourist-dominated cities. The manifestation of these processes varies on a small scale and is influenced by regional-local planning and politics. Based on the example of the city of Salzburg, the article shows that the housing question manifests itself strongly aside metropolises as well. Financial investments by private and institutional actors in real estate and different forms of tourism demand exacerbate the housing shortage. By linking the discussions about the effects of (mass-)tourism and financial investments on regional housing markets, this paper provides additional insights. The additional demand for (residential) space by tourism is used to increase or secure the return on investments in real estate. Financial investments in housing offer additional (problematic) potential for tourist use, such as short-term rentals. Owners benefit from both processes. Due to the prevalent power relations, planning and politics have little to counter the current challenges. © 2019 Copernicus. All rights reserved.

Vacant land has recently mostly attracted interest for its ecological and social importance, or its planning possibilities. In this paper, we investigate vacant land in a fast-growing city in an emerging country, namely Cape Town in South Africa. In so doing, we are also pleading for vacant land to be taken seriously as a theoretical notion. When investigating urban fragmentation, we need to examine what lies (and happens) between the urban splinters. We therefore use the Cape Town case as a lens to propose a working definition of vacant land (as space out of place that disrupts the urban fabric and its logic) and visual methods with which to approach it. Les espaces vacants ont récemment attiré l’intérêt scientifique pour leur importance écologique et sociale, comme pour les possibilités qu’ils offrent en matière d’aménagement. Cet article s’y intéresse dans le cas d’une ville à la croissante rapide, au sein d’un pays émergent : Le Cap (Afrique du Sud). Nous y plaidons également pour prendre au sérieux d’un point de vue théorique la notion d’espace vacant. Pour analyser la fragmentation urbaine, il importe d’examiner ce qui se trouve et se passe entre lesdits fragments. Nous utilisons donc le cas du Cap pour proposer une définition de l’espace vacant (un espace qui n’est pas à sa place, qui rompt le tissu urbain et sa logique), ainsi que des méthodes visuelles pour l’appréhender. 近来空置土地引起了人们的兴趣，其生态和社会重要性，以及其规划可能性受到很多关注。 在本文中，我们研究了新兴国家的处于快速发展中的城市，即南非的开普敦的空置土地的状况。我们强调空置土地作为理论概念的重要性。 在研究城市碎片化时，我们需要检验城市碎片之间的存在（和发生的事）。 因此，开普敦案例为我们提供了一个视角，我们在此基础上提出空置土地的定义（错置了的扰乱城市结构及其逻辑的空间）和理解它的视觉方法。

Evidenced based planning is a salient issue and evokes questions about the role of expertise and scientific policy advice in spatial planning. The paper considers recent trends in the debate on scientific policy advice (crises of expertise, privatization/democratization of expertise, blurring of boundaries between science and policy) and reflects upon these trends against the background of the particular situation of scientific policy advice in spatial planning in Germany. Many insights from the wider debate on policy advice also hold true for spatial planning. However, spatial planning, at least in Germany, reveals some particularities. The scientific foundation of spatial planning is interdisciplinary and the gap between science and practice is probably less visible compared to other scientific disciplines. This makes dualistic approaches (science ��� policy boundaries) questionable. At the same time recent trends towards Gesellschaftsberatung (advice for society), transformative science and transdisciplinarity are attractive directions in spatial planning., disP - the planning review;Vol. 53. Issue 4, p 21-32

is named "Neue Kulturgeographie" (new cultural geography). It is mainly inspired by the poststructuralism and by the English-speaking new cultural geography. On the basis of a constructivist approach, the signification of space and spatial forms is the main focus of the Neue Kulturgeographie's researches. An important difference between these researches, however, lies on the very different social theories they are based on: action theory, system theory, discourse theory and critical approaches are the four main theories being used in the Neue Kulturgeographie. The aim of this paper is to introduce the French-speaking geographer to the Neue Kulturgeography and its debate. The reader will surely recognize the questions and problems shared by the social and cultural French- (and also English-) speaking geographies., désigné sous le nom de " Neue Kulturgeographie " (nouvelle géographie culturelle), qui puise en grande partie ses références dans les courants poststructuralistes anglophones et dans la new cultural geography. Elle se définit comme une géographie humaine théorique et critique. A partir d'une posture constructiviste, les multiples travaux qui se réclament de la Neue Kulturgeographie offrent un intérêt marqué pour la signification de l'espace et des formes spatiales. Pourtant, ces travaux se différencient selon les théories de la société qui leur servent de fondement : théorie de l'action, des systèmes sociaux, des discours et approche critique sont les quatre principaux courants qui se laissent identifier. Cet article est conçu comme une introduction à la Neue Kulturgeographie et à ses débats pour le lectorat francophone, qui pourra y retrouver des questionnements et problématiques communes aux géographies sociales et culturelles francophones.

Le terme de front écologique est un néologisme à plusieurs facettes : notion définie et instrumentalisée par des acteurs (ONG environnementales) ; représentation psycho-mentale et spatiale fondée sur une vision européo-centrée de la nature ; et catégorie spatiale, objectivable à travers différents paramètres. De manière transversale un front écologique se caractérise par une valeur écologique, une appropriation écologique, un processus spatio-temporel et un contrôle externe (exemple : les éco-conquérants). La conquête d’un front écologique est motivée par le contrôle (financier, pouvoir ou idéologique) d’un espace doté d’une valeur intrinsèque importante qu’elle soit biologique, paysagère et par conséquent…financière. De fait, les conflits d’usages ou conflits environnementaux sont inhérents à la dynamique des fronts écologiques. Ils génèrent des processus de conquête, souvent temporaires et transitoires et prenant place sur une aire aux contours flous à partir d’une tête de pont bien identifiée. Les éco-conquérants sont en général exogènes à la zone considérée et ont des profils variés. L’exemple de la Côte Sauvage montre comment s’opère l’appropriation et le contrôle d’un espace littoral à la biodiversité remarquable par un réseau d’ONG environnementales pouvant être regroupés dans différentes catégories (justice environnementale, éco-capitalisme conservationniste, racisme environnemental aseptisé et orientation éco-spirituelle). La grande variété de profils d’éco-conquérants peut être analysée à travers une esquisse typologique (éco-colons, éco-guerriers, éco-touristes, éco-racistes etc.) qui permet de formaliser une terminologie pouvant servir à illustrer d’autres situations. The aim of this paper is to define “eco-frontiers,” both theoretically and methodologically. Our argument is illustrated and detailed by examples taken in South Africa (Wild Coast). “Eco-frontier” is a tri-dimensional idea. Firstly, it is an existing notion, normalised, used and instrumentalised by groups of stakeholders like environmental NGOs. Secondly, it a psycho-mental and spatial representation conveyed by a westernised imaginary of nature. Finally, eco-frontier is also a spatial category that can be understood through different parameters. Transversally, eco-frontiers are real or mental spaces marked by strong ecological and aesthetic values which are coveted by various stakeholders. Many types of ecological appropriations imply different conflicting categories of eco-frontiers: e.g., wilderness, landscape, and extractive use. Eco-frontiers are transitory and temporary spaces characterised by specific geographical parameters: a pioneer gateway opened to an isolated and low population density area, weakly bounded by unattainable limits; an ecological appropriation done virtually or physically by groups of eco-settlers; and a group of local inhabitants offering mixed reactions. Eco-frontiers create very complex situation for stakeholders disputing different legitimacies based on different uses of ecosystems, resources, or land. Winning ecological appropriations tends to shape new spatial patterns: e.g., conservation enclave, urban sprawl (tourism activity or peri-urbanisation), or wasteland. The South African example (the Xolobeni area, Wild Coast) illustrates a “wilderness versus extractive” eco-frontier with a detailed focus on environmental NGOs. This example is used to understand what are the different categories of eco-settlers which can be generalised.

The appearance of S-curve in the treatment of a space-time data is very often associated to a spatial diffusion. This systematic assimilation of the S-curve to the logistic model is misleading, it leads to an amalgam which masks the diversity of mathematical models to capture really different phenomena of diffusion. The aims of this paper is to show some examples of diffusion which are all expressed by a S-curve but which correspond in fact to different models. Three models are presented: - logistic model is the most usually used by geographers despite his independency from space. We compare here a spatialized and probabilistic version of this model with its analytical and deterministic form. - as opposed to the first one, the front diffusion model imposes a strong space constraint, the contact being prevalent in the diffusion. In this case, diffusion is not subjected to a global constraint but depends on the length and on the form of the front at any moment. - the third model is composite, it proceeds of the logistic growth forced by local constraints and of propagation of a front. These three models are studied in their analytical forms and are compared with their dynamic simulated. We show a continuity between these 3 models entering within the framework of a broader class of parameterized models. Moreover their combinations give an expansion of other models making it possible to apply to a great variety of problems., L'apparition d'une courbe en S dans l'exploitation de données spatio-temporelles est bien souvent associée par le géographe à une diffusion spatiale. L'assimilation presque systématique de la courbe en S au modèle logistique est trompeuse, elle conduit à un amalgame qui masque la diversité des modèles mathématiques permettant de modéliser des phénomènes de diffusion très différents. L'idée de cet article est de montrer quelques exemples de diffusion qui s'expriment tous par une courbe en S mais qui correspondent en fait à des modèles différents. Trois modèles sont exposés : - le modèle logistique est le plus couramment utilisé par les géographes alors qu'il est par construction indépendant de l'espace. Nous comparons ici une version spatialisée et probabiliste de ce modèle à sa forme analytique et déterministe. - à l'opposé du premier, le modèle de diffusion par front impose une forte contrainte spatiale, le contact étant prédominant dans la diffusion. Dans ce cas, la diffusion n'est pas soumise à une contrainte globale mais dépend de la longueur et de la forme du front à tout instant. - le troisième modèle est composite, il procède à la fois de la croissance logistique contrainte dans un voisinage et de la propagation d'un front. Ces trois modèles sont étudiés dans leurs formulations analytiques et comparés avec leurs dynamiques simulées. Nous montrons une continuité de passage entre ces 3 modèles entrant dans le cadre d'une classe plus large de modèles paramétrés. De plus la combinaison de leurs variantes produit un foisonnement d'autres modèles permettant de s'appliquer au mieux à une grande diversité de problématiques.

This paper explores the public nature of Times Square's physical and represented (TV, internet, press) spaces through an analysis of the techniques used by Senegalese male peddlers to sell souvenirs to the visiting tourists. Whereas a number of scholars denounce the Disneyfication of Times Square, in other words its privatization, the observation of the peddlers shows that there is an almost self-regulated social order of the flow escaping the control of the pseudo-public institution in charge of Times Square, the Business Improvement District. On the other hand, the difficulties encountered by the vendors also reveal another Times square, less public, constituted by the accumulation of images captured by the finance and media companies settled in the office towers. This "clean and safe" pseudo-private space (Mitchell and Staeheli 2006) cannot tolerate the presence of the vendors, thus pushing them to the blind spots of the site. It nevertheless relies on the dynamics of the flow, thus preserving a place for the vendors and the public nature of the physical space of Times Square. But how long can this compromise work?, Cet article questionne la nature de l'espace public physique et représenté (Télévision, Internet, presse) de Times Square à travers une analyse des techniques utilisées par les camelots Sénégalais pour vendre des souvenirs aux touristes. Tandis que de nombreux chercheurs dénoncent la « Disneyfication » de Times Square, autrement dit sa privatisation, l'observation des vendeurs de rue révèle un ordre social quasiment auto-régulé des flux de piétons, qui échappe au contrôle de l'institution pseudo-publique en charge du site : le Times Square Business Improvement District. Mais les difficultés rencontrées par les camelots révèlent encore un autre Times Square, moins public, constitué par l'accumulation d'images capturées par les grandes entreprises des medias et de la finance récemment installées dans les tours de bureaux surplombant le site. Cet espace pseudo-privé "propre et pacifié" (Mitchell and Staeheli 2006) ne s'accommode pas de la présence des camelots et les repousse dans les angles morts du site. Mais il dépend de la dynamique des flux, ménageant ainsi un espace pour les vendeurs et préservant la nature publique de l'espace physique de Times Square. Combien de temps ce compromis peut-il durer?

Ce n’est pas la participation qui est en cause, mais les façons inadaptées ou faussement démocratiques et légitimatrices de la présenter. Quelques-unes de ces situations, dans le contexte de la construction d’un grand barrage au Portugal, sont explicitées dans cet article. Participation as such is not at stake here, but the maladjusted or falsely democratic ways it is presented as well as the means by which these are legitimized. This paper focuses on several such cases in the context of a great dam construction in Portugal.