Léopold Lucas

Léopold Lucas is a geographer, holding a PhD from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). After his thesis (about tourist practices in Los Angeles), he has been a visiting research fellow in the department of geography of the University College of London, thanks to an « Early PostDoc Mobility » grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Last year, he was a fixed-term lecturer in geography at the University of Lausanne. His research focuses on two main areas : on the one hand, an investigation of the individual’s actorial logics, in order to grasp his need of skills to « cope with » space. On the other hand, an analysis of the urbanity of places (and especially metropolises), that is to say of the urban agencies shaped by the individuals’ ways of inhabiting, particularly through tourism.

Les techniques du corps, des compétences pour faire avec de l’espace. Peer review

Léopold Lucas | 16.05.2019

This paper offers a discussion about the integration of the « techniques of the body » within a geography of action. The main idea is to define « skills » as the mastery of body techniques. We argue that this mastery gives individuals a capacity of adaptation to cope with space they do not know yet. More precisely, the article discusses the relevance of Marcel Mauss’ proposition, especially in the light of the reading established by Tim Ingold. This [...]

Les lieux touristiques des villes ne sont pas des enclaves.

Léopold Lucas | 22.08.2014

This short paper argues against the perspective that considers cities’ touristic areas as « bubbles ». Indeed, a large part of research tends to present these areas as enclaves, almost heterotopias ; this point of view implies that tourism goes against local communities by producing ruptures and discontinuities in cities. However, serious consideration shows the limits of such conceptualization, hypothesises that tourism increases the urbanity of cities (by expanding the density and diversity of societal realities that are co-present, [...]