Agricultures réorientées
Tatiana G. NÉFÉDOVA. Russian agriculture after ten years of reform: transformations and diversity. (3 tabl.)
By 1980, two thirds of kolkhozes and sovkhozes were already in deficit. The situation barely improved in the last years of the USSR. Market reforms completely disrupted this fragile sector and output collapsed after 1991. Land distribution in 1991-1993 led to the emergence of a tiny number of independent farms. Most of the former collective farms remained in place, despite a change in their legal status. The current system is complex. Many farmers from the kolkhozes continue to grow food and cash crops on their private plots, using resources from the collective farm. They have a combined status of independent farmer and agricultural worker. There are also spatial differentiations, which reveal that intra-regional differences are stronger than inter-regional differences. Sectors close to cities generally do better than peripheral regions, but this is not true of all categories of farmers.
keywords: AGRARIAN REFORM, AGRICULTURE, RUSSIA
Rodolphe DE KONINCK. Southeast Asian agriculture: doubts about the future of a new development model.
Since the 1960s, most Southeast Asian countries have experienced strong economic growth. In the five major agricultural countries of the region Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines this growth has largely been powered by strong agricultural output. This has mainly been achieved through a combination of agricultural intensification and agricultural expansion, both in food and cash crops. This seems to be a development model specific to Southeast Asia, where agrarian transition is achieved without agrarian reform, unlike in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. However, the continued implementation of this model is questionable, considering the extreme pressure it exerts on the environment and on ethnic minorities, increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture.
keywords: AGRARIAN TRANSITION, AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION, AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, ETHNIC MINORITIES
Kamel KATEB. Population and spatial organisation in Algeria. (7 tabl., 14 fig.)
This paper looks at the evolution of the Algerian urban system. From the colonial period, Algeria inherited a highly structured territorial space oriented towards the Mediterranean coast. This resulted in strong trends in favour of the development of the major urban centres in the north of the country. However, might these trends not conceal substantial changes to the distribution of settlement and the organisation of the urban system? Are trends not emerging in Algeria that might correct the imbalances inherited from the colonial period? What regional development measures and provisions are likely to foster perceptible changes? What repercussions might the end of public investment on the one hand and the violence (fighting, massacres, extortion, etc.) in rural areas on the other have on the spatial distribution of the population?
keywords: POPULATION, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SETTLEMENT, URBAN SYSTEM
A suggested typology of immediate urban territories. (4 fig.)
An observation of urban dwellers walking itineraries in the space in the immediate vicinity of their place of residence reveals a wide variety of spatial practices, reflected in differentiated morphologies of used space. Through a systematic analysis of 1,500 maps of individuals routes, we have tried to describe the populations relationship to its immediate area. From utilitarian spaces in which people have minimal involvement to fully appropriated, «lived in» spaces, we can draw up a typology of spatial practices, enhanced by a textual analysis of peoples reasons for using or not using this space.
keywords: MORPHOLOGY, SPATIAL PRACTICES, SURVEY, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Very high resolution imagery, a geographic information source for urban areas? Current situation
and prospects. (4 tabl., 5 fig.)
The geographic information sector has been a fast-growing economic sector since the early 1980s. With Very High Resolution (VHR) imagery (below 5 m), the supply of image data has been multiplie and end-users have to choose the most appropriate information for their needs. This article presents the results of a survey conducted in France and several other European countries to assess the role and place of imagery in urban applications, to identify the needs of urban users and to ascertain the usefulness of VHR images. This work has been compared to an American survey aimed at identifying potential uses for VHR imagery.
keywords: EARTH OBSERVATION DATA, FRANCE, ORTHOPHOTOS, REGIONAL PLANNING, UNITED STATES, URBAN PLANNING
Analysis of urban evolution by cellular automata. The SpaCelle model. (6 fig.)
This research is based on the idea that the simulation of urban growth may follow simple spatial rules, derived from our empirical knowledge, but nevertheless explaining the spatial dynamics resulting from social practice. The cellular automata program SpaCelle is built on a very general paradigm from outside of the field of urban models, that of spatial competition between diverse cellular populations, interacting with their environment. Each cellular individual uses its life force, which varies from its birth to its death, to resist the environmental forces resulting from neighbouring individuals acting in rings growing broader around it. The computer program, based on this general principle (the meta-model) must be input by the user from a knowledge base consisting of the different classes of cellular status, the rules governing the life and death of the individuals and the transition rules. The arrangement of the cells may be imported from an Arc View grid or entered directly. The geographical relevance of this model was tested through an experiment on the evolution rules of the urban space of Rouen over the last fifteen years. The results are very close to the observed situation, which validates the general model and the rule base for the urban area of Rouen.
keywords: CELLULAR AUTOMATA, DYNAMIC SYSTEM, SPATIAL KNOWLEDGE, URBAN DYNAMICS
Book reviews
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Tables and indexes for 2003 (74 Ko)
In this issue of l’Espace géographique, you will find critical reviews of the following books
AGNEW John, MITCHELL Katharyne and TOAL Gerard (editors), (2003). A Companion to Political Geography. Oxford: Blackwell, 494 p., ISBN 0 631 22031 3 X, hardback, (par Hugh Clout, University College, London)
DUBREUIL Vincent (dir.), (2002). Environnement et télédétection au Brésil. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 198 p., avec la collab. de R. BARIOU, G.T. MAITELLI, M.M. DOS PASSOS, (par Pierre Usselmann, UMR ESPACE, Montpellier)
KATZ E., LAMMEL A., GOLOUBINOFF M. (dir.), (2002). Entre ciel et terre, climat et sociétés. Paris : Ibis Press/IRD, 509 p., (par Martine Tabeaud, Université de Paris I)
LONGLEY P.A., BATTY M. (editors) (2003). Advanced Spatial Analysis: the CASA Book of GIS. Redlands, California: ESRI Press, 464 p., ISBN 1 58948 073 2, $39.95, paperback, (par Hugh Clout, University College, London)
Lespace géographique 3/03
Lespace géographique 1/04
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Last modified: March 29, 2004