Agrandir la parole des habitants.

This paper proposes a return visit. It describes an ethnographic field investigation in La Duchère, a public housing estate in Lyon concerned by an urban renewal programme, during the 2000s. Taking a position on the conflict situation between the public authorities, who defend the urban project, and the inhabitants’ mobilizations to amend it : how to do it ? Making the inhabitants’ voices and activities public : how to do it ? Ten years later, the ethnograph reads again [...]

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

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 [...]

Économie des rythmes urbains.

The economics of urban rhythms tell us that cities are characterized by a double scarcity, that of time for individuals, that of space for the community. The former, because of the increase of their income, seek to intensify their activity programs. For this they develop their mobility at the risk of causing traffic congestion. Public policies are therefore in charge of managing the scarcity of space, so that individual mobility is part of a collective process of production. But [...]

Corps et spatialités.

Les spatialités en questions.

The body is an "object" whose status is problematic since at least Antiquity in the "Western tradition". First approached by philosophers, whose representations are historically differentiated, it was then invested by other human and social sciences, which have remained most often silent on the relationship between body and spatiality. The geographers, for their part, have kept away from this "object", but the question of the body has become an epistemological issue, especially for those who have invested the concept [...]

Croiser les disciplines, se croiser dans l’indiscipline.

Dialogue autour de la notion de rythme.

As polysemous and intangible as the notion of "rhythm" might be, one must note its capacity to make diverse disciplines (such as geography, literature, biology, dance, sociology or economy) work and speak together. Wishing to pursue this dialogue, can the specific conditions to build a common reflection and the production of an "undisciplined knowledge" be identified ? In light of the seminar "Urban Rhythms" – that took place in Lausanne from 8 to 10 November 2017 –, our reflection [...]

Usages sociaux et spatialités du bronzage en Chine.

Être dans la norme vs. être à contre-norme.

Skin is a marker of historically constructed social and cultural norms, and embodies the tensions that may exist between what individuals and societies consider "normal" and "abnormal". If white skin in China is a socially shared aesthetic referent, sunbathing can be analysed here as an a priori deviant practice. The objective of this article is thus to understand, through the case of tanning, the social uses of the body, especially in public spaces in Chinese context. The spatiality of [...]

Rythmes ambiants, rythmes de marche.

This text explores the links between walking rhythms and rhythms related to fluctuations in tonalities and intensity of ambiances. It hypothesizes a correlation between walking gaits, the variations in pedestrian attentionality and what I propose to call here "ambient rhythms". The rhythm would not be the cadence or the tempo, but rather a way of flowing atmospheres and bodies. The review of field work carried out in two districts of the city of Grenoble – Europole and Île-Verte – [...]

Petite géographie de la co-présence.

Une première approche comparée des pratiques spatiales de consommation des touristes et habitants à partir des réseaux sociaux numériques sur l’île de Xiamen (Chine).

Conventional statistical data rarely provide information on the different "present populations" that coexist in cities and in regions so as to be able to separate, for example, tourists from permanent residents. It is difficult to analyse the spatio-temporal behaviour of these different populations, to identify potential conflicts and to imagine possible futures. The research proposes to overcome these limits by using the data provided by the Chinese social network SINA Micro-blog. A new geography of co-presence emerges and allows [...]

Tracer l’émergence des foules et des publics en ligne et sur site.

Events are exceptional moments in urban rhythms and attract a lot of attention. However, they are not easily traceable, and social sciences clearly favored long duration phenomena (structural effects) or cycles (as in opinion trends). Thanks to the traces that we leave on digital networks, rapidly emerging collective behaviors can now be accounted for. They may even be related to on site events. Qualities of the constructed environments (containers) and attention attractors (contenants) can be combined to generate eurythmic [...]

Métrologies critiques de l'espace.

Critical Approaches to Metrology.

When the construction of a political space demands shared systems of measurement, ensuring that everything is made comparable, coding categories and procedures are brought into place. Attributing singular cases to measurable categories was for a long time a prerogative of the State, but new systems of metrology are now broadening the range of players. With this traversal, we aim to start deconstructing these metrological systems, both old and new, to prompt different readings of the rhetoric behind them. By [...]