Research Topics

This theme deals with the issues of art, culture and heritage as they relate to territories. The research carried out questions the socio-spatial dynamics and tensions associated with artistic, cultural and creative sites, actors and projects: urban mutations, social cohesion, gentrification, aestheticization of urban landscapes, territorial attractiveness, tourism, etc. It also addresses heritage processes in their spatial, environmental, social and political dimensions. They also address the spatial, environmental, social and political dimensions of the processes of heritage development, as well as geographical approaches to museums, commemorative and memorial phenomena in post-conflict situations, and cultural and heritage circulation. This research is carried out in a variety of geographical contexts (France, China, Palestine, Benin, etc.), at different levels of scale, and using a variety of methodologies (qualitative and quantitative surveys, action research, etc.).

Keywords: cultural circulations, interculturality, memories, crises and conflicts, war ruins, cultural and memorial tourism, museums, cultural and creative districts, creativity, cultural third places, cultural alternatives, policies (cultural, heritage, memorial), participation.

This theme examines issues of participation, social and spatial (in)justice, and urban practices and policies, with a particular emphasis on micro-geographical approaches, while also considering their environmental implications. It focuses especially on public spaces and ongoing transformations in living environments in order to study potential reconfigurations of ways of inhabiting and mobility patterns, as well as to analyze the tensions—or even conflicts—that may arise from them.This approach seeks to shed light on current shifts within urban worlds as they confront multiple social challenges and those resulting from ongoing ecological changes: urban greening, large-scale mobilities (migration, tourism), gentrification, urban production, and more.

Our research focuses on different aspects of the environment. On the one hand, in the sense of the physical environment, through questions linked to natural hazards, but also in an approach to territories through the notions of vulnerability and resilience. Some of our work examines the ways in which contemporary urban societies respond to different types of risk, while others look at the relationship between cyclonic phenomena and global warming. On the other hand, the environment is approached as a sensitive medium, in an approach that questions the lived experience of urban territories. In this respect, the notion of ambiance is used to question contemporary planning policies for public spaces and mobility. In particular, our work examines the sensitive and physical effects of urban security policies, as well as the ambiences of European cities in a context marked by the terrorist attacks of recent years.

Keywords: environments, bodies, planning, resilience, vulnerability, security policies, floods, cyclones, crises, terrorism.