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The objective of this paper is to assess the French‐speaking countries contributions to regional science since its creation in the 1950s. France, and other French‐speaking countries, very quickly adhered to the approach of the founding fathers of regional science. French‐language research developed for several years without maintaining major relations with the main streams that flow through regional science. However, the years 2000 and 2010 saw the emergence of streams of thought that strongly irrigate at the international level. The authors of this paper are part of this movement. Here we trace the origins and development of the French‐speaking contribution to regional sciences, while highlighting the originality of the French‐language approach. First, the question of academic and institutional contexts is discussed, with the role of the founders and the peculiar place of Journals and public institutions. Further sections analyse the main contributions coming from economics (local systems of production and innovation, innovative milieus and proximity analysis) and geography (regional development at a global scale, and urban systems and complexity). We conclude with cross‐disciplinary contributions including intra‐urban organization and mobility, territorial governance and territorial development, as well as other approaches to the social sciences, in the contemporary issues of city and territorial governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the programme of redeveloping housing estates in France overseen by the Agence Nationale de la Rénovation Urbaine (ANRU). Under this programme social housing reconstruction is undertaken in a nationally coordinated fashion in order to 'valorize', 'secure' and socially 'mix' estates. The paper highlights the political and neo-colonial aspects of this programme and the wider state spatial strategies it is part of. Redevelopment projects not only further gentrifying land-rent valorization, state rescaling and territorially stigmatizing symbolic violence; they also reorganize territorial relations of domination in multiple, also racialized, neo-colonial and partly hegemonic ways. In a longer view, they respond to the 'urban revolution' of 1968 (Garnier) and to the 'anti-colonial revolution' of independence and anti-racist movements (Khiari). The paper builds on a framework that articulates marxist (Lefebvrean) and anti-colonial (Fanonian) lineages while drawing on research on the neo-colonial aspects of the French state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a spatial analysis of agriculture in three mid-sized French cities, with a particular focus on professional farms. The existence of important agricultural spaces inside the cities is confirmed. We reveal the persistence of a field-based, market-oriented agriculture in French mid-sized cities, often ignored in studies on urban agriculture, and usually made invisible. Our results highlight the farms' diversity, as well as a diversity of farmers' viewpoints on the relations between urban and agricultural places. We emphasise the importance of three main determinants in the observed dynamics: the cities' geographies; the impact on farmers of land speculation and urbanisation; and the implementation of resistance and adaptation processes by some farmers. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on urban and peri-urban agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key insights: •Agriculture is given consideration in most periurban municipal policies.•Municipal agricultural projects depend on the political will of the elected representatives.•The location of municipalities does not impact upon how agriculture is integrated in municipal policies.•Urban planning documents provide a sound proxy to identify interesting municipal agricultural policies. Urban growth leads to decreases in area of farmland. In France, considerable attention is paid to this problem, including in frequent public policy debates. In this article, we explore issues associated with agriculture in 24 French periurban municipalities. We compare the treatment of agriculture in municipal policies by analysing urban planning documents and conducting in‐depth interviews with elected representatives. Our study reveals a high level of congruence between these two sources of information, confirming that planning documents are a sound proxy to identify municipalities' agricultural strategies. The study also shows both diverse degrees of municipal commitment to agriculture, which range from ignoring it to strongly supporting it, and diverse issues about agriculture that depend on local context and concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are efficient councils financially sustainable? We argue that an efficient council may not necessarily be financially sustainable. Our subsequent empirical analysis finds limited evidence in favour of an 'efficiency-sustainability' nexus. Thus, policies aimed at improving a council's efficiency may not automatically enhance their financial sustainability. Public policy makers have principally focused on improving the operational efficiency of local government on the presumption that this will result in a more financially sustainable sector. We argue that it is erroneous to assume that an efficient local government entity will necessarily be more fiscally sustainable. To test this argument, we apply an innovative method for empirically testing the association between financial sustainability and operational efficiency to the New South Wales local government system. Our results suggest limited positive associations between financial sustainability measures and municipal efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backround Baseline depressive symptoms have been consistently associated with the onset of cardiovascular disease ( CVD). Objectives Since depressive symptoms vary over time in elderly persons, and to help clarify whether or not depression is an etiological factor for CVD, we quantified the association between the course of depressive symptoms and occurrence of first coronary heart disease ( CHD) and stroke events in older adults. Design A population-based prospective observational study. Setting Participants were randomly selected from the electoral rolls of three large French cities. Participants A total of 9,294 participants were examined at baseline between 1999 and 2001, and thereafter at repeated study visits over 10 years. Measurements High levels of depressive symptoms ( HLDS) were defined as a score ≥16 on the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The number of study visits with HLDS was used as a time dependent variable in Cox proportional hazard models. Results There were 7,313 participants (36.6% males) aged 73.8 ± 5.4 years with no history of CHD, stroke or dementia at baseline. After a median follow-up of 8.4 years ( SD 2.3 years), 629 first CHD or stroke events occurred. After adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics and vascular risk factors, the risk of CHD and stroke combined increased 1.15-fold (95% CI: 1.06 to 1.25) per each additional study visit with HLDS. The results remained unchanged when accounting for the presence of disability and antidepressant intake at baseline and during follow-up. Conclusion Elderly persons exposed to HLDS at several occasions over 10 years showed substantial increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]