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Running has been developing rapidly in France for several decades, and this practice is accompanied by an increase in the number of sporting events in many areas. However, the geographical logics behind the spatial diffusion of the phenomenon have never been analyzed. This article therefore begins by reviewing the reasons for the development of this phenomenon, before presenting the method used to build the first geographic database of running events in France, which then allows us to draw the characteristic features of this geography on the scale of the French territory. A multiple linear regression shows that the most rural departments tend to have a higher density of running, particularly those located in the southern half of the hexagon, which is also more mountainous, and thus not unrelated to the much more pronounced growth of nature trails than road races. Finally, if this regression model only explains a little more than half of the variance, it is perhaps because the ubiquity of the running phenomenon is such that it results in a very wide spatial coverage, albeit unequal in terms of density, so much so that running has become an event of territorial animation, including in many small towns.

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.