David Giband

Bringing together social-ecological system and territoire concepts to explore nature-society dynamics

We examine two academic traditions that address the nature-society interface. These traditions are organized around two main concepts: social-ecological system and territoire. These traditions have grown independently and are rooted respectively in ecology and social geography. We show that they have much in common: Both come with a systemic view of the nature-society interface and have the intention of understanding better the relations between nature and society and improving their sustainability. However, they differ in how they deal with space and society. We foresee that the combination of both traditions could improve the understanding of these systems, their definition, and their evolution, and hence, the capacity to assess and manage their resilience.

Le pouvoir institutionnel local et la question sociale aux États-Unis

Le traitement de la question sociale aux Etats-Unis se fonde depuis pres de quarante ans sur la valorisation des niveaux intermediaires du pouvoir et de l’espace local comme support a la marchandisation des services publics, rendue necessaire a la fois par les echecs du New Deal et de la guerre contre la pauvrete, et les imperatifs d’un capitalisme globalise. Les reformes actuelles visent a la mise en place d’un ordre institutionnel au travers de la fragmentation de l’espace local porteur de valeurs neocapitalistes (travail, individualisme, libre choix) qui, au nom du libre choix territorial, renforce la dislocation du corps social americain et donne a voir de nouveaux contrastes territoriaux.

Flux migratoires, poussée démographique et petite fabrique du territoire scolaire : l'exemple des Pyrénées-Orientales

Migratory Flows, growing Demography and the Territory Home Made. ; ; Neglected for a long time by demo-geographers, the study of the schooling population knows a recent interest. Based on a research dealing with high schools prospective planning into a French southern growing departement, this paper intents to think about the role of population geography and its traditional tools in the school planning domain. Taking act of the ineffectiveness of mathematical models and GIS for that kind of exercise, which requires to include new constraints (student mobility, parental consumerism...), a good approach needs to choose calls a logic made of scales articulation and other school zonings. This induces to determine new steps and to prefer the educational demand to the public offer. The experience made in the Roussillon region invites us to question about the socio-spatial and demographic dimensions of the schooling population and its links with land planning.